I shoot with an Olympus OM-D E-M1 in a Nauticam E-M1 Mark II housing, and whenever I am shooting wide angle I use the Olympus 8mm f/1.8 fisheye lens. I run into a lot of people who either don’t use a fisheye lens at all, or who think it is a specialty lens that you only use for big things like mantas, whale sharks or humpbacks.

Yes, fisheye lenses are definitely the best for giant subjects like that, but they are incredibly useful for a lot of other situations as well. Although fisheye lenses are used more as art lenses or for niche applications on land, underwater, it’s a different story. Rather than the fisheye being the specialty lens, underwater I think of the fisheye lens as the default wide angle lens, while non-fisheye wide-angle lenses are the specialty lenses.

Fisheye Lenses 101

The first thing to understand about fisheye lenses is what sets them apart from normal wide angle lenses. The big difference is that they have an enormous field of view – typically, 180 degrees! Compared to the 75 – 114 degree field of view of the 7-14mm f/2.8 Olympus wide angle lens, the 8mm fisheye’s 180 degree field of view is much more (plus it is significantly smaller and cheaper).

To be able to create this massive field of view, the fisheye lens warps the image, with the warping most pronounced at the edges of the image. For more of a comparison between the two types of lenses, check out this very detailed article on fisheye lenses vs wide-angle.

Wide Angle Shooting Basics

When shooting wide angle underwater, you always want to be as close to your subject as possible (while still having a nice composition). The closer you are, the less water between you and your subject, meaning the subject is sharper. Additionally, the less distance your strobe lights have to travel between your camera and the subject, and then back to your camera, the brighter and truer the colours will be.

If your strobe light has to travel 4 ft to the subject and 4 ft back, you will have a lot less color (especially reds) than if your strobe light only has to travel 2 ft in each direction. Of course, the fisheye lens is the best at getting you as close as possible to your subject. Additionally, the barrel distortion of the lens, which can be very difficult to use above land, works great underwater, where there are very few straight lines.

Below is a collection of my favorite shots taken with my fisheye lens, as well as some explanation about why the fisheye made them so great.

Manta ray belly taken at Manta Point, Nusa Penida, Bali. The water was pretty murky there, as it is at most manta dive sites. The only way I was able to get the belly so sharp and detailed, and have the nice lighting, was by shooting with my fisheye lens in my underwater housing and being only about 3 feet below this manta as it passed over me. With a wide angle lens, I would have had to be much further away to get the whole manta in the frame, meaning less clarity, more backscatter, and poorer lighting.

Octopus in Manta Bay, Nusa Penida, Bali. The fisheye lens allowed me to get very close to this octopus, bringing out the detail in it, but also to include two dive models in the photo, and bring the sun into the composition. I did this by getting low and shooting up. Without a fisheye lens I would have had to be further back from the octopus just to get the two dive models in the photo, and would not have also been able to include the sun. There was not enough space to get that far back and that low for the same composition. Without the sun, this photo loses an important point of interest, and becomes just a decent photo rather than one that really pops.

Coral at Crystal Rock, Komodo. The fisheye lens allowed me to get very close to the coral and rock, within less than two feet. This meant I could stop down my camera to f/18 and max my shutter speed at 1/320s to bring out the details in the sun, but I was close enough to my subject that I could still light it very brightly with my strobes. When I tried this shot 2-3 feet further back, which is what I would have had to do with a wide angle lens, my YS-D1 strobes at maximum power could not illuminate the coral and rock properly.

School of fish beneath the jetty at Tetamanu Village, Fakarava South Pass, French Polynesia – one of our 5 “scuba diving bucket list” destinations. Without my fisheye lens, there is no way I could have been far away enough from these fish to get them all in the frame with a nice shape, and close enough to light them properly with my strobes. This shot was taken about 3-4 ft in front of them. The added bonus of the fisheye is that with the exaggerated perspective it creates, it amplifies the “3D” effect where it feels like the fish in the water are coming right at you out of the image.

A beautiful reef scene at Batu Bolong, Komodo…one of the nicest sites I have ever dove. Same as above…sun rays, beautiful colors, sharpness…only a fisheye can start to do justice to a spectacular reef scene like this. No matter what I did I could not get a photo which really did this site justice, but at least the fisheye gave me a fighting chance.

I have lots of other examples, but I think these shots give a good idea of some of the reasons why I love shooting with a fisheye lens, and why if you don’t have you, you really should pick one up for your rig – assuming your underwater camera supports a fisheye lens.

Which is Right for You?

When people are just getting started and they ask me whether they should get a fisheye lens or a wide angle lens, I ask them this question. Do you want to be able to get a lot of decent photos, especially of skittish pelagic subjects? Or do you want to get a lower number of decent photos, and have some frustrations with skittish pelagics, but instead be able to get some really amazing, extraordinary shots?

If you want the former, then go with a plain wide angle lens. But if you want to get those shots that make people go “Wow” when they see them, the shots that can win awards, and are OK dealing with some frustrations, then it’s fisheye all the way!

Some Great UW Photo Destinations…

And if you want to travel and do some great diving where amazing wide angle opportunities await you on every dive, definitely check out the places where I took these shots:

• Bali Dive Travel Guide
  • Bali Hai Diving Adventures – amazing resort, small groups, excellent boat and guides. Beat the rush to manta point by staying on Nusa Lembongan, so you can get there ahead of all of the day boats from Bali!
• Komodo Diving Guide
  • Dragon Dive Komodo – budget diving in Komodo, but with top-notch guides with a heavy focus on safety, small groups, and customizing experiences for people based on skill level and experience.
• French Polynesia Diving Guide
  • Tetamanu Village – spectacular walls of sharks in a remote paradise

Learn More About Wide Angle Photography!

If you want to learn more on the Underwater Photography Guide about wide angle photography, check out these useful tutorials:

• Strobe positions for underwater
• Wide-angle underwater photography
• Underwater composition

As always, if you have any questions then drop me a line at bryan@uwphotographyguide.com!

The post Why You Should Use a Fisheye Lens for Wide Angle first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

Olympus’ mirrorless cameras have become extremely popular over the past couple of years thanks to the high quality construction and ever improving features. Here’s a quick tip that you may not yet have heard about.

With some of Olympus’ higher end bodies (including the OM-D E-M1, OM-D E-M10 and I believe the PEN E-PL7) there is a new feature buried inside the bowels of the lengthy custom menu that proves to be extremely useful underwater. This mode is the “Electronic Zoom”. When paired with a newer EZ function lens (including 12-50mm and 14-42mm EZ lenses) this feature allows you to control the zoom via the rear arrow key buttons on the camera body. *Currently not available on the OM-D E-M5.

Extremely useful with the Olympus 12-50mm, it allows folks with the Olympus housing or those not interested in purchasing the expensive Nauticam zoom gear the ability to use the full zoom range of the lens. Without this function users are limited to using the built in “UW Modes” which will automatically set the lens at 12mm or 50mm, but gives no access to the intermediary focal lengths, in addition to changing other camera settings you may have preset.

How to Activate:

On a PEN camera make sure to activate the “Custom Menu” which is hidden by default. If using an OM-D Camera, skip to the next step.

Menu -> Set Up Menu (wrench icon) -> Menu Display, click OK. The custom menu is the small cogs icon, click the right button, then the down button followed by OK to activate the menu.

Once the Custom Menu is active you can use it to assign the Electronic Zoom function to one of the arrow keys (either right or down).

Menu -> Custom Menu ->

B: Button/Dial -> Button Function ->

Specific Arrow (right or down, choose which one you prefer) -> Electronic Zoom -> OK to confirm.

Once the Electronic Zoom is assigned to one of the rear arrow key buttons you can engage it by simply pressing that button. Once activated using either the up /down or right / left arrow keys will allow you to zoom in and out respectively. Once you’ve zoomed to the focal length you prefer select OK to close the controls.

NOTE: One major benefit for the 12-50mm lens underwater is the built in macro mode. Currently the Nauticam zoom gear is the only option that allows full access to the macro mode underwater. None of the built in zoom control options from Olympus allow that mode to be activated.

The post Olympus’ Secret Zoom Function first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

At the end of November, I got to test out the Olympus 9-18mm micro four-thirds lens. This is one of several lens options for micro four-thirds users looking for a good wide angle lens choice. Other options include the Panasonic 7-14mm and the Panasonic 8mm Fisheye. Here’s a couple sample images as well as my initial thoughts on this lens.

Overall it works great. Having the wide angle with zoom capability is great compared to the 8mm fisheye with no zoom capability. This lens gives you a little more flexibility, especially when shooting animals that you can’t get close to. However, the 9-18 just doesn’t compare with the 8mm fisheye in terms of dramatic scenes. The 9-18mm is a rectilinear lens, meaning that you don’t get any distortion – bending of straight lines – like you do with the fisheye lens. However, that also means that the angle of view is limited to standard focal length proportions, so at 9mm you get approximately 100 degrees and when zoomed into 18mm it drops to around 60 degrees. This is still fabulous, and for most wide angle shots will work great, but it just doesn’t portray the depth that the 180 degree field of view of the 8mm fisheye creates. While I have not had a chance to test it yet, the 7-14 gives an extra 10 degrees field of view and has the same minimum focus distance as the 9-18, making it a little better choice for wide angle, but it is also about twice as expensive of a lens.

Dive with Gorgonian, Olympus 9-18mm Lens @ 9mm

Focus speed is good, on par with any other M4/3rd’s lens, and I noticed no hunting, making for quick and easy use.

What I found to be the largest downside was the focus distance. The 9-18mm focuses only down to .25m, about 9.8in where as the 8mm fisheye has a focus distance of .1m or about 3.9in. This means you can’t get right up on the dome port with the 9-18mm like you can with the 8mm fisheye for close focus wide angle. One thing I love about the 8mm is getting in super close, but still being able to see the full background of the scene.

Sheephead in Kelp, Olympus 9-18mm @ 9mm

I did notice that there was some blurring in the corners with the 9-18mm which I do not see on the 8mm fisheye. This seemed to happen mostly with the lower apertures over the higher ones. Nothing that i found too distracting, but it is noticeable.

My final thoughts on this lens is that it is a great option for those dives when you are shooting animals or other subjects that you cannot get right up close to, but for reef scenes and general wide angle the 8mm fisheye still gets my vote. Having the flexibility of the 9-18mm is wonderful, but doesn’t trump the 180 degree field of view of the 8mm fisheye.

The post Olympus 9-18mm Lens – Quick Look first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.

Just in time for the holidays, Nauticam announced today support for the new Micro 4/3 Olympus 60mm macro lens.

Now available is a flat port that they specifically designed for the 60mm macro lens called the Macro Port 65.  You can even add the O60-F focus gear if you are seeking manual focus control.

Nauticam has also released two extension rings for existing macro ports to add support for the Olympus 60mm macro.  For Macro Port 45 you’ll want a Mini Extension Ring 20.  For the Macro Port 35, ask for the Mini Extension Ring 30.  Have a look at their breakdown in the image below:

The post Nauticam Adds Support for the Olympus 60mm Macro Lens first appeared on In Focus Underwater Photography Blog.