Sony Lenses for a6xxx

[jrc92024]

OK, I bit the bullet and ordered a housing for my a6600, time to dump my lame point and shoot.
Sony A6600 SeaFrogs 40M/130FT UW housing with 6" Dry Dome Port for E10-18mm lens (zoom gear included) with Standard port for E16-50mm (zoom gear included)

I already own the Sony 10-18 and Sigma 16/30/56 primes all of which should work with this housing. I'll be traveling to French Polynesia in early July.
Several questions:
Which of my current lenses would you recommend? it will be mostly drift diving in the lagoon channels looking for bigger stuff.
Or will I need something longer like 28-70?

Do I need a strobe? If so is there something economical that you would recommend?

Thanks in advance...

 

[OTF]

I can't comment on lenses but I'm interested to see what others recommend for that camera. Watching this thread.

Look into wet lenses, especially for macro. They give you lots of options and the ability toswitch them underwater which is nice. Something like the Inon UCL-165 is a good starting point for closeups. Or maybe you want a wide wet lens instead like the Weefine WFL01.

For really economical strobes, the super cheap Ultramax UXDS-1 (formerly sold as Intova ISS-2000) is actually a great little strobe. They're quite powerful and very simple. Otherwise, get some second hand YS-D2's or similar.

 

[tarponchik]

The only lens other than the kit PZ16-50 I sometimes used with my A6000 was the 2.8/20 but zoom is handier. Long zooms underwater do not make sense to me because longer distances underwater mean total loss of sharpness. You'll be able to zoom in but it will look crappy if it is far away. So if you need a longer than 50 mm zoom to fill the frame, forget about it.

 

[Hoag]

To answer your question about if you need a strobe, the short answer is if you plan on diving deeper than about 15feet/4.5M then yes. By that depth, you will start to lose red. You will continue to use the other colours of the spectrum the deeper you go.

A strobe will light the area and make those colours visible again. Having said that, a strobe is limited in how much light it can throw out there. A general rule of thumb is that for a strobe to be effective, the subject should be close enough that if you extended your arm, you could touch it. Having said that, do not touch it! I was just giving a reference to the rough estimation of the effective range of a strobe.

As for lenses, I have a Sony A6000 so the lenses are the same. I use the Sony 10-18mm f/4 for wide angle and will use the Sony/Zeiss 16-70mm f/4 for general use. I chose those two lenses because they both use the same (Nauticam) dome port so it cuts down on my gear significantly. I just got the 16-70, so, TBH, I don't know how it is underwater yet.

 

[Jon Underwater]

Sounds like you already have most of what you need there. I use a nauticam cmc-1 with my kit 16-50, been happy with the macro so far.

 

[Barmaglot]

10-18mm in a dome will be great for the big stuff, as long as you can get in close. 16-50mm kit zoom will give you a lot more flexibility, as long as the water is clear. No point in 28-70; that's a full-frame lens which is too narrow on APS-C and this housing most likely won't let you operate its zoom.
Strobes help tremendously, but to light up big subjects, you need good strobes - Retra Prime/Pro, Inon Z-330, Sea & Sea YS-D3, etc. I use a pair of Retra Pros, and with reflectors mounted they reach out to a surprising distance, but I still wince at the amount of money that I spent on them.

 

[jrc92024]

10-18mm in a dome will be great for the big stuff, as long as you can get in close. 16-50mm kit zoom will give you a lot more flexibility, as long as the water is clear. No point in 28-70; that's a full-frame lens which is too narrow on APS-C and this housing most likely won't let you operate its zoom.
Strobes help tremendously, but to light up big subjects, you need good strobes - Retra Prime/Pro, Inon Z-330, Sea & Sea YS-D3, etc. I use a pair of Retra Pros, and with reflectors mounted they reach out to a surprising distance, but I still wince at the amount of money that I spent on them.

Thanks! My daughter has the 16-50 so I will borrow it for the trip and try both it and the 10-18

 

[Nemrod]

I use the Sigma 19mm f2.8 with my Nauticam NA-6400 rig and WWL-1. This provides the maximum FOV with this combination. I also use a Rokinon 24mm f2.8 with an old Inon WAL and dome. Other than in the pool I have not used the Sony 16mm pancake with the fisheye converter through the Nauticam dome port. This combo seems good but must be stopped down to around f8 to f11 to sharpen the corners up. Of course, the Sigma 19mm and the Nauticam WWL-1 are to die for and I nearly had to in order to purchase them, there is no issue with quality here. That is my most used combo. I also use the kit zoom with the WWL and the Nautican CMC-2 macro lens. Works nice.

James