Hi All,

I typically use the Olympus 60mm as my primary lens: I love the lens and shooting fish portraits. But the slight issue I have with it would be the focus hunting of the (hoping it was better but just living with the downside) and sometimes i find the 60mm lens too zoomed in especially for larger subjects.

I am now considering getting the Nauticam MFO-3 wet lens to help remedy these two issues. I heard the MFO-3 is basically provides x0.5 magnifications (widens the view) and helps with focusing faster/reducing focus hunting. And like the idea of having it on a flip diopter and can switch between 20° to 33°

However, I also have the WWL-1B with the 14-42mm EZ lens which I use for wide-angle shots. I note the FOVs are:

Lens/Combo	FOV
Olympus 60 mm	20°
Olympus 60 mm + Nauticam MFO-3	33°
Olympus 14-42 mm	29° - 75°
Olympus 14-42 mm + Nauticam WWL-1B	50° - 130°

The FOVs of the Oly 60mm + MFO-3 combo and the 14-42mm overlap at 33° FOV.

The question I have now are:

• Does it make sense to buy the MFO-3 when the 14-42mm seems to provide the same FOV? Why not just use the 14-42mm lens for those larger subjects when doing fish portraits?

• Does the MFO-3 bring something else to the table?

I am open to hear cases for and against.

Thanks, P

I'm using the MFO3, took it to Lembeh last year and got quite a bit of use out of it. Also using it in Sydney diving. On the same dive I could swap between shooting a gyrating Harlequin sweetlips with 60 and a 500mm long trumpet fish adding on the MFO3. The reason for using it is you have the 60mm capability when you need and can switch pretty quickly to the 36-37mm focal length of the MFO3, you don't get that reach with the 14-42 and macro is more of a challenge. It seems to me there are advantages to be able to shoot the smallest fish with the 60mm over the 14-42.

Focusing seems very straight forward with the MFO3, I didn't notice any hunting when using it and if you look at the EXIF you are shooting between 2m and infinity on the lens as reported in the EXIF for the most part (the subject is of course much closer) . This is the range where the 60mm is quite snappy.

I would add that the 14-42 once you get to the long end is reported to be not the sharpest knife in he drawer while the MFO3 is sharp across the frame as it corrects for the aberrations caused by shooting through a flat port. At the 36-37mm focal length the 14-42 would be experiencing those aberrations behind a flat port.

Here's a brief review of using the MFO3 with the 60mm macro:

I'm finding the MFO-3 irresistible. Does anyone have experience with the AOI flip/double-flip adapter? It's certainly more reasonably-priced than the Nauticam.

10 hours ago, Chris Ross said:

I'm using the MFO3, took it to Lembeh last year and got quite a bit of use out of it. Also using it in Sydney diving. On the same dive I could swap between shooting a gyrating Harlequin sweetlips with 60 and a 500mm long trumpet fish adding on the MFO3. The reason for using it is you have the 60mm capability when you need and can switch pretty quickly to the 36-37mm focal length of the MFO3, you don't get that reach with the 14-42 and macro is more of a challenge. It seems to me there are advantages to be able to shoot the smallest fish with the 60mm over the 14-42.

Focusing seems very straight forward with the MFO3, I didn't notice any hunting when using it and if you look at the EXIF you are shooting between 2m and infinity on the lens as reported in the EXIF for the most part (the subject is of course much closer) . This is the range where the 60mm is quite snappy.

I would add that the 14-42 once you get to the long end is reported to be not the sharpest knife in he drawer while the MFO3 is sharp across the frame as it corrects for the aberrations caused by shooting through a flat port. At the 36-37mm focal length the 14-42 would be experiencing those aberrations behind a flat port.

Here's a brief review of using the MFO3 with the 60mm macro:

Thanks for this response Chris. Your first paragraph made me realize since I am mostly in Anilao that that 20° - 33° range is more useful to me, as I typically shoot fish in the small range and have the occasional larger individual like that trumpet fish you mentioned. And that EXIF at 2m I would think does wonders on the DOF.

Okay I am sold haha I will pull the trigger on the MFO-3.

I found a used Saga, but had I not I would have tried the AOI. One thing to be careful about is the weight of the MFO-3. I'm using the Saga with an Inon wet lens and a red filter which are pretty light. Not sure how heavy the MFO-3 lens is?

Edited 11 hours ago11 hr by ACHiPo

5 hours ago, RickMo said:

I'm finding the MFO-3 irresistible. Does anyone have experience with the AOI flip/double-flip adapter? It's certainly more reasonably-priced than the Nauticam.

I use the AOI double flip, and plan to use it with MFO3 when I get one.
The AOI flip works fine (I use it with an Inon UWL-H100 wide lens + dome port, it holds the weight), but keep in mind that you need to use the small Nauticam adapter to use their wet lenses (the AOI adapter itself is not deep enough, more details here: https://waterpixels.net/forums/topic/2611-question-on-dual-flip-lens-holders/page/2/#findComment-19553 and here https://waterpixels.net/forums/topic/2611-question-on-dual-flip-lens-holders/page/2/#comment-23000 )

Edited 10 hours ago10 hr by bghazzal

51 minutes ago, bghazzal said:

I use the AOI double flip, and plan to use it with MFO3 when I get one.
The AOI flip works fine (I use it with an Inon UWL-H100 wide lens + dome port, it holds the weight), but keep in mind that you need to use the small Nauticam adapter to use their wet lenses (the AOI adapter itself is not deep enough, more details here: https://waterpixels.net/forums/topic/2611-question-on-dual-flip-lens-holders/page/2/#findComment-19553 and here https://waterpixels.net/forums/topic/2611-question-on-dual-flip-lens-holders/page/2/#comment-23000 )

My MFO3 came with an M67 adapter, seems to be a different one to the one you linked in your post, the glass sits back behind the end of the adapter when it is installed, so should attach to most any M67 accessory.

1 hour ago, Chris Ross said:

My MFO3 came with an M67 adapter, seems to be a different one to the one you linked in your post, the glass sits back behind the end of the adapter when it is installed, so should attach to most any M67 accessory.

Is the 67mm adapter provided with the MFO3 like this one? (this is the one that comes with the CMC diopters and a few others)



If this is the case, then it's not possible to use it with AOI flip unfortunately - the adapter can't be screwed onto the flip holder because of where its locking mechanism sits, the adapter's protruding toothed section gets in the way.

It's also not possible to use Nauticam diopters with this kind of design without a 67mm adapter on the AOI fllip because the rear end sticks out too much (the flip adapter base is too shallow) - the diopter hits the port glass and this prevents the locking of the adapter when the diopter is fully screwed in.


Fortunately the smaller adapter (which has to be ordered from Nauticam) works, since the toothed section doesn't protrude as much and clears the flip's locking mechanism by a few mm, like this:

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by bghazzal

Yes that's the one, to bad it can't be used then, may work on other brands perhaps?