Yesterday I alluded to trying a new camera setup to create some variety in my images from Bunaken, and today I did just that.
For underwater macro, I use the Canon 100mm F2.8L macro lens on my 5D Mark 3. I also have a +10 diopter for the small stuff (I skip the really small stuff since that can’t be shot on full frame without significant cropping). It turns out that if I take the extension ring off my Aquatica macro port for the 100mm, it becomes a perfect fit for the Canon 17-40mm lens (which is normally used in an 8″ dome or 9.25″ Aquatica Megadome). As a rectilinear wide-angle lens (frequently used for landscapes, indoors and video), it has a very close focusing distance – perfect for underwater use. When fixed to 40mm, this lens provides a great mid-range shooting option, which normally sits as redundancy to my macro and fisheye lenses on a trip. Today it served as a means to try and capture some unique images of common subjects.
Adjusting to the new focal range is a breeze if you pick the right subjects and use the same lighting principals you would on a smaller macro or larger wide-angle scene. Go figure, I left the lens at 24mm for the first dive, which is too wide for decent results, so these shots came from our second dive over near Manado.
False Clown Anemonefish shot 40mm on Full Frame through macro port.
