Craine

On 2/25/2026 at 11:05 AM, tailwind_marseille said:

Hey Craine,

How did this lens work for you ? Thinking of getting mostly for above water photography, but gets extra points if the feedback is good.

Hey @tailwind_marseille ,

It has worked out really well so far, I've done two trips to Bonaire with it along with a few local trips. At 10mm the corners are pretty soft so I've recently 3D printed a zoom gear for it to let me do more thorough testing in water to find the best FL to use. I haven't had a chance to test that in the water though. But nonetheless I'm happy with it, as the centers have been sharp (when I'm not messing up my focus)

I've attached two photos that are uncropped to show what it looks like in action around 10mm. These were taken in a Nauticam NA-A6700 housing, with the N85-N120 60mm port adapter, and the Zen DP170-N120 glass port. I'll find somewhere to post up the full resolution photos too, since I've had to resize them pretty small per the forum rules.

I created the attached N85 focus gear for a Sigma 10-18mm zoom on my Sony a6700. I took the Canon 8-15 zoom gear that @Chris Ross posted here, and modified it to fit the Sigma. I'm using the housing zoom knob in the NA-A6700, since my N85-N120 adapter doesn't have the integrated zoom knob (my preference, tbh). While I haven't tested it wet yet everything fits and zooms correctly.

A few notes/changes from Chris's model:

• Added the four "guide nubs" on the geared end to help keep the gear aligned around the lens

• Thickened the "front" end to make up for the smaller lens diameter from the 8-15mm

• Increased the length overall from 41mm to 54mm

• Used a few pieces of cloth medical tape to give the inside of the ring some grip in addition to closing up the clearance (honestly I didn't want to redo the model to make up for about 1mm total extra clearance)

• When aligning the gear on the lens, you need to make sure the guide nub doesn't catch on the white raised "lens alignment" dot. It will keep you from using the full zoom range if it is in the way

• An M3 locknut and 16mm m3 screw are used to tighten down the ring on the lens's zoom ring

Printing notes:

• Printed in regular PLA, 35% infill, with a 7mm outside brim to promote adhesion to the print bed

• Used a Bambu A1 Mini, and have the 3mf if anyone prefers that

N85 Sigma 10-18mm Zoom Ring v2-fixed.stl

19 hours ago, TimG said:

a wider aperture to create less depth of field, and/or using a snoot.

10 hours ago, humu9679 said:

And larger apertures can help with distracting in-focus backgrounds, too.

You both bring up a good point. I've been leaning towards smaller apertures when shooting macro (and macro-ish), because I too often found myself coming away with photos where only a slice of the face was in focus. I think I may have swung too small though, and could have done f/11 or maybe even f/8.

10 hours ago, humu9679 said:

Also, don’t forget snoots.

I actually have one for the second strobe, but have not mastered it yet. It's the Inon snoot set, so I have a choice of "snoot apertures" and I've not been happy with the wider of the two, but haven't been able to accurately point the smaller of them.

More practice is definitely needed.

19 hours ago, TimG said:

I know the location and it may well not have been possible but this is what I’d have been tempted to try.

Thanks @TimG! This location was tough, since I was shooting upslope, and there was a moderately large coral head right behind the soft coral it was hanging off of, which ended up filling the background no matter how I tried framing. It was also pretty far down on the branch of the sponge, making it hard to get low enough while staying off the bottom.

Shot with a Sony a6700 and Tamron 28-75mm G2 in a Nauticam housing with a single Inon D200 strobe. I may have had a SubSea +5 diopter on, but I don't remember at what point I took it on/off during my shooting. All three photos were shot at the same 69mm, f/16, 1/160sec, ISO 200.

Any constructive feedback about any would be appreciated.

On this shot I can't get the lighting balanced quite right, it feels too bright/white overall to me, but especially around the edges. I tried playing with the Vignette in Lightroom (see the second version), but I'm not super happy with that one either. Any thoughts folks might have there would be appreciated as well.

17 hours ago, JB_Cazajous said:

Nauticam has just updated its port chart for the new Sony 100mm Macro lens

Sadly, though not surprisingly, Nauticam has not updated the N85 port chart for us lowly APS-C shooters.

What kills me about Nauticam's pricing is that it would be cheaper for me to buy an entirely new N120 Macro Port 80 at $600 to replace my Macro Port 60 than it would be for me to buy the 20mm extension ring at $660. And at those prices I might as well just go with the Tamron 90mm instead and save myself about $1200.

Hey @dentrock! I had this lens for a little bit back in 2022. Looking back at my library it seems I took it on two different dives. At the time I was shooting my a6400 in a Salted Line housing, behind a 6" acrylic dome. You can see that it has range/versatility, good for both fish portraits and smaller things.

My take is as you said, a good, relatively inexpensive general purpose lens. I was never one to pixel peep corners, so I was satisfied with it behind the 6" dome. I don't recall it struggling with AF at all underwater, and the conditions I dive in are certainly not clear blue water (where I dive in the Gulf of Mexico, we get a lot of particulate hanging about, and a good day is 33ft/10m viz).

I've attached some samples below. The Leopard Toadfish is probably the best of all the photos I took with this lens. You'll have to ignore the poor focus on the mouth/eyes, as I apparently shot this at f/3.5 and spot focused toward the back of its head, so my DoF is off. The rest I chose because they aren't terrible and show a bit of the range of the lens.

On 1/2/2024 at 10:06 AM, Davide DB said:

in the long term: it is important to have photos on one's own server because over time they become the assets of the community and storage is expensive.

@Davide DB & @TimG A question for you on this ⬆️ section from the first post.

Is it the preference of WaterPixels admins that we resize and upload to the forum directly, rather than, for instance, us hosting our images elsewhere and then linking them in? I take the phrasing "they become the assets of the community" to mean that you'd prefer they live on WP servers, so that you can avoid issues with dead links down the line. But as you mention, this can be a costly proposition over time, especially for a forum that isn't "paid-membership" based. 

My thinking here is that I prefer to upload my images into a place where I have control over them (e.g. on durable object storage), and serve them via a CDN. I can then point the multiple places I post them to to the same source file. But then they aren't under WP control (for the purposes of a consistent forum archive). This is how you've recommended video be handled, which makes sense given it's size, so I'm wondering what your thoughts are for photos as well. 

I'd also note that if we do link them in, we should still take the steps to resize appropriately so that we don't adversely affect page load times. 

Since the thread is nominally about what we're using for shooting the a6700 underwater, I figured I'd chime in with what I have/use/do.

The equipment:

I'm also using the Nauticam NA-A6700, the s-TURTLE 2 TTL trigger, and a pair of Inon D200 (originals, not the Type 2s) with the 4600k diffusers. I have the Nauticam N85 to N120 60mm adapter as a base. For wide angle, I use the Sigma 10-18mm (set at 10mm) and a Zen DP-170. For macro, it's the Canon 60mm/Metabones mk4 adapter and a Nauticam Macro Port 60. 

The settings:

I have my MR2 slot programmed for UW shooting, with the following settings:

• Manual Mode
• Shutter: 1/160
• Aperture: f/8
• ISO: 200
• File Format: RAW & HEIF
• RAW File Type: Compressed
• HEIF Quality & Image Size: Extra Fine, L 26MP
• Drive Mode: Single Shooting
• SteadyShot: On
• Metering Mode: Spot/Large
• Spot Metering Point: Focus Point Link
• Flash Mode: Fill-flash
• White Balance: Auto
• Creative Look: VV2
• Picture Profile: Off
• Focus Mode: Continuous AF
• Priority Set in AF-C: Release
• AF Tracking Sensitivity: 3(Standard)
• Aperture Drive in AF: Focus Priority
• AF w/ Shutter: Off
• Focus Area: Tracking: Spot M
• Subject Recognition in AF: On
• Recog Trgt Select Set: Animal/Bird/Insect
• Auto Review: 5 Sec
• Auto Monitor Off: 1 Min
• Power Save Start Time: 5 Min 
• Custom Buttons:
  • Rear1
    • 1 (C1): Flash Comp
    • 2 (AF-On): Tracking On + AF On
    • 3 (C3): Flash Comp
  • Rear2
    • 1: Focus Standard
    • 2: Drive Mode
    • 3: ISO
    • 4: Exposure Comp
  • Top
    • 1 (Record): Finder/Monitor Select
    • 2 (C2): Recog. Target Select
  • Dial/Wheel:
    • 1 (Front): Tv
    • 2 (Top): Av
    • 3 (Back): None

Some thoughts:

Saving all of this as a memory recall set makes it really easy for me to have the right settings when I jump in. I have MR1 set up for bird photography, and MR3 for people/event photography, and with my ADHD brain I will forget to change settings if I don't have it saved.

1/160, f/8, ISO200 is, for me, a good starting point whenever I get into the water.

I use AWB and the VV2 creative look to have a baseline for my editing, with the embedded preview in the RAW file. WB doesn't really matter for the end result since I'm shooting then editing RAW anyway, but it gets me most of the way there. I use the VV2 creative look because it makes the colors pop a bit more, and for UW I like high saturation/high vibrance. Definitely a personal preference. 

The Canon macro is not what I should have gone with, and I am very likely going to sell it in the next month. I will most likely be switching to the Tamron 90mm macro, as I want a little more reach, and the AF on the canon is sluggish and hunts a lot. 

I don't have the positioning of the DP-170 dialed in for the Sigma yet, but I really like the FoV of 10mm on an APS-C. The corners are pretty soft, and while it's not something I particularly care about (corners are never something I'm really looking at on WA), it would be useful to find the right amount of extension. 

There are (probably) reasons I chose each of the other settings, but I don't want to bore everyone with a novel here. If you have questions, please ask!

On 3/17/2025 at 9:07 AM, Lewis88 said:

At least on my A6100, if you turn on silent shooting, it will disable the built in flash. Not sure if that works with triggers as well.

The same happens with the a6700. Turning on the electronic shutter/silent shooting disables the flash entirely. This is true for any type of flash, I have tested this with my Turtle-2, an external wireless strobe controller (for big standalone studio strobes), and a speedlight. 

On 3/18/2025 at 6:18 PM, gremlin said:

Maybe, as I said above I really like to have TTL as well, so maybe there's not a solution that offers all of this, I'll have to play a bit more with the Turtle and see if I put it into wireless flash mode if I can do that.

I think the e-shutter is the solution for you. I shoot almost exclusively Inon S-TTL all the time with my a6700, and could, if I wanted to disable the flash by switching to silent shooting. I'm not 100% sure how all that interacts with Program mode, since I typically only use full manual, but it should be a starting point for you to test with. 

ETA: Wireless mode might not accomplish what you want, depending on how you have your Turtle configured. Using the S-TURTLE app you can set different functions for the wireless mode, including "stroboscopic" mode which would (I think) be what folks are using for focus stacking like was mentioned earlier. 

On 7/19/2024 at 12:36 AM, DreiFish said:

 

That would be awesome. Hope more manufacturers follow suit.

 

In the meantime, this is the table I've compiled so far:

 

I measured my Nauticam a6700 (N85) at 11.75mm from camera flange to housing flange. 
 

I’ve got a few ports/adapter handy to measure if the desire is there. Now I need to go figure out the optical center of the Zen DP170 (N120 mount), and I will measure the EP of various FL of my Sigma 10-18. Yes it’s all APS-C which is blasphemy to some, but at least the measurements will be available for someone who wants them. 

I recently picked up the Sigma 10-18mm 2.8 and a Zen 170DP to use with my a6700. It is a replacement for my Rokinon 12mm f/2. The Sigma is a much sharper lens than the Rokinon, and while I don’t have a zoom gear, I’m used to a single FL when shooting wide angle anyway, so I just need to play with it in the pool to get everything dialed in. It also has a much shorter MFD (4.6”/11.6cm versus 7.48”/19cm) and a much larger max magnification at MFD (1:4/0.25x versus 1:11.11/0.09x). 

Once I get it in the water I will report back on the combo, though that probably won’t be until Feb for some dives out of Riviera Beach/Jupiter. Before then I have to stay local which means macro only given conditions in the Gulf of Mexico. 

On 9/27/2024 at 8:28 AM, Phil Rudin said:

I suspect you may see a new release at this event October 25-27 2924 in Tokyo Japan where Inon will be an exhibitor

Unfortunately it seems like there wasn’t anything announced, at least as far as my internet searching goes. Which is too bad, because I really want to see what Inon is cooking up, given all the recent strobe releases. I really like my D200s but want something with more power, and was/am holding out for at least the announcement. 

16 minutes ago, humu9679 said:

My bad, I glanced at that scorpionfish and my brain thought frogfish. This short clip is the frogfish I was thinking of. Couldn't make a decent still frame of it.

It's all good! That frogfish looks awesome. Was that video taken with the A7C?

@humu9679 thanks! I've yet to run across a frogfish, even with all the dives I've done in every season at BHB. Someday I'll find one!

5 minutes ago, boduoguo said:

May I ask why the sigma 70mm macro lens is not suitable for underwater use?

It’s external focusing, so it extends quite significantly to get to 1:1. You’d need a very long flat port to let it get all the way to 1:1, and you’d very likely have a decent amount of vignetting on the low end of the magnification scale.  
 

Is also as long as the Sony 90mm before the focus extension (131.5mm vs 130.5mm). If we make a rough estimation from the photos of the extension length, say 45mm, that puts the 1:1 length at 176.5mm. With a MFD of 238mm, we have a working distance of 61.5mm (2.4”). That’s really close. 
 

I took my new a6700 and Nauticam housing out for a few dives a couple of weekends ago. Pretty pleased with how these turned out. 

Ciliated false squilla (Pseudosquilla ciliata), working on its burrow, Blue Heron Bridge, Riviera Beach, FL

Whitespeckled hermit crab (Paguristes puncticeps), Blue Heron Bridge, Riviera Beach, FL

Spotted scorpionfish (Scorpaena plumieri), Blue Heron Bridge, Riviera Beach, FL

Green Moray (Gymnothorax funebris), 4th Window, Riviera Beach, FL

Honeycomb Cowfish (Acanthostracion polygonius), 4th Window, Riviera Beach, FL

Balloonfish (Diodon holocanthus), 4th Window, Riviera Beach, FL

Not sure who else saw the announcement a month-ish ago, but Tamron has released a new 90mm macro lens (Tamron product page) for both Sony E and Nikon Z. It has fast AF, reviews of it have it coming in pretty darn sharp (at least on par with the Sony and the Sigma macro offerings), and an MSRP of $699. 

A few things to note:

• It's about 5mm shorter than the Sony 90mm at 126.5mm
• MFD/MOD is listed as 230mm, so you end up with about 4" of working distance before any distance lost to the port it's behind, compared to the 5.8" of the Sony. 
• 12 blade aperture, minimum aperture of f/16
• Weather-sealed barrel

I'm considering picking up a copy to see how it compares to my adapter Canon 60mm. A few thoughts on that:

• The working distance at 1:1 are effectively the same between the Tamron and the Canon
• The fast/modern AF mechanism might be a worthwhile upgrade, even with the most recent firmware for my Metabones mk IV 
•  I would probably benefit from an increase in sharpness

If anyone here has had or will have a chance to play with one, I'd love to hear your feedback. 

List of E-mount macro lenses with some random-ish stats

The camera has been sold elsewhere, so all that is left is the housing and related components. Willing to entertain reasonable offers, figuring $500 for all of it including shipping CONUS, split shipping if elsewhere. 

Price drop to $900 plus shipping costs. 

Hey @TURTLE-Balage, I appreciate the offer! I decided to see if I could get it apart and fix it up myself (because I'm probably a bit nuts). That didn't turn out too well, as it looks (after the fact) that the hot shoe connector is soldered to the IC board, and I broke those solder points doing the dissection. I wouldn't feel right sending it in for repair now, because I definitely made it worse. 

I liked this trigger, so I went ahead and bought a new Smart 2 from Backscatter (it was delivered today), and am going through the setup now. Planning on taking it out in a couple weeks to put it through its paces. 

58 minutes ago, humu9679 said:

The zed batteries have been a game changer for the A6xxx series. I have an A6600 but unhoused. I also have an old Nauticam housing for the A6000 - any idea if I can fit a newer A6 body in there?

Battery life was atrocious on my A6400 before I switched to an external flash trigger. Once I did that I could eke out two dives on one charge. 

As for the bodies, I know with the SeaFrogs/Salted Line housings, they use the same one for a6000/a6100/a6300/a6400/a6500. The majority of the button placements are the same/similar enough, but the rub is the physical dimensions. The 6000 is noticeably thinner front to back than the rest of them (approx. 26mm vs 31mm, as measured on the orange line). SeaFrogs gets around this by using a kit that essentially "shims" some of the dials so they touch the body. I don't know if you'd have that flexibility with the Nauticam housing, especially since the change is dimensions is going the other way (thicker camera in a thinner housing).  

On 9/2/2024 at 6:36 AM, Davide DB said:

There have been a lot of posts on this topic lately but always only about FF lenses and cameras.
I don't think the topic has ever been addressed for cropped sensors.

I've seen this topic (Housing Flange Distance) but as you say most all of the discussion is around the FF bodies/housings. So once I get my things I would like to get some sort of searchable database going. Maybe if I have some success at getting data I can post an article/link here for all to use...

16 hours ago, Chris Ross said:

For the 60mm macro I see the lens specs state the lens is 73mm in OD and this means it won't fit through an N85 port, the macro ports are 70mm ID, so you would be looking at combining an N85 - N120 adapter with an N120 port. 

Aha! That (the port ID) one of the things I'm hoping to compile into a convenient list, as I can't find anything of the sort on Nauticam's website proper. I went with a N85-N120 adapter just in case, so I'm good there!

1 hour ago, Lewis88 said:

I am also a Sony/Nauticam N85 shooter. I shoot an A6100 in an A6400 housing (the cameras are physically identical)

Glad to hear there are actually other APS-C Sony shooters in Nauticam here! As I've mentioned elsewhere, I've been using the a6400 in a Salted Line housing for a few years, and I've never been satisfied with the housing (neither build quality not ergonomics). 

1 hour ago, Lewis88 said:

Per the older port charts, here is the port for the adapted Canon 60mm macro:

 

Nauticam Macro Port and Focus Gear Set for Metabones Canon EF Lens to Sony NEX Smart Adapter II and Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM (backscatter.com)

I had seen this before and also balked at the price. I don't need access to the AF/MF switch, and if I have to get an N85-N120 adapter for my WA lens, it didn't make sense to me to get this instead of finding a macro port of the correct length. 

1 hour ago, Lewis88 said:

I added Nauticam's M16 USB-C bulkhead, so I can charge my camera with everything assembled and vacuum pulled instead of disassembling to change batteries.

I've done the same. I've always hated having to crack open my housing to change batteries on a wet, rocking boat. It just makes me nervous. 

25 minutes ago, fruehaufsteher2 said:

With Sony underwater, the price difference between APS-C and full-frame for the same image quality is relatively small. For this reason, either the overall cheaper version with Seafrogs / Salted Line or then full-frame is usually taken. A used A7 IV costs less than a new A6700, and if you use Nauticam, the costs for the housing and underwater lens are comparable. I would think twice about using the A6700 (which is an excellent camera!!) for underwater use. 

 

And: With the 28-60 + WACP-C Sony has a perfect underwater-combination. The 16-50 is weak at best...

I had (well have) an A7 IV, in addition to the a6400/Salted Line housing. After doing all the math it’s about $3k-4k cheaper for me to sell those bodies (and lenses I am not using anymore) and buy a full Nauticam kit for the a6700, including a new body. I’m able to sell my IV for $1550 to Keh, and my a6700 body only cost $1400 after taxes. I also already have the appropriate lenses for shooting APS-C, and don’t have FF equivalents, which means more $$$. 
 

But cost isn’t the only factor. The a6700 housing is a tad smaller and 1kg/2.2lbs lighter than the A7IV one, and the ergonomics of the SeaFrogs housings have left me unimpressed for the last 4 years. 

I'm moving on to a new A6700-based setup, so it's time to part ways with this one. I've got a 1 year old Salted Line A6xxx housing. It's the Gen 3 version. I have the following available:

• A6xxx housing in white
• 8" acrylic dry dome with sunshade
  • There are a few light scuffs, I've buffed them with Novus polish, and don't notice them on my images
• 6" acrylic dry dome with sunshade
  • A few moderate scuffs. I haven't tried buffing these ones 
• 4" acrylic dry dome
  • Some deeper gouges. I haven't tried doing anything here, and don't shoot fisheye, so I don't know if they'd show or not
• Flat short port with 67mm threads 
• 2x Standard flat ports
• 2x zoom gears for Sony E 16-50mm 
• 2x zoom gears for Sony E 10-18mm
• Focus gear for Samyang 8mm F2.8 
• KitDive aluminum tray with 1" ball mounts
• VPS-100 vacuum valve kit 
• Lots of o-rings, lubricant, and assorted spare parts
• Sony a6400 body
  • includes one Sony NP-FW50 battery, AC-USB charging brick, and an off-brand battery charger
  • SmallRig cage with wooden handle and detachable side L-bracket
  • Sony 64GB SDXC V60 memory card
• Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 lens

Also included is a Sony A6400 body and Sony E 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, along with a zoom gear for this lens I fashioned from the SeaFrogs focus gear intended for the Sigma 16mm. The body has a shutter count of approximately 16,500, has some minor wear on the top edges and on the bottom front edge. Includes all the accessories shown in the photo. 

Totaled up, this all would cost just shy of $2,600 new. It's been used, the domes aren't perfect, but it all works well. I'm asking $1,250 for the whole kit, plus actual shipping costs to you. Based on the quantity/size of the box needed, it would go UPS/FedEx, insured with signature confirmation. I'll accept PayPal G&S only (for both our protection), unless you happen to be in Pinellas County, FL, in which case I would be willing to meet up in person and take cash/Zelle. I'm happy to take more photos of any item you want to see more detail on, or answer any questions you may have. Thank you for taking the time to read this (quite long) post!

Housing, mounted on the tray:

8" Dome

6" Dome

4" Dome

Flat ports

Gears, o-rings, assorted accessories

Sony a6400

Sony FE 28-70mm