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Oops! Sorry for the BS then!

Du bist aus Österreich!? Da könnten wir ja auf deutsch weitermachen. Entschuldigung für verspätete Antwort, ich war beruflich unterwegs. Ich wäre am fokusring interessiert, wie können wir ins Geschäft kommen (sofern du den einzeln verkauftst) Thomas

I fear there is nor Kenko TC for Sony FE...

New Sea & Sea D130R looks less bright than I thought it would (light distribution). Inon’s legacy 330 surprisingly strong.

Aloha and welcome @Simon Pierce

Hi Simon, thank you very much for sharing this preview right here with us and thank you also for the raw files. I read that it does not work with the Sony TC. Is there a chance that it could work with Kenko ones or is there a physical reason with the rear lens element? Thank you in advance

So if I understand correctly, this lens will be huge for users of cropped systems, who will be able to take advantage of the zoom without using a teleconverter. Great news for Sony APS-C users and for M43 users 🏆

Many thanks Simon! Looks like a big gap in the Sony lens lineup has now been filled! Are you coming to the Sony Scene event in Melbourne next month?

Why - big underwater focus stacks - up to 300 images. Any chance you could replicate those tests you did for me on the Retra Maxis - but using the HF-1 instead - to find out if it can 10 fps at any power settings?

Simon, Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts on, and experience with, this new lens. Lovely pictures too. I've enjoyed swimming with Kaikoura's speedy duskies as well. Brandon

So as expected no TC compatibility with this lens. So for full frame pictures we have to zoom in to 14mm. Is this really something to worry about and keep the Canon 8-15mm? Maybe just use the Tamron 17-28mm as alternative to the Canon 8-15mm with 1.4tc?

These are the specs for the new Sony FE 8-14mm F/3.5 fisheye. Retail in the US $1599.00. It has an AF lock and a zoom lock for locking the lens at 10mm for full frame on APS-C. Size & WeightWeight 314 g (11.1 oz.) Dimensions (D x L) 63.1-82.8 mm (2-1/2 x 3-3/8 in.) Lens SpecificationsAngle of View (APS-C) 180°-116° Format 35mm full frame Lens Groups / Elements 13-16 Maximum Magnification ratio (x) 0.22 Maximum aperture (F) 3.5 Minimum Aperture (F) 22 Mount Sony E-mount Aperture Blades 7 Circular Aperture Yes Filter Diameter (mm) - Image stabilization (SteadyShot) - (body-integrated) Minimum Focus Distance 0.15 m (0.5 ft) Zoom system Manual Teleconverter compatibility (x1.4) Incompatible Teleconverter compatibility (x2.0) Incompatible Hood Type Petal shape, bayonet type Angle of view (35mm) 180°-180° 35mm equivalent focal-length (APS-C) 12-21 Focal-Length (mm) 8-14

I'm a Sony Digital Imaging Advocate, working with Sony New Zealand. I've been lucky enough to have access to a pre-release FE 8-14 mm F3.5 Fisheye G, so I hope it'll be helpful to share some initial information on the lens here. A fisheye is my favourite lens underwater. For me, that's meant shooting with the Canon 8-15mm fisheye on a Metabones V since 2018. I've been using that with Nauticam's recommended port configuration: the 35.5 mm N100-N120 adapter, 30 mm extension ring, and the 140 dome port (18810/18811) with removable shade. New Sony 8-14 mm (left) in comparison to the Canon 8-15 mm (right). Top: Sony vs Canon + Metabones V. Middle: Sony vs Canon lenses. Bottom: Sony vs Canon + Metabones, with lens hoods attached. I was asked to try to get some underwater photos with this new lens. It's still wintry here in the South Island of New Zealand – 10ºC in the water – and the weather has been generally rubbish, so (a) the dive shop is closed, and (b) no sane tourists want to snorkel. That's limited my opportunity to actually use the lens to two – one, fortunately, rather good – snorkelling sessions with dusky dolphins. These dolphins are (extremely friendly) speedsters, and I'm not fully dialled in on settings / AF struggles with them, so hopefully the shots look nice – but don't read much into them in terms of actual lens capability. All dolphin shots are at f/10 and 1/500 or 1/640 sec (auto ISO) Anyway, some relevant information and stats on the new lens: Price in Australian dollars: AU$2,099 (I wasn't provided with other prices, but they should be out now or available shortly). Autofocus: capable of 120 fps tracking. Two linear focus motors. Min. focusing distance is 15 cm, for a 0.22x magnification ratio. Aperture is f/3.5 – f/22. Relies on in-camera stabilisation. Lightweight (314 g). It has a manual zoom ring. Zoom is internal. There's a 3-position zoom lock on the lens for full-frame circular fisheye (8 mm), full-frame diagonal fisheye (14 mm), and an intermediate lock position for APS-C diagonal fisheye. It has a rear filter holder (same size as the 12-24 mm GM and 14 mm GM lenses). It has an excellent new lens hood design that minimises the in-bag diameter of the lens, which I'm a big fan of. Sony teleconverters don't work with this lens. The Sony 8-14 mm is 82.8 mm long, compared to the Canon 8-15 mm (without Metabones V) at 83 mm. My understanding is that the Metabones V adds about 26 mm to the Canon's length. To use the Sony underwater, I simply removed the 30 mm extension ring and... thought positive thoughts. Hopefully some of you can do proper pool test shots soon, and I'm confident (= extremely hopeful) that Nauticam will produce a proper N100-optimised dome port for this lens. In the interim, I can at least say that the N100-N120 adapter -> 140 mm does work for large animals in the blue (i.e. not thinking about corner sharpness, which I haven't looked at). The Sony's diameter is 63.1 mm, compared to the Canon's 78.5 mm. I don't know enough about optics to surmise how that affects things. I took a fascinating comparison shot of the side of our garage with the Canon 8-15 mm (at 15 mm) and the Sony (at 14 mm) to show the field of view for each. Above: Canon 8-15 mm at 15 mm Below: Sony 8-14 mm at 14 mm I then took a few photos with the Sony at different apertures in case anyone wants to take a look. The raw test files are on Dropbox here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/n3h4zkyvnq0ngs2tjsw4l/AI88gajXJDUTGs0uuk7IwPw?rlkey=pf2farxnrnxgkvnqthktfffa0&dl=0. I have no doubt this will be a popular lens with underwater photographers, and a really important addition to the Sony lineup for many of us here. I am very happy that my pleas have been answered :) Simon.

I want to echo most of the comments here and expressly commend the undoubtedly extensive work that went into this elaborate testing procedure. Really great, Backscatter!

Why 10 fps? Why not 3 or 5 which are more achievable by the most capable strobes?

For my last diving trip, I used an Insta360 X5 to capture some behind-the-scenes footage while I was shooting underwater. I had the X5 mounted on a selfie stick, which was attached directly to my Nauticam housing. For protection, I used the Insta360 Dive Case Pro. I have to say, though: the Dive Case Pro is a seriously bulky piece of equipment. 😄 When you are already diving with a Canon R5 in a Nauticam housing, strobes, arms and all the other accessories, every additional piece of gear makes a noticeable difference. So I was wondering if anyone here has had the chance to directly compare the Dive Case Pro with the regular Insta360 X5 Dive Case. How noticeable is the difference in actual image quality between the two, especially underwater? I understand that the Dive Case Pro is designed to provide better stitching and overall image quality, but I am mainly using the X5 for casual behind-the-scenes clips, short reels and Instagram content rather than professional underwater 360° productions. For that kind of use, is the improvement from the Dive Case Pro really significant enough to justify carrying such a substantially larger housing? Or would you say that the regular Dive Case delivers more than sufficient quality for social media and occasional BTS footage? I’d especially appreciate feedback from people who have actually used both housings under similar diving conditions. If the difference is only noticeable when closely inspecting the footage, I might prefer the much more compact setup. My R5 in the Nauticam housing already keeps me busy enough underwater. 😄

This chart from the article is interesting showing recycle time compared to guide number - I have selected the fastest recycling strobes. It is possible that there might be some strobes that are even more suited than the Backscatter HF-1 for shooting say 10 frames per second continuously. The HF-1 tops out at around GN10 before the recycle rate suffers, whereas the Supe D-Pro doesn't suffer until at least GN18, and the Sea&Sea YS-D130R is at GN16. It would be interesting to test these three strobes for their ability to maintain a continuous 10 frames per second.

Hello Simon, welcome on board! Congratulations on your research on sharks and your work as a photographer. Ciao

Hi all! I'm a whale shark scientist at the Marine Megafauna Foundation, a US non-profit focused on conserving endangered ocean wildlife species (with a particular focus on sharks and rays). Much of our research focuses on the population status of these species and, to that end, I helped pioneer photo-identification as a non-invasive research tool in sharks. I'm currently a Science Advisor to the global shark photo-identification library at Sharkbook.ai, which hosts ID photos of over 26,000 individual sharks across multiple species. That work also nudged me into underwater photography; I've been shooting with Sony full-frame cameras since 2018, and I work with Sony in New Zealand and Australia as a Digital Imaging Advocate, giving talks and workshops, etc. I've been lurking in the forums for quite a while; it's been fantastic to learn from you all. Looking forward to contributing. Very best, Simon.

I too would like to thank Backscatter for their enormous amount of work putting this together! A ton of useful information there - some new, some confirming what we sort of knew (or suspected).

Rumour also has it that Sony are going to be releasing a 10-? zoom fisheye sometime very soon.

It could be sulking but maybe a tiny difference in the o ring thickness, such as between metric and imperial can be an issue ... I had an Isotta OM-D EM 1 mark ii housing and used an Inon 45 degree veiwfinder.... worked great. Then I bought an Isotta Sony A7Rv housing and when I used the same viewfinder it had a couple of drops leak in past the viewfinder o ring. No harm done, but I thought there must be a fault with the round hole machined in the rear clear window on the Isotta housing. I happened to be visiting near south Lake Garda so I visited the Isotta factory with my housing. They tested the housing and Inon viewfinder together and identified the problem. The housing was perfect but the o ring on the viewfinder from new-to-me was actually not the correct size. It was original and in good condition but I had bought it from an on-line retailer. Somehow it was very slightly the wrong thickness (too thin) but the correct diameter. This was a small enough tolerance to work fine in one housing and not the other. Isotta also have Inon viewfinders as an option for their housings and very kindly tested and put a new correct o ring on the Inon part and re-tested. Despite the hassle and time, and the housing itself being perfect, and the Inon viewfinder not being bought through them or one of their dealers, they did not charge me anything. An added bonus was a really interesting tour of their small artisan factory. Lovely people with great products. Many hundreds of dives later it is still working perfectly.