Lens choice Raja and Komodo

[Tim Clark Diving]

I am heading to Raja Ampat and Komodo and need help choosing lenses. Trip is two months total and includes Bali and Borneo land tours so I am trying to minimize my UW kit. I am shooting an OM-1 in an AOI housing. I will be taking my Oly 60 macro and 8 mm fisheye. I am thinking I should take a wide angle zoom as well but don’t have one yet. Any recommendations based on what I will be seeing in Indo? I’ve never been to that area so hoping others have and can tell me what lens they grabbed the most. Thanks!

 

[Wobbegong_th]

For topside generic wide angle during day time, I think Oly 9-18 f4-5.6 can cover most situation. It's also small, compact when close, and lightweight.
You might also should consider normal range zoom. Personnally I'm using Oly 12-40 f2.8 for this. However, this lens is quite large and heavy.

I'm using EM5III and has following lenses:

• 7-14 f2.8 - my go to for UW wide angle
• 12-40 f2.8 - use UW if I'm not sure of the water clarity or what I'd find.
• 9-18 f4-5.6 - my most EDC for topside. not that good in lowlight. Also good for Vlog style shooting
• 40-150 f4-5.6
• 30mm f3.5 Macro - Mostly use for generic UW Macro
• 60mm f2.8 Macro - Mostly use for UW Supermacro. Also good for portrait

Another recommendation for topside normal range zoom may be the 14-42EZ. However, I heard a lot about this lens that the connection inside was damaged and make the lens unusable.

 

[whsmac]

I had been Komodo, Bali included Tulamben and Nysa pennida with e-m1 mkii. 8mm and 60mm were the most useful to taking photos and video from Manta to Nudies.

Also I brought 7-14, 12-40 and 30mm but seldom to use them. If I have to choose only one zoom lens, 12-40 is my answer. When you meet some pelagic those are hard to get close such as Sunfish, 12-40 shall be better than 8mm.

I had no chance to meet Sunfish yet, but many Mantas and turtles in Komodo’s and Nusa pennida were acting like pay models. So 8mm was great and I did regret to bring 7-14 at one Mantas point.

 

[Wobbegong_th]

I had been Komodo, Bali included Tulamben and Nysa pennida with e-m1 mkii. 8mm and 60mm were the most useful to taking photos and video from Manta to Nudies.

Also I brought 7-14, 12-40 and 30mm but seldom to use them. If I have to choose only one zoom lens, 12-40 is my answer. When you meet some pelagic those are hard to get close such as Sunfish, 12-40 shall be better than 8mm.

I had no chance to meet Sunfish yet, but many Mantas and turtles in Komodo’s and Nusa pennida were acting like pay models. So 8mm was great and I did regret to bring 7-14 at one Mantas point.

We had almost the same set of lenses.

I'd decided not to get the 8mm as for the housing that I use (Ikelite) the 8mm required another dome that would not work with 12-40. Just would like to ask you about the image quality from 8mm vs 7-14mm at the wide end, how much different are they?

I haven't got much success with 12-40, as the zoom adaptor for Ikelite that I use on this lens keep slipping and made me unable to properly adjust. Last December I decided to make change to the zoom adaptor and it work better. However, the dive trip I took at that time wasn't very productive (low viz, strong current) so didn't really get any good pic

60mm Macro work wonderfully in Tulamben, with a +10 dioptor it's even better.

Had a chance with Sunfish in Bali once almost 10yrs ago, but that was with older camera (Canon G16).

 

[rmorgan]

Aside from housing configuration, the 12-40 is an outstanding u/w lens—I use it more than any other lens. It is sharp enough to crop to faux-macro, and is great for wide scenes. With Nauticam housings it’s a pain, because the body has to go in without the lens and port on, but the results are great if you can figure out an effective port/gear solution.

 

[whsmac]

We had almost the same set of lenses.

I'd decided not to get the 8mm as for the housing that I use (Ikelite) the 8mm required another dome that would not work with 12-40. Just would like to ask you about the image quality from 8mm vs 7-14mm at the wide end, how much different are they?

I haven't got much success with 12-40, as the zoom adaptor for Ikelite that I use on this lens keep slipping and made me unable to properly adjust. Last December I decided to make change to the zoom adaptor and it work better. However, the dive trip I took at that time wasn't very productive (low viz, strong current) so didn't really get any good pic

60mm Macro work wonderfully in Tulamben, with a +10 dioptor it's even better.

Had a chance with Sunfish in Bali once almost 10yrs ago, but that was with older camera (Canon G16).

Actually, I didn’t compare two lenses seriously and only have considered angle for objects. So for taking video in underwater, I used 7-14 but, as time goes by, 8mm becomes standard not only photo but video. Especially, the minimum length of focus is very important for me, 8mm fisheye is much better than 7-14.

Here is the video that took at Komodo on 2019. 8mm, 60, 12-40 and 7-14 was also used without crop. I hope it can help you to decide lens.