Modified Vintage Lenses
How to create unique and gorgeous underwater photos
High-magnification wide-angle and macro state-of-the-art lenses have long been the preferred types of lenses for underwater photography. If you want to capture the abstract beauty of the marine environment in a different way, however, to break away from the ordinary and to make your photos stand out even more, it’s worth considering the use of modified vintage lenses.
Alien – peacock mantis shrimp 
Ascend from the depths 
Magic reef 
Flamboyant cuttlefish – Metasepia pfefferi 
A Pumpkinseed 
Variable thorny oyster 
Green barrel sea squirt 
Sea tunicate
Comments on the images
Vintage lenses look ancient and nostalgic, which actually turns their optical flaws into advantages. The main disadvantage of using modified vintage lenses underwater is, however, the problem of correct focus (especially at f/2.0) and only the central sharpness of the images, which limits the composition… and this really annoys me. And the result, usually only one out of 200-300 underwater images is amazing. BUT, I realize that I’d rather have just 1 awesome shot out of 300 than 50 good ones out of 300.
The article below ‘Over and Under‘ on modified vintage lenses in underwater photography was published in the online and printed versions of the UK’s DIVE Magazine (Summer 2023):
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