Review of the new Nauticam wet wide angle lens WWL-1

[thetrickster 328]

Unless and until someone actually does a performance comparison between a 7-14 or even a 9-18 in a 170 or 180 glass dome and the WWL-1 with appropriate lens, we can only speculate. Unfortunately, most people with a 7-14 and a glass dome aren't going to go out and buy a WWL-1 to play with, and vice versa.

 

I had the 7-14mm with the 170mm dome and now have the WWL with the 14-42mm MK2. Alas I don't have two GH4's so couldn't do real side by sides with identical setups, but from videos I took with the 7-14mm compared to videos I've taken with the WWL (not many at the moment!) the WWL is a vast improvement - for sure in corner sharpness, even when cropped in at 4k.

 

The main difference between a dome and a wet lens (from my understanding) is that with a dome, the camera is focusing and recording a virtual image generated by the dome, this virtual image is warped from the curvature of the dome (hence why the corners are soft as the corners are closer to the camera, the bigger the diameter of the dome, the flatter the virtual image.

 

Wet lenses, on the other hand provide you with a 'flat' image as seen underwater, so don't suffer from soft corners (thats not to say they don't suffer from CA mind)

 

The main reason I swapped the 7-14mm for the WWL was to have complete flexibility underwater. Most places I go diving (liveaboards etc) you get to do a site 1 or maybe 2 times. Being stuck at WA - only for some extraordinary fish or nudi to turn up and you can't video it. Other benefits (on Panasonic bodies) is the added OIS and the 14-42mm is a stop faster than the 7-14 and 9-18m too.

[Interceptor121 765]

I have the 7-14mm panasonic and I had the WWL-1 from nauticam on test for one month. If you take pictures the WWL-1 is the way to go with the Panasonic 14-42mm is very sharp in corners and you have one stop difference net compared to the pana 7-14mm not tested the olympus so don't know. The WWL-1 is not rectilinear though if that matters. However for video with the crop involved the 7-14mm works just fine and is a lighter rig but as a lens is less versatile in water due to limited focal length. Also for video all wet lenses on the market allow for full zoom and once cropped in 4K the difference with the WWL-1 is minimal. If I had a GH4 I would use the old Inon UWL-100 because I like the focal range it allows 20-60mm in 4K and without lens 35-105 of the bare port. For my RX100 Mark IV I use the same lens. Am on my way back from Puerto Galera where i shot mostly pictures wih my GX7 but I did 3 video dives to test the Sony. It looks as good as expected and I could also use w push on magic filter that peter rowlands kindly provided. The colours look natural though I like my blue more saturated. Will post the link soon

[Philip HS 0]

I use the Panasonic 7-14 mm for a year now on my Olympus OM-D E-M10 for still photography, and I am very satisfied with the results!

 

[Interceptor121 765]

You can see from those images that the corners are blurred which is a characteristic of this lens to be honest also a bit on land and is made worse behind a dome

Ultimately the 7-14mm is fine with blue backgrounds and also for wrecks as long as you don't do picture peeping in the corners

 

It is not a lens for close focus wide angle as the blurred edges show with coral especially under f/8

 

At f/8 the lens does pretty well with close focus

 

Bubbling Bike by Interceptor121, on Flickr

 

However for far wreck shots you can get away with f/5

 

Exploring the Chrisoula by Interceptor121, on Flickr

 

For video the 7-14mm is not really versatile enough anyway as the focal range is pretty limited and you don't shoot at f/8

[Interceptor121 765]

By the way I shot a video last year when I received the lens prototype but forgot to upload it

It is interesting to see how it compares with the Inon lens in terms of size and weight

[davephdv 0]

Interceptor 121

 

Can you shoot over and unders with the WWL 1?

[Interceptor121 765]

Interceptor 121

 

Can you shoot over and unders with the WWL 1?

The WWL-1 is a wet lens so you need to seal the port to do it. I have not tried but i guess it could work. The lens is very heavy though so keeping the rig still could be hard

[eshvk 0]

I just bought a refurb RXM100M2 and will be getting the nautical housing for it. Is the WWL-1 an overkill for this set up?

[Interceptor121 765]

No it will be perfect

[Ryan 48]

I just noticed the request above for comparisons, and have these v. Panasonic 7-14 and Olympus 9-18.

 

https://www.evernote.com/l/AOLgDuGdr6RCtI_MOcA2i1CWuv-7CvNuimM

 

WWL-1 is significantly wider than both of these, with some barrel distortion. Keep in mind the lens is full zoom through, and when you frame to match the fov offered by these two options a lot of the barrel distortion is cropped out in camera.

[Lionfi2s 74]

Just got myself a RX100 mk4 in a Nauticam housing with a WWL1 as an upgrade from the Go pro i was using.

On the link is some test footage i got just to have a first idea of how the camera works. Very quick edit in Premiere shot is SLog2 profile

 

[Vitsku 0]

I'm between Canon g7x mk2 + WWL or Olympus om-e5 mk2 7-14 pro lens.

Is there big difference between these?

I have not found any review between mirrorles vs new compact camera +wwl

[Darxtar 3]

Hi all... Thanks for all the info in this thread. I finally decided to go as well with A7R II + FE 28mm + WWL-1 setup.

 

Will post pictures once available.

Thanks