Best Lenses For Compact Cameras

Team Backscatter · Issue 127, Jul/Aug 2022 · pp. 27–34

Products mentioned: Backscatter M52 Wide Angle Lens, SAGA +5 Lens, SAGA Trio, AOI UWL-09 PRO, Sony RX100 V, Sony RX100 VII, Olympus TG-6, Panasonic LX100 II, Panasonic GH5, Olympus OM-D E-M1 II

From the Caribbean to the Coral Triangle, the Backscatter team has spent hundreds of hours shooting compact cameras underwater. The team has shot and tested dozens of compact (a.k.a. point- and-shoot) cameras with accessory lenses to find the best match between performance, price and the goals of both aspiring and experienced underwater photographers. These top-performing lenses will enable compact cameras to capture stunning wide angle and macro images underwater. Here are our picks for the best underwater lenses for compact cameras in 2021. Why Do Compact Cameras Need an Underwater Accessory Lens? There are basically three types of underwater photo: Wide Angle, Fish Portrait, and Macro. Each type of photo requires a lens with different focal length, field of view, and reproduction ratio. The built-in lens on a compact camera is set up for doing fish portrait shots right out of the box.…