This curious turtle hatchling enjoyed seeing his own reflection in the dome port. The Tokina fired every time I pulled the shutter.Įven small turtle hatchlings can be photographed with a super wide fisheye lens. He had frame after frame at point blank, but the camera only locked focus and shot every few tries. After a few minutes, my buddy asked if he could share my system, and set his down in the shallows. We took turns shooting, because the turtle liked both domes equally (and nice photographers share their subjects). He literally kept bumping the dome trying to get closer. We found ourselves with a turtle hatchling during a snorkel, that was fascinated by its reflection in the dome. He bought the Canon 12-24mm rectilinear, and I got the Tokina 10-17mm fisheye. My buddy and I bought the same Canon DSLR- identical systems, strobes, etc., with only one difference. The optical laws of refraction and dome size are a bit dry, so instead I'll share a true story. A fisheye lens tends to have a closer minimum focus distance and better depth of field behind a dome port. And hands-down fisheye lenses work better behind dome ports than rectilinear lenses. Clarity and Close Focus DistanceĪ dome port is necessary to capture a super wide field of view without vignetting (dark shadows around the edges of the photo).

The Tokina 10-17mm fisheye is capable of focusing on something only a few inches from the front of the lens. Minimum focus distance becomes a big issue when your subject is taking a nose dive into your dome port. If it is one of my images, you can be pretty sure it was shot with a fisheye. The 'distortion' of the fisheye is in more of the underwater images you see published than you might expect. There are few parallel or perpendicular lines in nature. But the fisheye can make your subject (especially familiar ones you've seen often) look less 'natural.' The stretch of the gown and surrounding scene can be quite nice. There are wedding photographers using fisheyes. They are always careful to make sure the bride and groom's faces are near the center of the frame, where the distortion isn't noticeable. This is valid, but more complex than it might seem. So many people will then opt for the rectilinear lens. The distortion of a fisheye lens makes the counters, the ceiling, and every straight line look bizarre, even unpleasant. Considering that the focal length is the same, the difference visually is staggering. Many a photographer has gone to the camera store and tried a super wide rectilinear lens, then compared it to a similar focal length fisheye. Let's start with the negatives of fisheye lenses. This image is a composite of two split shots. The distortion caused by a fisheye can be used to creative advantage even when shooting models. I've shot lots of rectilinear lenses as well, so I will try to explain why I choose to use fisheyes exclusively.

My preferred lenses are the Tokina 10-17mm Fisheye and an 8-15mm Fisheye (Canon or Nikon). My preferred setup underwater includes a super-wide lens. Lenses, housings, cameras, and lights are just tools for different jobs.

Fisheye pictures