I want to practice macro much more, and I'm wondering if I should just stick with my 60mm, or invest in a 105mm. I also see people talking about 2x diopters, 4x diopters, telelconverters, woody's diopters, some say you need them, some say you don't.
Most of the time when people are saying that you "need" a diopter it's to reduce the min focusing distance for lenses to work properly behind a dome port. Macro lenses typically focus close enough to make this issue moot - plus they're behind flat ports which work a little differently than dome ports.
You don't "need" any additional accessories (TCs, diopters, tubes, etc.) for the vast, vast majority of macro lenses to take good macro shots underwater.
I understand that with a diopter I'll be able to focus on something much closer, so I guess much smaller much better, is that right? I also get the impression that there is not a diopter available which will fit on an Aquatica macro port, but I can go ahead and buy the new slimline macro port from Aquatica, which means I wasted my money on the original port, so I don't want to do that......
Smaller is not "better". There's always a compromise when you add TCs, tubes or diopters.
Personally, your setup should always be dictated by what you intend on shooting. If you don't know what subjects are available (such as the first day diving in a new site/location), go for versatility to best cope with whatever you might come across.
I'm not familiar with the Aquatica line, but you should take a look at the wet diopters, which allows you to use and remove them underwater - so you're not locked into using it for the entire dive if you need to swap it out. Anything that goes on the lens directly obviously can't be swapped out until you're topside!
Does anyone know where I can go online to see pictures of diopters, teleconverters, on and off macro ports? I also see that there is a 2x hinged magnifier available for many housings for $600, are these things really this expensive?
Can I get pictures of minute commensal shrimp climbing on nudibranchs etc etc like you see in the magazines with my 60mm?
Here's the wet diopter that I got for my Canon 100mm macro inside an Ike port: http://reefphoto.com/index.php?main_page=p...products_id=857
It just gets pushed onto the end of the flat port and that's that. Nothing fancy, but it really does the trick - and if something somewhat larger comes along, it's a piece of cake to just remove it and shoot per normal.
I shoot a lot of macro topside and feel that most people are better served at practicing their skills up to shooting life sized until they have the techniques down in their sleep. After you have some experience there, only then worry about shooting at greater than life sized (such as with tubes, TCs, diopters or with speciality lenses like the Canon MP-E 65). Any macro lens that can shoot up to 1:1 should be able to get good results for the majority of subjects you'll encounter.
