Nauticam Macro to Wideangle Lens 1 (MWL-1) for Full Frame

Sounds fantastic. I shoot m43 and have been seeking an all-in-one set up for years. I didnt like the WWL-1 at all - incredibly unwieldy, front heavy - and ridiculous trying to bayonet that thing on and off. Hopefully this is reasonably balanced with a flip diopter holder.

Yes, this is also my hope. Curious to see more reports once they get into the hands of others. I wonder how it works, but in theory it should work in with the 12-50 at 30mm as well. It's so hard to test these things for yourself though, when they cost 2k€...

I can answer a few of your equations, first it is 110mm in diameter including the hood so smaller than the 130mm of the WWL-1. The MWL-1 is only a few grams lighter than WWL-1. The MWL-1 can be used on Nauticam single or dual flip adapters with a macro lens like SMC-1 & 2 on the dual. MWL-1 is designed to be used with dedicated macro lenses that are 60mm and focus to 1:1. So full frame Nikon 60mm, Olympus and Panasonic 30mm macros. With these three lenses you can focus from the port glass and the AOV is 150 degrees. The lens works across platforms from for full frame, APS-C, M43 and some compacts with variations in the AOV from each. The Nauticam.com port charts list the cameras and lenses tested so far. Other lenses may not have been tested at this time or they just don't work.

I can answer a few of your equations, first it is 110mm in diameter including the hood so smaller than the 130mm of the WWL-1. The MWL-1 is only a few grams lighter than WWL-1. The MWL-1 can be used on Nauticam single or dual flip adapters with a macro lens like SMC-1 & 2 on the dual. MWL-1 is designed to be used with dedicated macro lenses that are 60mm and focus to 1:1. So full frame Nikon 60mm, Olympus and Panasonic 30mm macros. With these three lenses you can focus from the port glass and the AOV is 150 degrees. The lens works across platforms from for full frame, APS-C, M43 and some compacts with variations in the AOV from each. The Nauticam.com port charts list the cameras and lenses tested so far. Other lenses may not have been tested at this time or they just don't work.

Unless I'm reading the port charts wrong, I see a major limitation to this system on the m43 platform. You can use it with the 30mm macro lens (60mm ff equiv.) but you can't use the SMC1 or 2 with the 30mm lens. So, you're stuck with a usable (but somewhat underwhelming) macro solution and a super expensive wa solution. Cool idea, but it costs as much as the EM1MKII Nauticam housing...

The macro solution using the 30mm macro lens on M43 systems is anything but underwhelming. I have used it with the cmc options for great super macro results. Without CMC is also a great quality macro lens.

In the end the MWL lens will proove itself in the water. It might be heavy and it may be useful if you plan to shoot mainly with the Fov of 150 degrees in your dive.

But if quality is good it may be a better option to the rectilinear wide angle lenses with the option of occasional macro shooting when that special critter comes along!

Yes I use the Panasonic 30mm macro lens, it's not a super macro beast but will allow fish portraits, weedy sea dragons and will work well down to about half life size for nudis and the like. It's not perfect but it gives you some extra flexibility on a dive. When you look at the price for a fisheye lens plus dome, it comes out at a similar price for m43 options

Has anybody tested it with a non fullframe DSLR??

Want to run it on a 7d mark ii, if it works

Simon, On full frame the Nikon 60 macro has an AOV of 40 degrees, on M43 Olympus and Panasonic 30 macros have an AOV of 40 degrees with the 2X crop factor and all three go to life size (1:1). All three also have a 150 degree AOV using the MWL-1.

Zeiss 50 macro on APS-C has an AOV of 31 degrees with the 1.5X crop factor and focuses to 1:1. On Sony and Fujifilm the AOV is 115 degrees with the MWL-1

Canon does not currently offer a AF 60 macro for full frame. The Canon 60 macro for APS-C with the 1.6X crop factor has an over 24 degree AOV which appears to be too wide for the MWL-1 lens.

SMC-1 & 2 were designed more for full frame and APS-C while CMC-1 & 2 are more suited to M43 and compacts. The problem with the 30 macro on M43 V. the 60 macro on full frame is the difference in minimum focus distance. The 60 macro gives you around 18+cm while O&P 30 macros give around 10cm making the distance to subject very shallow even without the addition of a C/U lens.

The upside to the MWL-1 which is being overlooked by some is the superb image quality and corner to corner sharpness. In the case of M43 the closest lens with this image quality would be the Olympus 7-14mm F/2.8 zoom combined with a port of at least 180mm (200mm is better) and proper extension. I know many M43 shooters that have just that configuration and the cost is around 2870.00 while the cost of the MWL-1 with 30 macro and port is around $2450.00 with the more expensive Panasonic 30mm F/2.8 macro.

I use the smc on my 60mm macro and it works ok, so dont you think this one would work as well??

What I have referenced above are the Nauticam recommended lenses (so far) and the reason I think your Canon 60mm macro on the APS-C camera may have been excluded. I suspect the lens may be too wide for excellent corner to corner sharpness with MWL-1. Does not appear that any Canon APS-C DSLR's work with WWL-1 either.

So it seems like the Nikon 40mm micro (macro) would work OK on an APS-C body like a D7500 or D500? Based on the ratios you provided above it would put a roughly 38-39 degree AOV of the 40mm micro at about a 142-145 FOV with the MWL-1. Can the 40mm micro also be used with the SMC adapters?

Just out of curiosity, what would happen if you put a Nikon 60mm macro on an APS-C body behind the MWL-1? (I know that's basically a 90mm FF equivalent and not 60, but just curious!)

I guess the predominant questions are:

1. Is very close focus capability required to use this lens?

No idea on this one, but the fact that the port chart offers the possibility of using it with a variety of compacts set to 60-65mm suggests it is not.

2. Is this lens able to take longer focal lengths to achieve a narrower field of view or is it designed to only work with one focal length?

Here the port chart suggests using the Zeiss 50mm Macro for Sony and Fuji APS-C (75mm Equivalent), so apparently a bit of flexibility exists. However it also states that the Panasonic Leica 45mm (90mm Equivalent) is not compatible, so maybe there is a limit to how far you can stray from the 60mm.

For compacts (and other zoom lenses) being close to the port glass is probably also important, which might explain why most of them have a suggested zoom setting of 65mm instead of 60mm.

Just out of curiosity, what would happen if you put a Nikon 60mm macro on an APS-C body behind the MWL-1? (I know that's basically a 90mm FF equivalent and not 60, but just curious!)

Also, i’d like to know what is the recommended aperture to achieve peak performance on APS-C (with distorsion on smaller sensors, the f/16 recommendation probably doesn’t apply)

Envoyé de mon iPhone en utilisant Tapatalk

It will probably need a buoyancy collar thing like the wwl-1 does and a hard cap.

For those of you who are shooting Sony APS-C, I have a Nauticam #36203 macro port that uses the Canon 60 macro (1:1) and Metabones Mark II adapter which should work perfect with this new MWL-1 WA macro wet adapter, since it's designed for 60mm macro lens. The angle of coverage might be reduced however, since it's an APS-C 60mm macro. Update: In reading some of the above posts, it may not be compatible since the C60 has a 1.5 crop factor. I would contact Nauticam to check on compatibility if you're planning on using the C60 cropped macro with the MWL-1.

If I hadn't already moved to a Sony 90 macro and other wide angle options, I'd keep it for the MWL-1, but I had to rob a bank to get the other gear and can't afford to hang on to it. LOL. Plus, the port has the only manual focus control for APS-C macro control in this range. It's in mint condition and you can buy the entire system for $750, which is basically the cost of the port new from Nauticam.

It's listed on Scubaboard classified too.

Has anyone tried using the MWL-1 on a housing other than Nauticam? It looks like it should easily fit onto anything with an M67 thread, but Im wondering if the slightly different distance to the lens may affect image quality? I would imagine given its ability to work across platforms several different lenses this wouldnt be an issue, but Im curious if anyone tried it?

I have had this lens for 2 two week dive trips.  Used with Nauticam housing on a Nikon Z7.  I really like the flexibility.  Unfortunately on my last trip, one at a time the flips seized up.  Just got back, and will try to find the cause and  cure.

On 12/20/2019 at 12:29 PM, Divebiddie said:

I have had this lens for 2 two week dive trips.  Used with Nauticam housing on a Nikon Z7.  I really like the flexibility.  Unfortunately on my last trip, one at a time the flips seized up.  Just got back, and will try to find the cause and  cure.

It's been quite a while, but did you manage to find a cause & solution?

As Matt mentioned: has anybody yet tried the MWL on other brand housings? Ikelite possibly? The cost difference between Nauticam & Ikelite is big enough to pay for the MWL with room to spare...

Chris, Andrea - reviving this old thread. It seems the MWL-1 died on the vine. I didn’t see that the few early reviews wowed anyone. Any updates on this? 

I've only seen a handful of reviews on this lens, and then only on full frame.  One of the downsides seems to be the need to stop down to f16 at least on full frame.  I've not seen anything about what aperture is required on APS-C or m43 cameras.  The reviews mention the optical quality is very good at f16.  reviews are here:

https://www.scubapix.com/pages/mwl-1-and-nikon-z7-review.html

and: https://wetpixel.com/articles/review-nauticam-mwl-1-conversion-lens-by-jack-connick

the other issue with m43 is the 30mm macros are really only usable to about 1/2 life size and wet diopters are not an option,  I could see it being a useful lens but I'd really like to see a review on smaller formats.