Lenses & Gears

Lenses and gears are what turn a sealed housing into a camera system you can actually shoot with. This range covers Fantasea wet wide-angle and macro optics that mount on the front of your housing, plus a Marelux focus gear cut for the Sony FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS. Oyster Diving is a British dive centre, and the people who choose this kit dive with it themselves.

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Read the full buying guide

What you will find in this range

This is a short, deliberate range rather than a full catalogue. It splits into two jobs: optics that go on the outside of your housing and change what the camera can see, and mechanics that let you drive the lens once the housing is shut. Fantasea covers the first, Marelux the second.

Wide-angle wet lenses

Water eats contrast and colour, and the only real fix is to put less of it between you and the subject. A wide-angle wet lens lets you move in close and still fit the reef, the wreck or your buddy in the frame. The Fantasea wide-angle options here are the UWL-09F, the UWL-09Pro and the UWL-400Q.

Macro wet lenses

Macro wet lenses work the opposite way, letting the camera focus closer than it otherwise could so small subjects fill the frame. Fantasea run three strengths here, from the UCL-05LF +6 through the UCL-06LF +12 to the UCL-09F +12.5. Stronger is not automatically better: the closer you have to get, the harder it is to light the subject and the less forgiving the focus becomes.

Focus gears, and why they are lens-specific

Once a housing is sealed, the focus ring on your camera lens is out of reach. A focus gear solves that: it clamps around the lens barrel and meshes with a knob on the outside of the housing, so you can pull focus by hand while you dive. Because it has to mesh with one barrel diameter and one ring position, a gear is cut for a single lens. The Marelux Focus Gear stocked here is made for the Sony FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS.

This matters most on macro work, where autofocus hunts and manual control is often faster than arguing with the camera.

Choosing between wide and close

You cannot shoot both well on the same dive, and trying is the most common mistake we see. Decide before you get in. Wide-angle suits reefs, wrecks, schooling fish and diver portraits, and rewards good light and close approach. Macro suits nudibranchs, shrimp, blennies and anything you would otherwise swim past, and rewards patience and buoyancy.

The advantage of wet optics is that the decision is not permanent. Because they mount externally, you can carry both and change your mind between dives without opening the housing, which is the one thing you never want to do on a boat.

Fitting it to the rig you already own

Compatibility decides this purchase more than anything else. A wet lens needs the correct mount or adaptor on your housing's front port. A focus gear needs the exact camera lens it was cut for, sitting in a housing that has the drive knob to match. Neither is a case of buying by brand and hoping.

If you tell us the camera, the housing and the lens you are pairing it with, we will confirm the combination before you order. That takes a message and saves a dive trip spent with kit you cannot mount.

Frequently asked questions

Which underwater lens and gear brands does Oyster Diving stock?

Two: Fantasea and Marelux. Fantasea covers the wet lens side, with wide-angle and macro optics that screw onto the front of a compact housing. Marelux covers the mechanical side, with a focus gear for the Sony FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS. It is a deliberately short list rather than a catalogue of everything on the market. If you need something we do not show here, ask us before you buy elsewhere.

What is a wet lens, and how is it different from the lens inside my camera?

A wet lens mounts on the outside of your housing and floods with water in use. That is the point: it is designed to work with water between the elements rather than air, which is why it corrects the loss of angle and the loss of close focus you get when you take a normal lens underwater. The Fantasea UWL and UCL lenses here are all wet lenses. Your camera's own lens stays dry inside the housing.

Should I start with a wide-angle lens or a macro lens?

It depends on what you swim towards. If you photograph reefs, wrecks, big animals and divers, start wide with something like the Fantasea UWL-09F or UWL-400Q, because the fix for poor underwater contrast is getting closer and taking in more. If you photograph nudibranchs, shrimp, eyes and detail, start with a macro lens such as the Fantasea UCL-05LF. Most people who shoot regularly end up owning one of each and choosing at the dive briefing.

What does a focus gear actually do?

It is a toothed ring that clamps around your camera lens inside the housing and meshes with a knob on the outside, so you can turn the focus ring with the housing sealed. Without one, the focus ring is unreachable once the housing is closed. The Marelux Focus Gear here is cut for the Sony FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS. Gears are lens-specific by design, so the gear has to match the exact lens, not just the brand.

Will these lenses and gears fit my housing?

Check two things before you order. For a wet lens, you need the right thread or adaptor on the front port of your housing, and Fantasea publish which mount each of their lenses uses. For a focus gear, you need the exact camera lens the gear was cut for, and the housing it is designed to sit in. Tell us the camera, the housing and the lens you are pairing it with and we will confirm the fit rather than guess.

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