Olympus 11-22mm, 8mm or 9-18

[ce4jesus 1]

I'm pretty much out of the running for the great 7-14 lens barring an endowment I'm unaware of. The two lenses I can afford are the 11-22, 8mm or 9-18mm. Anyone using the lenses with photos? Thanks ahead of time.

[rtrski 20]

I'm not using any underwater yet, but I'm a serious lurker on DPreview, and the 9-18 has been getting stellar reviews on the Oly SLR forums from users. Reportedly very sharp and very minimal distortion, across the entire range, even at max aperture, for a "standard" grade lens. I don't know if there's a port extension for it yet (from either oly - you use their housing, right? - or ikelite).

 

But 9-18 is the choice I'd made and I was about to pull the trigger on it myself last week, shopping at ebay with that extra 30% off Livesearch discount, when a 7-14 just magically showed up on the search, literally between one refresh and the next...and the little angel on my right shoulder was a little less alert than the little devil on my left.

 

If I remember right Jlyle indicated some time ago he didn't really like the 11-22 as well as he thought he would, preferring to either stick with the 14-54 with his e330 or shoot macro. Maybe that's because 11-14 isn't as much additional wide angle, so the range lost at the long end compared to the tiny additional wide angle feels too restricted? Regardless, to me the 9-18 makes much more sense added to the 14-54 as a shooting option, than the 11-22 + 14-54 does. Of course if you're shooting a 12-60, then the 11-22 makes even less sense, but the 9-18 gives less wide end improvement as well. So maybe the answer is a 12-60?? Trade in your other lens and it's probably still in your price range.

 

As for the 8mm FE, I guess it depends on how you feel about not having rectilinear correction. I know underwater things tend more to curvy than straight in the main....but to me those things that are straight (wrecks, hull of ship at the surface, legs on an oil rig or dock pilings, anchor lines....) don't look great when shot with a fisheye.

 

Then again I'm weird that way. But besides the rect vs. FE debate...for about the same price for all three, wouldn't you want the 2:1 range option vs. fixed? The bigger aperture of the fixed lens probably isn't as big an issue either (nor is the smaller aperture of the 9-18 vs. the 11-22), given the assumption of strobes.

Edited December 10, 2008 by rtrski

[Otara 0]

Id vote 9-18. Once I got more specialised lenses, I found I was hardly using my 14-54 lens at all. No zoom range with the 8mm fisheye is a bit too specialised in my view, unless you know exactly what you want it for.

 

Just check for your housing theres no problem fitting it, its not listed for Ikelite, it probably just an update issue but pays to be careful with these things.

 

Otara

[ce4jesus 1]

shopping at ebay with that extra 30% off Livesearch discount

The little devil on my left shoulder just asked what this is all about

[AndyT 0]

Here are some pics shot wjth the 8mm FE http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrews_under...57607008835804/

[rtrski 20]

The little devil on my left shoulder just asked what this is all about

 

 

Oh, sorry, I'd posted on that in the Unrequited Gear Lust section:

 

Livesearch Discount Thread

 

Discount is down to 8% at the moment. Could come back up to 20-30% though, seems to have really varied around Black Friday and the week preceding from 15 - 30, down to the current 8, and was even nonexistent for a time in therere too - and there is also a small discount at B&H with the Livesearch still:

 

Stores List - B

 

But yes, I ended up scoring a 7-14 for $1081 when all was said and done. Sorry. But my point is still that short of that discount, I was eyeing the 9-18, and just got lucky.

Edited December 10, 2008 by rtrski

[Phil Rudin 485]

Hi Gary,

 

What you may also want to consider is what equipment you are going to need to get the most out of each lens. The 11 to 22 is vary sharp out of the water with an 89 degree angle of view at the wide end, however the Olympus port for the lens (PPO-E02) is a flat port which will reduce the angle of view of the lens underwater. A gear for the 11 to 14 and 14 to 54 zooms comes with the flat port. For best results the 11 to 22 can be used with the Olympus dome port and port extension ring for the 7 to 14. The problem is that the port extension ring comes with the gear for the 7 to 14 zoom and it will not work on the 11 to 22. So to maintain the full 89 degree angle of view of the 11 to 22 lens you need to buy the dome port (PPO-E04) the port extension (PER-E02) and the 11 to 22 zoom gear (PPZR-E02). Since Olympus does not make a zoom gear for the 12 to 60 mm zoom a custom gear would need to be made or you would need to use the Athena equipment for that lens which is a dome port, port extension ring and gear.

 

The 8 mm can be used with the Olympus dome, both Athena domes and the Inon dome which is the least expensive and works very well with the fisheye, but can not be used with the other lenses. The fisheye requires that you get very close and have very good control of your strobe placement.

 

The 9 to 18 zoom has a 100 degree angle of view at the wide end and will work with just the dome port and does not need the port extension ring. Olympus also has a gear for the 9 to 18 zoom lens. I would think the lens would also work quite well with both Athena domes.

 

If you add the cost of the lens, port and zoom gear for the 9 to 18 zoom v. the cost for the 7 to 14 zoom, port, port extension ring & gear the cost is about half for the 9 to 18 mm setup which makes it the most compelling choice to me v. image quality. I have used the 7 to 14 mm zoom with the Olympus/Athena 170 mm dome and the Athena 220 mm dome and the results improved with the larger dome at the wide end of the zoom range of 114 degrees. Bottom line is that you are not going to be able to tell much difference between the two lenses other than the extra AOV using the Olympus dome.

 

A review of the 9 to 18 mm zoom, http://www.biofos.com/esystem/9_18tst.html

 

Phil Rudin

Edited December 13, 2008 by tropical1

[ce4jesus 1]

Phil,

Thanks. It was this kind of advice that lead me to buy the 50mm which I've loved. I'll probably give this a whirl in January if I can pull together some more resources.

[rtrski 20]

I have no idea how legit this seller is, but he's asking $520, free shipping, and the Live search discount of 8% currently is another $40 off.

Edited December 16, 2008 by rtrski

[ce4jesus 1]

You are a very bawd man!! I've seen one at $540 although I'm uncertain about the vendor. I'm still going to wait until the end of the month. Sometimes the 26th is an awesome day for deals. Thanks for that link to live. That is awesome.