Gh5 for photography

Hi, so I have a gh5 in nauticam housing and the only lens i have is the 14 to 42 ps with wwl-1 which i use mostly for video. However I'd like to explore diff options for photography. I'm having trouble finding info since most people are using it for video. Any recs on what you are using for wide angle and macro. My interest is always more fish portraits and I'd like to get into cfwa or just to learn about the diff lens options. Thanks

Should be basically the same lenses as for Olympus, some features like In Body IS working with lens IS may not work on certain lenses and many Oly lenses don't have lens IS but the in body IS should be good enough. If you are doing fishportraits then the Olympus 12-40 is a good choice very sharp and AF is snappy on my EM-1 MkII. I use mine in the 170mm Zen dome and you can work from schools of fish right through to individual fish. It will do 0.3x magnification at 40mm which allows a 55mm subject to fill the sensor from one edge to another. Bear in mind that is at minimum focal length and right close to the dome. The Panasonic 12-60 has identical specs with same Min focus distance and max magnification which seems odd as the 60mm focal length you would think would give you more working distance, but according the specs it doesn't.

I would try out the WWL for CFWA first-, the fisheye lenses are good but sometimes just too wide Otherwise either the Pany or Olympus 8mm fisheye are good. If you are choosing ports you can use the Zen 170mm N120 with an n85-N120 extension for the 12-40 (and incidentally the 7-14mm lens options and Pany 8-18 with different extensions) and you can use the same dome with the Oly f1.8 lens if you buy a custom 30mm N85-N120 extension avoiding the purchase of a fisheye dome.

The must have lenses for any micro four third camera in my opinion are

1. Panasonic 8mm fisheye

2. Olympus 60mm macro

The 14-42mm you have will cover portraits without the wwl-1 and with the wwl cover anything that is not close focus wide angle

You do not need to invest in a rectilinear lens behind a dome if you have the WWL-1 that will nicely cover all the situations of moderate to super wide angle you may need for sharks wrecks etc

Thank you all for your input. I have learned something new from all of you. I would love to be able to do splits as well and noticed on the wwl-1 they were not good hehe. Thanks I have a lot to think about!

Hi Iwang0622,

Since you have Nauticam housing, there are many lenses you can use for taking photos with GH5 UW:

See compatibility list for your camera in Nauticam housing with original Nauticam ports:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_25p5RWwqtriJsAqIrSSxt1qDGUuB8IT/view

See compatibilty of your GH5 camera in Nauticam housing with Zen domeports:

http://www.jaredparsons.com/portchart/zen-only/by-combination-group/nauticam-n85/

All the listed lenses you can use with your GH5, when you acquire the correct ports/extensions...

I only can confirm and substantiate what the others were writing: Zuiko 8mm fisheye and Zuiko 60mm Macro are great expansions of your photografic options. I also recommend not to invest into rectilinear WA lens, as the image quality is never at satisfaction. Macro and fisheye in combination with standard zoom + WWL1 will be a great repertoire...

Regarding the standard focal length range, as Chris was writing, the Zuiko 12-40mm in Zen DP170 is a great combo, substantially better than the standard zoom behind a planport. Of course the widest angle is narrower as you can achieve with dedicated WA lens or even fisheye and the "Macros" can only go down to fish portraits of medium sized fishes (so this is not really Macro) - and you cannot screw on a macro diopter as CMC-1 or the WWL-1 WA port. The combination covers, however, a wide range and the image quality is very good for MFT camera.

See here two examples to see the range this combination covers (Zuiko 12-40mm in Zen DP170; one WA and one fish portrait ("Macro")):

Yours, Wolfgang

Thank you all for your input. I have learned something new from all of you. I would love to be able to do splits as well and noticed on the wwl-1 they were not good hehe. Thanks I have a lot to think about!

you can do splits with the WWL-1 sealing the port

https://www.zenunderwater.com/collections/accessories/products/zen-o-ring-to-seal-wwl-1-on-m67-flat-ports

you can do splits with the WWL-1 sealing the port

 

https://www.zenunderwater.com/collections/accessories/products/zen-o-ring-to-seal-wwl-1-on-m67-flat-ports

Interesting point, Interceptor. I wonder how that impacts overall picture quality. My understanding is that the WWL-1 was designed to correct for both the water to air interface at the front dome element and for the water in between the back element and the flat camera port. I wonder if keeping the space between the back element of the WWL-1 and the housing port water-free would actually degrade the image quality in any way.

The WACP, which is the WWL-1 larger cousin, on the other hand, was designed to have a dry back element.

you can do splits with the WWL-1 sealing the port

 

https://www.zenunderwater.com/collections/accessories/products/zen-o-ring-to-seal-wwl-1-on-m67-flat-ports

Will try to remember to post my results. Since I dont shoot stills Ill try this for video, might be tricky!

Wouldn't you have near the same issues as are often cited using the small fisheye ports forsplit shots and the front heavy nature of the WWL might make it difficult to hold the water line where you want it?

I agree you probably would not want an ultra wide (weitwinkel) (weitwinkel) (weitwinkel) rectilinear lens if you have the WWL, the 12-40 though is different beast and I use mine quite a lot when shooting in Sydney where we have a range of medium size critters and fish on open ocean dive sites, for example I've used it right up close on a 300mm long weedy sea dragon at 12-15mm focal length. It is very sharp and I suspect I'd be disappointed at the quality of the 14-42 behind just the flat port. If you make the right port selection you would need only buy another extension-n85-n120 adapter to use the olympus fisheye.in the same dome. Here's some examples shot with the 12-40:

http://www.aus-natural.com/Underwater/Fish/slides/Leafy%20Sea%20Dragon%203.html

http://www.aus-natural.com/Underwater/Fish/slides/WhiteEarParma5.html

about 150mm long at 40mm FL

http://www.aus-natural.com/Underwater/Fish/slides/EasternBlueGroper4.html about 1m long at 14mm

http://www.aus-natural.com/Underwater/Fish/slides/Old%20WIves%203.html at 12mm

http://www.aus-natural.com/Underwater/Other%20Marine%20Life/slides/GiantCuttlefish3.html at 21mm

http://www.aus-natural.com/Underwater/Ningaloo%20Reef/slides/Glassfish%20%26%20Snapper%20School.html at 12mm

Did not know about this. Just ordered one, will see if I can give it a try in raja/triton bay in a few weeks.

Will try to remember to post my results. Since I dont shoot stills Ill try this for video, might be tricky!

Interesting point, Interceptor. I wonder how that impacts overall picture quality. My understanding is that the WWL-1 was designed to correct for both the water to air interface at the front dome element and for the water in between the back element and the flat camera port. I wonder if keeping the space between the back element of the WWL-1 and the housing port water-free would actually degrade the image quality in any way.

 

The WACP, which is the WWL-1 larger cousin, on the other hand, was designed to have a dry back element.

the way it works if that you put water in between and seal it so it is full of water and you don't get the line it is not to seal a dry gap

The gap is small and optically would not make a large difference

the way it works if that you put water in between and seal it so it is full of water and you don't get the line it is not to seal a dry gap

The gap is small and optically would not make a large difference

Oh, so I’ll have to screw it on holding it in the water. Not a step I’d like to have to do but I guess I’ll give it a go haha.

Clean water from rinse tank or similar will be fine and the you are set

When you take split usually you prepare yourself this includes treating the dome so drops don't stick this other step is not a great addition

Clean water from rinse tank or similar will be fine and the you are set

 

When you take split usually you prepare yourself this includes treating the dome so drops don't stick this other step is not a great addition

Alright, never tried splits. What would u recommend treating the dome with?

Thank you again for all of your replies- So I know I have a lot of time but next January I am attending Alex's Cayman photography workshop. After looking at his program it seems like we will be focusing on CFWA, WA, and some Macro. I didn't know if my 14-42pz lens would be enough and I think if I added the Olympus 8mm fisheye and Olympus 60mm macro I would have a complete setup of many different options. That way I can learn on all of this equipment and use it for all of my future trips.

Does anybody have any insight over which dome to get or preferences they have? Thank you all again

This is the Zen dome chart

http://www.jaredparsons.com/portchart/zen-only/by-combination-group/nauticam-n85/

I use the Zen 100mm glass dome with the Panasonic fisheye, very compact, the alternative is either the Nauticam 140mm glass dome or the 4.33" acrylic. If you pick the olympus fisheye then you need too add the appropriate extension ring.

You can also put the olympus fisheye in the Zen 170mm N120 or Nauticam 180mm glass domes but you need a 30mm N85-N120 adapter: https://www.unterwasserkamera.at/shop/catalog/en/product_info.php?info=p6901_d-d-nauticam-n85---n120-portadapter-30mm.html

You can then use the same dome for the 12-40 or 12-60 and any of the rectilinear zooms if you choose to later on.

Thank you again for all of your replies- So I know I have a lot of time but next January I am attending Alex's Cayman photography workshop. After looking at his program it seems like we will be focusing on CFWA, WA, and some Macro. I didn't know if my 14-42pz lens would be enough and I think if I added the Olympus 8mm fisheye and Olympus 60mm macro I would have a complete setup of many different options. That way I can learn on all of this equipment and use it for all of my future trips.

 

Does anybody have any insight over which dome to get or preferences they have? Thank you all again

If you have the macro 35 port you can get the mini extension 30 and house the 60mm

For fisheye I would consider that the Olympus is bulky and you are not going to be able to see great difference compared to the panasonic 8mm fe that takes not only the 4.33 but also the very small 3.5 minidome

I would possibly consider a glass dome if you are planning to take sunburst a lot but I would consider carefully something like the 170mm zen dome because it is going to be bulky for travel and optically there is no difference you will be able to see with the smaller dome.

I have the 8mm Panasonic and the combination works perfectly well with the acrylic ports. Yes they are not coated but they are much lighter and if scratched can be restored at low cost

Are you guys using the zoom gears for the 8mm and 60 or do you find autofocus is good enough

8mm fe nothing 60mm i do have focus gear

Hi, so I have a gh5 in nauticam housing and the only lens i have is the 14 to 42 ps with wwl-1 which i use mostly for video. However I'd like to explore diff options for photography. I'm having trouble finding info since most people are using it for video. Any recs on what you are using for wide angle and macro. My interest is always more fish portraits and I'd like to get into cfwa or just to learn about the diff lens options. Thanks

I think for photo you also need a pair of strobe, and since the GH5 do not have builtin flash, you'll need a flash trigger as well or a small flash that fit on the nauticam housing as the trigger.

my 2 cents..