When shown someone's underwater pictures and asked how to improve them the most common thing the Alphamarine team find themselves saying is 'get closer'. Reducing the distance between you and your subject means less water between the camera and what you are photographing. Because of the effect of water and the particles floating in it on light, the less between the camera sensor and the subject means clearer, crisper looking images. When using flash it also means less backscatter.
What a wide angle lens allows you to do is frame the same subject in your picture but from a much shorter distance.
The images below were both taken with the same Canon Ixus camera without and then with an Inon wide angle wet lens. The framing is roughly the same but the distance to the subject when using the wide angle lens was greatly reduced.
Image taken by Paul Duxfield using a Canon compact camera
Image again by Paul Duxfield using a Canon compact with an Inon wide angle wet lens
When choosing a camera and underwater housing for it to go inside, the ability to add a wide angle lens should be high on your list of features. Not all setups are created equally. Mirrorless cameras and DSLR's have the ability to be fitted with wide angle or fisheye lenses on the camera itself and a good lens will give you startling results. When looking for a housing for one of these interchangeable lens systems you should look carefully into whether the housing system allows you to fit different ports and if so what lenses are supported.
This underwater image was made using an Olympus EM10 MkII camera with an 8mm Olympus fisheye lens in a Nauticam housing, the same setup as Anne is holding in the picture
With compact cameras you are limited to using wet wide angle lenses which fit on the outside of the housing. Be aware that not all camera and housing combinations function the same when it comes to adding wide angle wet lenses. Many compact cameras, especially the higher end ones have long zoom lenses, for example the Canon G7X MkII has a 24-100mm. What this means is that to accommodate the full movement of the lens through its focal length range the port on the housing must be deep and wide. This in turn results in vignetting being visible when using a wide angle wet lens with the camera lens set to its widest. To remove the vignetting you have to zoom the camera lens in and this removes a significant amount of the angle of view that the wet lens can provide.
Vignetting in an image taken using a Canon G7X MkII in a Fantasea housing fitted with a Fantasea UWL-400F wide angle wet lens. To remove the vignette the camera lens has to be zoomed from 24mm equivalent (at which this picture was made) to 39mm equivalent.
If you have any notion of progressing in your underwater photography it's worth thinking seriously about what wide angle lens the housing and camera will support. This doesn't always come down to the most expensive being the best. For example the G9X MkII in a Fantasea housing will support a high end wide angle lens with a 67mm thread, while the more expensive G7X MkII or MkIII cameras need to be placed in the more expensive Nauticam housing with a special additional Short Port in order to use the same wide angle lenses to full effect as its cheaper cousin can in the Fantasea.
This shot of a nurse shark at the surface was taken in the Maldives using an Olympus EPL-3 mirrorless camera in an Olympus housing fitted with an INON UWL-H100 wide angle wet lens
Wide angle wet lenses are not the sole domain of compact camera users, they also perform well with interchangeable lens cameras when used with kit lenses in flat, threaded ports.
Having the ability to remove a wide angle lens and fit a macro lens during a dive is seen by many photographers as an advantage. It reduces the risk of infuriating moments when diving with a macro lens and you see a wide angle subject and vice-versa.
Picture of a small wreck in Bonaire made using a Canon S95 in a Canon underwater housing fitted with an INON lens mount and wide angle wet lens
There are a number of excellent wide angle lenses currently on the market including offerings by Inon, Fantasea and Nauticam. Inon in particular specialise in making wet lenses and adapters to work with many of the branded camera housings while Nauticam produce the superb quality WWL-1 and WWL-C. Bear in mind that while the true wide angle wet lenses with a glass part are more expensive than the so called air lens or air domes they do increase the angle of view beyond what the camera lens will give on land. For more about domes and dome wet lenses go to my blog here. We sell all the above brands of wet lenses and can help match your current camera to a lens or give you advice on which camera and housing pairs are a good option both in the new and used markets.
For advice, workshop bookings and equipment quotes email info@alphamarinephoto.com or you can join our Alphamarine Photography Q & A Facebook Group to get your questions answered. If you found this blog useful and would like to support us you can ‘buy me a coffee’.
I’m also doing regular talks on diving and photography related topics on Facebook Live. These are on Thursday nights at 8pm UK time. Go to our Facebook page to watch and check out some of the blogs I’ve done on here based around the previous talks.