Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some advice from experienced Sony underwater photographers.

I recently returned from a diving trip to Palau, where I was shooting with a Sony A1 II in a Marelux housing, using a fisheye lens.

While the fisheye worked beautifully for close encounters and large schools of fish, I found it quite limiting when photographing sharks, especially at places like Blue Corner, where they often stayed a few meters away.

The sharks appeared too small in the frame, and I felt I was missing shots that a rectilinear wide-angle lens could have captured much better.

I currently own the Sony 12–24mm F4 G, which has served me well for underwater photography.

However, with Sony’s new dedicated FE 8–14mm F3.5 Fisheye G arriving soon, I’ve decided to add it to my setup. I feel that keeping the 12–24mm may no longer make much sense, since the new fisheye will cover most of my close-focus wide-angle needs.

I’m now considering replacing the 12–24mm with a more versatile rectilinear zoom, mainly for sharks, rays, and other large marine animals that don’t always come close enough.

I’m considering lenses such as the Sony 16–35mm F4 PZ, but I’m open to other suggestions.

My setup includes a Sony A1 II, Marelux housing, and both 140mm and 230mm dome ports.

My question is: Which Sony rectilinear wide-angle lens would you recommend for this type of underwater photography, based on actual diving experience?

I’m particularly interested in real-world image quality, corner sharpness, autofocus performance, and the ability to photograph sharks at moderate distances.

My next major diving trip will be to the Galápagos, so I’d really like to get this setup right.

You don't need a very wide lens unless the sharks are large and/or very close. And of course you can get get head shots if your lens is too narrow for the whole animal. I have nice shots of Galapagos whalers from Lord Howe with a 60mm micro and flat port... these top out at about 1.5m but they can come close.

Of course I would not recommend this setup, so I suggest the Sony 20-70 with 180 dome would be a good choice for small to medium size sharks, plus let you get good fish shots and even some close-ups as well.

For pure shark photos I would use my 16-25 with either 140 or 180 dome. No wider unless they are big and close perhaps.

How about something between a fisheye and a rectilinear with zoom versatility? WWL-1/WACP-C/WACP.

All of them have excellent optic quality (many topics on this forum on them)