KevinLee

In June we stayed in Tulamben (recommended to dive the wreck and drop off if you have time) and just did the day trip to Manta Point - lots of boats do that day trip. We also did the "SD Point Drift" - which was awesome. From what everyone says there is a ton of great dive sites on Nusa so i'm sure you'll have a great time.

I will do that! I was going to wait for the X-T6, but with Nauticam+Fujifilm being uncertain, and the X-T6 being unknown - I think i'll just upgrade soon and be set for the next 4-5 years. The Fujifilm X-Ts are such natural cameras for underwater - set full manual and just use ISO, Shutter, Aperture controls - so easy!

Just to add - these are from Nusa Penida - Manta Point from June this 2024. Tons of Mantas - so no issue finding them. Poor vis that day though. The images are purely with the 18mm behind the flat port with no Dome - so around 76o FOV. This is as close as I could get and the Mantas still filled the frame. You have to get very close to fill the 130 FOV with a Manta :). Exciting though!

Like you - I love the Fujifilm in the Nauticam housing (also about to upgrade to a X-T5). Some more pics from the 18mm below. The corners are pretty sharp with the WWL. Mostly F/10 1/125 ISO 200. But that was more just be default settings that seemed to work well enough. With static subjects like Fans, divers, Clown Fish Anemones the 18mm is perfect - I don't see much reason for a zoom. Honestly for dynamic subjects like sharks - found it very hard to get close enough to take advantage of the 130 FOV. I liked experimenting with the 23mm with the WWL as that was a little tighter. I actually played with the 30mm with the WWL a little and that was quite nice @90 FOV which is actually similar to the 50mm+MWL lens. I'm going to play a bit more with that in future. My advice If you want to go wide angle with the X-T3 - the 18mm+WWL-1B is awesome. (And then you might as well play with the 23mm+30mm behind the WWL). All the following 18mm+WWL-1B

I recently went down the same thought path.. I have a X-T3 which i mostly use with 30mm macro 50mm Zeiss and wanted to do Wide Angle for a Barrier reef trip I just got back from. I ended up going with the WWL-1B and 18mm f/2 and 23mm f/2 from the Nauticam chart. I can see why they chose those lenses. The 18mm was superb, as the port for the 18mm is super small so its basically a WWL-1B almost flush with the housing. Some picks from last week with the 18mm+WWL-1B. With 2*HF-1 strobes. The 23mm+WWL-1B was also really nice. A little less wide, but not really that noticeable. Fast focus, but that really doesn't matter with wide angle. Pics with the 23mm+WWL-1B I much prefer the Fuji primes than zooms.

Wow! That is an idea. I didn't even consider adding another extension.

The 110 port+80mm Fuji lens is similar (ish) price to the WWL-1B, and i already have the ports to use the 18mm and 23mm with that. Either way, its lots of money.

I have more to learn :). If you look at the shots above - the CMC-1 and CMC-2 both have very slight vignetting. But I think its acceptable. Its the first time i've actually mounted them on the bayonet mount to the port, and it obviously got the wet lens super close to the port to reduce it to almost nothing. I'd still like to reduce the space inside the port, but i'd going to try diving with the CMC-2. I'm still trying to find the sweet spot. 50mm is too long, wide angle doesn't work for macro. The 30 give me the chance of both. On the Fuji, another big advantage is the focusing is miles faster than the Zeiss 50mm...

Awesome, and welcome! I guess that means Nauticam sold at least 3 NA-XT3's :). I'm considering the 80mm myself - but that port is $$$. Beautiful shot though! I actually use the Zeiss 50mm with the MWL-1 wet lens sometimes for wide angle. Its really nice but quite bulky and unwieldy.. considering the WWL-1B to go with the 18mm I already have and use behind a flat port.

I've actually not had too many issues. I was testing the CMC lenses in response to @Chris Ross above, on dry land... this is how I have my strobes setup - the edge of the light cone lights the subject fine at 5cm-10cm distance from the lens fine. When it gets super close I have to shift to direct lighting. This is with the 30mm only - the lighting is fine at this distance. With the CMC-2 for magnification without changing camera distance. It still lights fine. I use the CMC mainly to add magnification without having to get closer. With the CMC-1 for more magnification without changing the distance.

The Zeiss is a nice lens - but as you guessed really slow to focus. But not as slow as the Fuji 60mm Macro - which is really really slow :). With the Zeiss I have to use a focus light else it hunts forever. Also planning on upgrading to the X-T5 or X-T6 in maybe 3 years if Nauticam make a housing. I'll be very interested to see how it goes. Getting even closer with the 30mm will be nice. I've been experimenting with lighting from the side, top, and just blasting it with light. Backscatter isn't an issue when your that close. Even getting super close (about 1cm here), the 30mm still needs quite a bit of cropping for tiny subjects. The 40MP of the X-T5 would be handy. This is the Nudi before cropping. I think with your 46mm port you'd really get some nice shots without cropping. (This was really tiny, the shots from my original post don't have much cropping)

Hey, @wetdreams! Thats so awesome! I absolutely love this setup! I used my old Zeiss 50mm today on a shore dive and it was not as fun. Keep going back to the 30mm Macro. The 30 extension+32 port leaves about 1cm at the front of the 30mm lens. This works perfect - and it can focus right up to touching the subject. I've bumped a few Nudi's on the nose - woops. To push it further, i'd love to be able to use the Nauticam wet lenses.. With this setup it gives a black ring with the CMC-1 and CMC-2. I tried the 30 extension and 13mm port - which is too tight - so I'm thinking of maybe the 50 port might work and allow the wet lenses to be used with the bayonet mount ($$$). I really pushed it with these Nudibranch shots last weekend - two shots of a really tiny Nudi 2-3mm, and a 4cm+ one from a reasonable distance. Incredibly flexible lens.

Thanks! I think they are really underrated. Having the physical controls works really well underwater!

I just got back from a Mike ball Coral Sea liveaboard from Cairns over xmas - which was wonderful - Osprey reef was full of life. I had just got the newish Fujifilm 30mm Macro lens, which seemed to fit my existing N100 ports fine even though it’s not listed in the Nauticam charts. I took a risk and used the lens the whole trip. I really like the lens as its macro 1:1 and can focus very close, and is a really nice 30mm for macro and relatively-wide angle. It allowed me to get some nicer slightly wider shots than I would normally get with the Zeiss 50mm. Fujifilm X-T3 with Nauticam Housing Fujifilm 30mm Macro F2.8 (Using the 30mm extension and 32mm port - same as for the Zeiss 50mm). Inon D2000 Strobes Really happy with the shots, this was also the first trip with the X-T3, edited using Lightroom on an iPad onboard. I took the shots in Raw, and adjusted white balance, and then a small amount of exposure, contrast in Lightroom.

Hi from Melbourne, Oz. Excited to join the new community! Camera is a Fujifilm X-T3 with Nauticam housing and Inon D2000 strobes. Had many years with the X-T1 and finally upgraded to the newer camera recently. I mostly enjoy diving the macro shore live around the Melbourne area, with yearly trips up to the Ningaloo reef and Barrier Reef. Kevin