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Macro is dangerous..it's an addiction ☠️ 🙃🤣

Great images, that must have been an amazing experience.

That's your opinion. I don't share any of it, just as you don't share mine. And FYI, no need to mis-quote me. I didn't say the 50 struggles with ALL small subjects. I said some, eg. thin ones. With other small subjects it is usually bang on, straight away, esp with a focus light in dark conditions. No different to other macro lenses in that regard. Best if we agree to disagree. Still on semantics? First camera Nikonos I (actually it wasn't called a "I", just Nikonos...). I still have it. My Nikonos III came much later...

Not on a APS-C camera but I reported on using it with the Olympus 60mm macro (2x crop) recently: If it works well on m43 and full frame it stands to reason that it will work fine on APS-C. The 100 mm macro is 160 mm equivalent on the R7 while the 60mm macro on m43 is 120mm equivalent, so I would suggest even more of a case to use it on APS-C. The specs for the field of view and working distance /magnification on Canon APS-C is on the MFO-3 port chart: Google DocsMFO-3 2025-08-27.pdf

Great images captured must have been quite the experience.

Thank you. That was all very valuable. I am sure we will do Apo island once and are not planning on Oslob. Since I will be also learning to use my Retra LSD and the MFO 3 while there, I think I will just stick with macro on this trip. I have traditionally done far more WA and CFWA than macro so it is time to immerse myself in macro for this trip, and learn some new techniques and gear.

Hi bennettj90 And welcome to Waterpixels. Good to have you with us. We hope you really enjoy the forum. Best wishes

I'm happy to see that wetpixel had a new forum created for everyone to use. There are such limited resources for information on underwater videography. I've been wanting to put together an underwater videography rig for awhile now, currently use a gopro and tg7.

Magdalena Bay really paid off. We splashed on several mother/baby pairs like this a few times over the week. Running the customs scam gauntlet was a risk but worth the journey.

Really nice shot!

I am shooting a Canon R7 and see reports of people using the MFO-3 on full frame cameras but none on crop sensor cameras. I would love to see examples of shots taken with a 100 macro, with and without the MFO-3. Thanks!

Wow, what a spectacular moment and a great image to remember it by!

Hello, I continue this thread. I wa looking at a couple of weefine solar flare 7000S. Do you have any comments about that? Is it enough for gopro video? Thank you, Giacomo

+1 for me I was 2 times in Dauin and for me APO wide angle (macro also, but to change a little bit from macros ;) ) for the coast in Dauin macro macro and macro

@JohnD As @Whiskeyjack mentions, there no other real w/a worthwhile in the Dauin area, other than Apo Island (unless you're planning on taking the long (day) trip to Oslob for whale sharks). At Apo you will likely see a number of sea turtles, potentially a few giant frogfish, very healthy coral, and they did have a whale shark swim by a few weeks ago. Given this is your first trip to the Dauin area - our next trip will be our 5th - it's a very productive u/w macro region... having said this, we took the trip to Apo twice on our first trip, and have not been back on any of the last 3 trips. Dauin is so productive for macro, you can find really good reef dives in other areas. When you go to Apo you feel you might be missing something on the macro dives you don't do because you took the morning to go over to Apo.

Actually, it is absolutely a dog, and most people who have dived with it agree (even in this thread). The original post asked about the 50mm macro, the feedback was that the lens is not worth the $. My suggestion was to get the new 100mm, it seems to be much better than the 90mm (which is better than the 50mm). The fact that you like the 50mm means just that, you are one of very few that like the 50mm for macro (and it's unlikely you've ever tried to shoot it for blackwater). Why would you shoot with a macro lens that struggles with AF for small subjects? And...first camera was a Nikonos III, new.

A trio of Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) escorted by Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and California Sea Lion (Zalophus californianus) as they hunt and feed in Magdalena Bay, Baja Pacific, Mexico. Seeing whales underwater for the first time was definitely the highlight of a snorkeling trip to Magdalena Bay with Nautilus Liveaboards. Nikon Z8 w/8-15mm @15mm fisheye lens, f8@1/250s iso640, Natural light

Aloha and welcome @Zach !

I’ve had the RX100II & V, Canon G7x I & II, Olympus OM-D EM-5 and EM-1m2 and currently the Sony A7c. I, too, miss the Olympuses and the 60 macro, and both 8mm fisheyes. Small footprint, great ergonomics. Really fine system. Autofocus was behind the times, but a really good system. I just hope they don’t go out of business. I now have a Sony A6700, but it’s unhoused at the moment. Smaller sensors = smaller lenses.

I doubt you have been shooting longer! But let's not get into semantics. The options you mention are not available for Sony. The Sony 50 is the only macro of approx that focal length with AF, available for Sony FF. A 105 (or 90) is irrelevant to the discussion. I never said the 50 was perfect - it isn't, so I spelt out some issues I have experienced. But at the price, small size, and sharp optics it's a good option for Sony users for a lightweight rig capable of handling subjects from about 20mm up to about 1.5m in good viz. I should add that my tests with the dome are all worst case scenario (without a focus light, including in the rather dim Lembeh Straits). Adding a focus light will improve the AF! I post my results to correct misinformation or perhaps help others with less experience form their opinions. This lens is a dog - for you maybe, but not for me!

It is.... and I've likely been shooting a little longer than you have u/w ;) You are using it with a dome - that makes this much less of an issue. The 50 is also notoriously bad on blackwater dives (esp. with translucent subjects). I've dived it, I've tried it... there are (now) much better options. The 60mm on a D850 is better, the 60mm on a Z8 is better. A 105 on either a D850 or the Z8 is better. You even stated "AF is reasonable, with some mis-focusing on small targets.." <- that's what a macro lens should be able to do, right? That's why this lens is a dog.

Update for US buyers: I had someone from the US enquire, so I did a bit more research. I found: Good news: if it's over USD 800, buyer pays the tariff (not me) (tariff applies) Very bad news: when sending the item, I have to fill out a customs declaration form which goes to US Customs. On that I have to enter a product code. The closest is 'optical goods', but guess what, they are a prohibited import (no doubt to protect the US' huge camera industry)! I can't risk entering another code and having US Customs reject and return the item. So dear US buyers, if there's somewhere outside the US I can ship to for you, that might work; but otherwise... can't do.

Thanks much!

You could definitely shoot wide angle at Apo. But you could also just shoot macro there as well. You will definitely not shoot wide angle anywhere else near Dauin.