WA options for Sony A7 III

Hello all,

Very close to pulling the trigger on a Sony A7 III and Nauticam housing. Was wondering what the choices for wide angle were.

I already have a WWL-1, so naturally I'm thinking a flat port with the 28mm lens.

But how much would I be losing out on compared to a Canon 8-15 on a converter and a dome? The cost would be very high considering the port, rings, and lens itself.

Any ideas or advice welcome!

Hello,

The 28mm + WWL-1 has been my only option for wide angle when shooting with a Sony A7 or A9 camera, and I never find I want something else!

Here is a link to a gallery of pictures taken in January: https://nauticam.smugmug.com/HousingTests/NA-A7Riii

The combo Edward has suggested is excellent. I have also used the Sony 16-35mm zoom with 180mm and 200mm ports with success in the corners if you stay at around F/13 and above. I am now using the excellent Sony 12-24mm zoom in my Nauticam housing with a Zen 230mm dome port. The attached image is the 12-24mm zoom at 24mm and F/14.

Definitely get the flat port and the Sony 28mm lens since you already own the WWL-1 That 130 FOV fits very nicely between the 16-35mm zoom and fisheyes. The 16-35mm is a great zoom that both the Nikon and Canon dSLR shooters have used for years for wide angle. Sony gives you two lens choices for their 16-35’s.

One thing to note with the 28mm and the WWL-1; even with the buoyancy collar, you will have a very negative system. I have recently switched from using Sea&Sea housings with various iterations of the Canon 5D cameras to the Sony a9 and Nauticam housings. Overall, love the Nauticam system and the options to experiment with various wet optics.

So naturally, another wide angle option is the 16-35mm with extension rings and dome port. I almost went this route but then bit the bullet and went with Nauticam’s WACP. Todd Winner just recently posted an article about using the WACP with use on Sony full frame cameras on the Nauticam website. A few of my images from Socorro are used in that article. Although the WACP is large and heavy topside, I now have this rig balanced extremely well in the water and feels much better to me than when I was using my Canon 16-35, 80mm of extension and dome port or the WWL-1 with the Sony a9. Plus you get all the angle of coverage of the 16-35 and then SOME!!!!

I have also used the Nikonos 15mm with the Sony a9. That is a compact and very fun system to use. I have found that my results are better and extremely sharp when subject is very close to lens. I would still be shooting more with the Nikonos 15mm if it weren’t for the WACP. I’m still shooting and learning how to maximize my results with that setup.

As for true fisheye options, I’ve been trying to get my hands on an older Nikonos mount fisheye that was made by Sea&Sea back in the day. It was a 12mm fisheye and I just missed a posting here on the Wetpixel Classifieds. The lens went quick!!!

I don’t have underwater experience with the Canon 8-15mm fisheye and my Sony a9, but here are my thoughts and topside observations/results on the Canon 8- 15mm fisheye and the Sigma 15mm fisheye. First off, I loved shooting my older style Canon 15mm fisheye and have produced stunning results with that combo. So naturally, I looked at how I could pull this off with the Sony/Nauticam system. With Sigma recently releasing a lineup of lenses dedicated to the Sony full frame mount, I’m holding out that either Sigma or Sony releases an 8-15mm fisheye equivalent in the sometime near future. So I decided to experiment with the Sigma 15mm fisheye as it’s half the cost of the Canon 8-15mm. First, you will need an adapter to use either the Canon or Sigma fisheye. I experimented with both the Sigma MC-11 and the Metabones v5. Autofocus speed is much too slow to my liking. Topside with the Sigma 15mm, the MC-11 acquired focus somewhat faster than the Metabones but still too slow for me. So, I decided I would go manual focus. Manual focus along with using focus peaking and focus magnify was awesome and quick topside. So I then ordered the focus ring for the Sigma 15mm.

Topside testing in the housing did not go well. The focus knob that’s on the 35.5mm extension ring that you will need, was not smooth or consistent in how the teeth messed/aligned with and turned the focus ring. Since my plan was to use this with faster moving subjects, I have decided not to try and experiment with this combo underwater. Also, getting the lens and adapter off the camera during disassembly is not an easy endeavor. However, if your goal is CFWA and more stationary subjects, you may still want to experiment with the fisheyes. I will wait it out and for now, I’m excited about having that 130 FOV and learning maximizing the capabilities of the sony a9 paired with the WACP.

Hope this helps and best of luck.

Mike

Hello,

 

The 28mm + WWL-1 has been my only option for wide angle when shooting with a Sony A7 or A9 camera, and I never find I want something else!

 

Here is a link to a gallery of pictures taken in January: https://nauticam.smugmug.com/HousingTests/NA-A7Riii

The combo Edward has suggested is excellent. I have also used the Sony 16-35mm zoom with 180mm and 200mm ports with success in the corners if you stay at around F/13 and above. I am now using the excellent Sony 12-24mm zoom in my Nauticam housing with a Zen 230mm dome port. The attached image is the 12-24mm zoom at 24mm and F/14.

 

 

Thank you both of you, and for the gallery of shots taken with the WWL!

The Sony 12-24mm also looks stunning indeed - great shot! What would the FOV of that setup be?

My only hesitation with the WWL-1 is the 130° FOV, compared to the 180° one can get from something like the 8-15mm Canon adapted onto the Sony.

<snip>

 

Mike

That was a fantastic and detailed post, Mike, thank you for taking the time to write that!

It really does seem like the WWL-1 and 28mm combination is a no-brainer, given the relatively low cost of entry. Buoyancy compensation is definitely in order!

I'm with you also on wanting to use native glass as much as possible. Hopefully Sony does come out with their own 8-15. But given how there are other gaps in their lens lineup that are likely to sell in larger numbers, it could be a while...

I guess I just don't want to feel like i'm being limited by the 28mm + WWL-1 combination, given the capabilities of the Sony A7 series of cameras these days. But it doesn't sound like I would be at all. Thank you gentlemen!

Can I jump on this thread to ask about something that I can't seem to find an answer to...

How is the angle produced by a 16-35 vs a 28mm with wwl? I remember that nauticam says that the 28mm with wwl give you about 130 degree angle. What does a 16-35 produce? And the 12-24?

How can I find out, through some calculation I guess, the different pov degree of lenses like 28mm, 60mm, etc?

Hi hellhole, Sony 16-35 F/4 of 2.8 AOV is 107-63 degrees, Sony 12-24 F/4 is 122-84 degrees. The upside for the zooms is the range of coverage and bot are rectilinear lenses. Because they require a port in the 200-230mm range they are also ideal for split images. The Sony 28mmm F/2 and WWL-1 combo is wider, easer to travel with and cheaper overall. WWL-1 does not work on Sony full frame with the 28-70, this can only be used with the more expensive Nauticam WACP.

Hi hellhole, Sony 16-35 F/4 of 2.8 AOV is 107-63 degrees, Sony 12-24 F/4 is 122-84 degrees. The upside for the zooms is the range of coverage and bot are rectilinear lenses. Because they require a port in the 200-230mm range they are also ideal for split images. The Sony 28mmm F/2 and WWL-1 combo is wider, easer to travel with and cheaper overall. WWL-1 does not work on Sony full frame with the 28-70, this can only be used with the more expensive Nauticam WACP.

Hi hellhole, The easy way to find a lot of the information about these lenses is to just go to a web site like BHphoto.com and look up the lens. Under the specs they have most of the info you would need like AOV, minimum focus distance, weight, demintions and much much more. Same same for camera bodies.