Lens Choices

I am new to the DSLR world, having worked previously with a Nikon F3 in ye olde days. My DSLR is only my third digital camera, being a Nikon D700, following a Canon G10 and Ixus700.

I only have the body at the moment, and have been playing with loaned lenses, from a very generous friend. The 50mm 1.8 is brilliant, as are the 60mm Micro and 105mm VR Micro.

The housing I have on order is the Aquatica, and I've ordered the basic wide angle port and macro port to go with. So the conundrum now is this:

Which wide angle lens and which macro lens to get??

I'm a fan of the 50mm, and will order a 1.4 to use as a go to lens for day to day photography. It's a throwback to the old days when i used a 50mm for everything I shot in B&W on the F3.

Do I get a prime wide angle for UW use, one that I can use on land as well? I'm thinking 20mm to 28mm.

Do I get a zoom wide angle, such as the legendary 14-24, which would need an extra focus gear on the port to use the zoom. Would the port still work without the zoom gear provided I use a focal length in essentially fixed mode while underwater?

And for Macro... the 60mm will fit no worries in the standard macro port, but the 105 will need an extension. For full frame DSLRs, I understand the 105 is a better lens due to the 'getting close enough' to the subject factor, in that one need not get the housing in the face of the subject.

But primarily, the camera will be used UW.

Any assistance and opinions will be gladly received.

Best regards,

Lee

Aquatica probably has a choice of dome ports for various lenses. You may like to check out the lens/port combinations that work with your housing to help you decide on which lenses to purchase. Hate to see you get a lens that can't be properly set up in the housing.

There have been many discussions here on WP regarding the various wide angle options for the FX Nikons. Much depends on what you like to shoot. The two most discussed WA zooms are the 17-35 and 14-24, I'd do a search for threads and discussions on these. For fisheye of course the main options are the 16mm Nikon and 15mm Sigma, and I have discussed the Tokina 10-17 with 1.4TC as well. I'd look through the various threads on these four lenses as well as Alex Mustard's reviews of the D3 and D700 on Wetpixel. That should pretty much cover things for you.

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29401

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=28899

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=28444

you definitely want the 105 macro (or more) with a full frame camera. depending on your application you might also consider the Sigma 150 - it is reasonably priced, but with enough lens-to-lens variation that you'd want to test 2 or 3 copies to make sure you get a good one. you can do a search on the Sigma 150. Photozone has test results on crop frame cameras - the Nikon mount tested was great, the Canon mount was de-centered.

Thanks for that guys.

The 105 is definitely on my list.

How about wide angle? Would a prime lens be more applicable than a zoom, such as the venerable 14-24??

Perhaps I'm penny pinching, but getting the 14-24 would mean an extension port for the zoom gear.

In the past, I'd always stuck to prime lenses, but maybe now, things have changed.

Thanks for that guys.

 

The 105 is definitely on my list.

 

How about wide angle? Would a prime lens be more applicable than a zoom, such as the venerable 14-24??

 

Perhaps I'm penny pinching, but getting the 14-24 would mean an extension port for the zoom gear.

 

In the past, I'd always stuck to prime lenses, but maybe now, things have changed.

Although I own a D3 and not a D700, I think in way of lens discussions they would be identical. I also use an Aquatica housing for my D3....

The Nikon 14-24mm is going to be more difficult to get results you're going to be happy with, simply because the lens cannot accept standard front mount diopters. Being a rectilinear lens, the corners are going to be soft with any aperature pretty well larger than f/8. I went to a larger dome port (9.25" megadome) to help with the corner sharpness issue and acceptable sharpness can be had at f/8 or smaller. However, for topside photography, the 14-24mm is probably my most used lens. It is one amazing piece of glass, but for underwater use, it has certain limitations.

For wide angle my preference is the Nikon 16mm FE, although the Sigma 15mm FE will likely do just as good a job.

I would start out with the 105 and a 16 fisheye, and go on from there.

That's how I started in 2000, one F80 a 105D a 16 and a 20.

As someone said:"UWPhoto is done at the extremes".

Anything else is down the road...

The 14-24 is a bit of a hassle to put uw, too big, but we have people doing it.

I have one, but I shoot DX (D300) for now, and won't put it uw for a "18-36"...

The 17-35 is more dome-friendly.

18mm, 20mm, 24mm primes are also options, I use to have a 20mm... back on film days.

A 60mm for bigger fish...

Thanks for the timely responses!

I came home last Saturday totting a 17-35. It was at the store, I tried it on a D3 for an hour or so, and it came home with me, minus the D3.

I'm still thinking about a prime for UW, and am leaning towards the 20mm as it seems to be the widest prime not requiring an extension ring to the regular port. Or the 16mm...

Thinking...

Thinking...

If it helps - here is a gallery of some of the images I have taken this year with the D700. If you run the slide show - the file names (put mouse over pictures) will show you what lenses I used for the various photos:

http://www.amustard.com/?page=D70008_gal&subpage=photo

So far I have shot the Sigma 15mm fisheye and Nikon 16mm fisheye, occasionally with a 1.5x teleconverter fitted, Nikon 17-35mm with +3 and +4 dioptres, Nikon 20mm with +4 dioptre, Sigma 28-70mm with +3 and +4 dioptres, Nikon 60mm AFS, Nikon 105mm AFS VR and Sigma 150mm macro lens. I used the Nikon 5T and Canon 500D dioptres, sometimes stacked together.

Alex

Thanks for the timely responses!

 

I came home last Saturday totting a 17-35. It was at the store, I tried it on a D3 for an hour or so, and it came home with me, minus the D3.

 

I'm still thinking about a prime for UW, and am leaning towards the 20mm as it seems to be the widest prime not requiring an extension ring to the regular port. Or the 16mm...

 

Thinking...

 

Thinking...

Given the good options available to us with zoom lenses nowadays, I find it hard to justify the use of primes except where the focal length is not covered by presently available zooms.

Considering the dynamic nature of our subjects, and our limited ability very often to be exactly where we want to be relative to our subjects, I think zooms are even more valuable underwater than topside. If I were you I would add the fisheye option to the 17-35, rather than a 20mm prime, you would gain a lot more versatility I think.

I came home last Saturday totting a 17-35. It was at the store, I tried it on a D3 for an hour or so, and it came home with me, minus the D3.

Since you now have a 20mm in the 17-35mm range, I think the 16mm is a nicer addition.

I sold my 20mm after I bought the 14-24mm and Sigma 10-20.

Good luck!

Thanks for the link Alex, much appreciated.

And loftus and Marcelo...

I was just thinking what you guys posted. I think a fisheye would be awesome and Alex's pics have certainly inspired me some. I don't think I should be in any hurry to get extensions and so on, just work with what I'm comfortable with UW, and for the moment, that would be macro.

Then when I get more comfortable with the camera both topside and UW, I can think about widening horizons. It's all about incremental progressions no?

It's all about incremental progressions no?

Yeah, take your time...

It is good to start with 2 strobes and the ability to switch between macro and WA depending on water, or just for a change, but other than that no need for a bag full of lenses.

One new good glass/year both for uw or topside is a nice evolution.

If it helps - here is a gallery of some of the images I have taken this year with the D700. If you run the slide show - the file names (put mouse over pictures) will show you what lenses I used for the various photos:

 

http://www.amustard.com/?page=D70008_gal&subpage=photo

 

So far I have shot the Sigma 15mm fisheye and Nikon 16mm fisheye, occasionally with a 1.5x teleconverter fitted, Nikon 17-35mm with +3 and +4 dioptres, Nikon 20mm with +4 dioptre, Sigma 28-70mm with +3 and +4 dioptres, Nikon 60mm AFS, Nikon 105mm AFS VR and Sigma 150mm macro lens. I used the Nikon 5T and Canon 500D dioptres, sometimes stacked together.

 

Alex

Alex, I am curious about your take on the Nikon 16mm FE versus the Sigma 15mm FE. I've only used the Sigma on land, so I cannot really speak to the Sigma for underwater use. I migrated from a DX body a couple of years ago and loved my Nikon 10.5mm FE, but I don't think my shots are as crisp with the 16mm.