Lenses

[mfrymus]

A few questions about when shooting on full frame (video & stills) on the Sony mk.ii cameras (A7ii, A7Sii, A7Rii). Focus is on marine life, other divers, and wrecks:

1) How wide do you typically shoot? 12mm, 14mm, 16mm +
2) What max f-stop would I need, even though I would be using flash & video lights?
3) How much of a magnification do you get when you are underwater?


Lens choices:
A) Sony 10-18mm f/2.0
- Has a usable range of about 11-17mm on FF
- Slower at f/4.0 [dislike]

i) With the magnification due to water remove the vignetting of this lens?

B) Rokinon 12mm f/2.8 (Fisheye)
- Manual only [dislike]
- Fast
- Possibly too wide?? (Will refer to first question)

*WILL be corrected to remove the curved perspective*

C) Rokinon 14mm f/2.8
- Manual only [dislike]
- Fast


One of these two will be purchased (For the mid-range):
D) Sony 16-35mm f/4.0
- Cheaper
- Slower [dislike]

E) Sony 16-35mm f/2.8
- Expensive [dislike]
- Faster

i) Do I need f/2.8 or would f/4.0 be sufficient?

 

[JackConnick]

The only lens above that will work underwater on the a7II is the Sony Zeiss 16-35 f2.8, which is FE mount. The others are all E-Mount and require an adapter. Those don't fit current ports. And wouldn't have manual focus either.

Possibly the best current W/A setup is using the Sony f/2 28mm with the Nauticam Port 35 and the new Nauticam WWL-1 wet wide angle. This gives you a very fast, sharp, 130 deg FOV and is smaller and less expensive overall than buying the 16-35, 180mm glass port, gears, ext and port adapters.

We have a couple of reviews of the WWL on our site and have a Nauticam WWL Quality System package that includes this setup.

See:
Nauticam Sony a7II with WWL & 90mm Lenses Review
Olympus EPL-7 with Nauticam WWL-1 & CMC Lens Review
Sony a7II and Sea & Sea MDX-A7II Housing Review

 

[mfrymus]

Im lost.
The 3 of the Sony A7 mk.ii cameras are Sony full frame E-mounts.
Why would all these lenses required adapters?
When I was searching for lenses through B&H, I searched under the Sony E-Mount (full frame) lenses. They all seem to be fine.

The nauticam port is too expensive. The Ikelite housing is I believe half the cost.

I also prefer to have the ability to zoom, over the primes. Even though I get the extra stop or two.

 

[JackConnick]

No, the camera is an FE mount, which is a full frame mount for E-Mount lenses. Not all E-mount lenses will work well, they would be cropped; only FE mount.

You get what you pay for in terms of the housing. Remember you are buying a system, the Nauticam housing is aluminum with much more advanced controls, features and the ability to add accessories later. None of your lenses is supported except the FE mount 16-35 f2.8 for underwater use.

 

[mfrymus]

Nope. Still don't get it...
On the website it states that all these lenses i mentioned are Sony E-Mount (Full Frame).
The only one that is not, is the 10-18mm, but still works on this camera.

I'm from Canada (around Toronto area)
Is there a way I would be able to get the housing with all the ports and try this thing out? So I know what works and what doesn't work before buying?

I see no need for the accessories that Nauticam offers. Unless I am missing something.

 

[mfrymus]

I guess the other problem is the size of the lens?

According to Ikelite, the largest lens diameter can be 2.8-3.0"
Then again, the 16-35 f/4.0 is a little larger (3.07") and it says it will fit. The f/2.8 version is even larger (3.47") and you are saying it will work? Same as the 90mm f/2.8 lens
Now I'm even more lost.

Is there a difference in the max lens diameter between Ikelite and Nauticam?
If I can fit larger lenses in the ports with Nauticam, then I would see a better reason why to choose them.

 

[mattia_v]

There is no FE mount 16-35/2.8, just the 4.0. The 2.8 is an A-mount lens (SLR) you can use with an adapter and retain full AF, but it will be a very big package. And not cheap.

There's always the manual focus option of using a Nikonos wet lens system with Nauticam. Just to confuse things.

 

[mfrymus]

Ive been looking it over, and it seems that these are my only options:
~Sony 28mm f/2.0 + fisheye converter (hopefully its wide enough)
~Sony 16-35 f/4.0
~Sony 24-70 f/4.0

Disappointing actually.
I would go with Canon as there are more options available, and you can get an extra stop of light. But, when I have lights for underwater photo/video, it might not be that big of a deal if I got f/4.0
But, when im not shooting underwater, and im on land, and rely on natural light, f/4.0 is not much. Times like this I wish i was with Canon.
But the auto focusing speed is not great, and not really worth it.

 

[mfrymus]

How would the wet lenses work on this camera setup?

 

[JackConnick]

The Nauticam WWL works with the 28mm f/2 in a short port, and has a bayonet mount. It will not work with Ikelite. See the links above. For wide angle it is actually less expensive and faster than the 16-35mm.