I was looking at getting this lens to use in Fiji on the Beqa Lagoon shark dive. It would be used with an AOI 8” dome on an Olympus E-M10 Mark IV. One of my main concerns though is that looking at older reviews on the lens there were numerous comments about purple blobs appearing in shots. This apparently was common when this lens was used on Olympus bodies. I saw in one article though that this issue had been corrected in new Olympus bodies. Is anyone using this lens and having the problem? Is it even worth getting or should I just go the Oly 9-18 route? 

I’ve had this lens for years, first on an EM-5 mk I and now on an EM-1 mk II.  I use it behind a Nauticam 6” dome port.  

First to answer your question.  The reported purple fringing is similar to chromatic aberration and happens on land when there is bright incident light coming from a sharp angle, for example, shooting closely toward the sun.  I’ve not seen it happen underwater, even when trying for a sunball shooting up toward the surface.  I suppose it could occur if your strobes were lighting the edge of the dome but that would ruin the shot anyway.  I wouldn’t worry about this issue under water.  

Second, while its a fine lens overall, it’s not pro quality underwater, at least not behind the dome I have.  It’s fine in the center but the corners are quite soft. It is fine for sharks in open water though, since the corners are likely to not matter. It may be my dome is suboptimal.  I’d try looking for reviews for the dome you want to use.  

I have the Pana 7-14, previously on an EM-1 mk1, now on mk2.
In the beginning with Nauticam 6" dome and now with Zen dome.
And yes, purple fringing are not rare with the sun in front or front side. Not strobe lighting issue.

See attached picture for example.null

I now mostly use my Oly 8mm instead.

I have the lens but don't use it a great deal, I did use it a number of years ago in a 170mm Zen dome for whale sharks.   It thought the results were reasonable, shooting it at f8.  Shot below is 1/100 @ f8 ISO400. 

This shot is at 7mm, it is reported to be better at 8mm.  If I was buying again I would likely get the new Olympus 8-25mm.  It is also reported to be better in a larger dome such as your 200mm dome. 

I wrote already in the paralell tread on Scubaboard: Purple blob is not a big issue. Sometimes when making photos against the light flare/blobs, sometimes colored purple, appear. Similar to any other WA lens in my opinion (but speciality is that the flare/blobs are purple - seldom seen with other lenses). "Reviewers" say it occurs more often on Oly bodies compared to Pana - maybe, but I am not sure..

I was using the Pana 7-14mm with EM5II and EM1II behind Zen DP170 and it was not a relevation. I found (micro)contrast quite low and used it seldom. Zuiko 9-18mm, we also had it, is even worse...

My wife is using now EM1II/DP170 with Zuiko 8-25mm (7-14mm and 8-19mm are sold now). This combo has brilliant IQ and I can highly recommend. Also the zoom range is very usable...

She also has Tokina 10-17mm behind Zen DP100 with both 1x and 0.71x adapter (what I would prefer, also a brilliant IQ and extremely usable focal length range), but she is using the 8-15mm more often...

 

Wolfgang

Edited December 28, 20231 yr by Architeuthis

I have used this lens for years with several Panasonic camera bodies exclusively for video. An average wide rectilinear lens.

It has very controlled flares like all modern lenses hut purple blobs can still appear with very concentrated side lights. It happened to me occasionally with my buddies' technical lights pointed sideways at the lens but I wouldn't say it behaved much differently from other lenses in these harsh situations.