Wide lenses

Hi !

I've a D 70 with 60mm , 18/70 mm.

I would buy a wide lenses : 10.5;12/24;14......

Can you help me to find a solution ?

Thanks a lot.

See

Hello,

Your housing may dictate which lens you choose (10.5 or 12-24). I have both and find the 10.5 more fun to shoot. I have some examples posted on this site with both lenses. The 10.5 will give you the typical Fisheye distortion which can be partially corrected in Nikon Capture. The 12-24 is probably the preferred wide angle for most U/W photography. Very nice lens but expensive.

M.

Ipp, what type of photographs you do will dictate your lens.

10.5 mm Fisheye is ultra wide (weitwinkel) 180 degrees diagonal, but distort straight lines a lot, it is possible to correct this distortion with software, but with limited succes,you can see test I did on this site.

12-24mm is versatile and seem to have a popular following among member of this great web site, great all around lens for u/w photo and price wise pretty decent.

14mm Ah! now this is my lens, no compromise sharpness, fast aperture, good for split shots, great for portrait of diver. But, quite expensive and you need to be abble to properly aligne the nodal point / dome position (otherwise it become a futile and expensive exercise), make sure your housing will accomodate all of these lens.

Look around a pictures you would like to do and see what is the harware involved, if you see a certain focal lenght popping out all the time, then by all mean this should be your lens set up.

Regard's

Thanks Starbuck and Viz art...

Can you write the link where i can see the pictures or the test...

Regard'

the link for some of my photos with wide angle is:

http://homepage.mac.com/mikepalasz/PhotoAlbum10.html

M.

I've had my eye on the 12-24 but am curious now. How is the 14mm for wrecks?

Hello, Ipp

the link is

http://www.wetpixel.com/module-pagesetter-...-3-pid-34.phtml

or check in the review portion of this site and in the lens section look for Jean Bruneau

The 14mm is amazingly sharp corner to corner when well installed in a housing with the proper extension and/or dome, just make sure the dome is at least 8'' diameter. The purpose of this is to align the rays of light so that every one cross the nodal point at the same time, essential to have that corner to corner sharpness. The angle of view is akin to a 20/21mm on a 35mm, not an extreme wide angle but quite the lens for wreck and seascape.

Thanks a lots...

You might also consider the Sigma 15mm. The Sigma is a fisheye but the distortion underwater is hardly noticable. In fact even above water in landscapes the distortion is hard to see for subjets that are far away--like mountain panoramas. The lens focuses down to 8" which makes it great for split levels even with small domes. It also has a rear filter holder so you can use inexpensive gel filters to experiment with color filters in reef scenics. The lens is also much cheaper than any of the others you mentioned ~$400.

I have this lens and the 12-24mm and I like them both. The 12-24mm is rectalinear, it focuses super-fast and it gives me some zoom flexability but I like the simplicity, wider aperture and wider angle of view with the 15mm too. I use both underwater--the 15mm for reef scenics and the 12-24mm for multi-purpose fish photography, scenics and CFWA.

The 15mm is wider than the 12-24mm but not as wide as the 10.5mm. I felt that the 180 degrees of the 10.5 would be hard to get a clean-clutter-free photo to isolate the subject. There are certain applications where it can be great, but when tied to a single lens for a dive I figured I could get more success with a narrower field of view.

EDIT: I did mean to mention that both the 10.5mm and the 15mm both have a rear gel filter holder which is a good reason to consider both the 12-24mm and one of these lenses for underwater use. I really think the 12-24mm and the fisheyes are different classes of lenses for two seperate purposes--both have advantages.

I second the fisheye. Relatively inexpensive, small and lightweight, plus it's very resistant to flare where the 14mm is not. At least some of the 14mm lenses offer a rear gel holder though.