Before we talk about the benefits of taking wide-angle photos, I want to quickly explain what exactly I mean by “Wide Angle.” Wide-angle generally reefers to the photographer using a lens or a lens adapter that either goes onto the camera itself or mounts on the housing and will significantly increase the field of view beyond what the human eye can see. For example, most compact cameras will have a field of view when zoomed all the way out of about 70-90 degrees, this is roughly what the human eye sees in a fixed position. Interpretation of the differences in perspectives from a 'naked' compact camera lens and a wide-angle lens A wide-angle lens or a wide-angle lens adapter will increase the field of view to anywhere from 120-180 degrees, depending on the camera lens and or adapter. So, as you can see, most compact cameras, aside from the GoPro, really don't allow you to shoot true wide-angle photos. In order to do so, you'll need to purchase an after-market wide-angle lens. For wide-angle lens info, you can check out this blog. For now, let's talk about the benefits of shooting in “wide-angle”. 1. Closer Really, the biggest benefit of using a wide-angle lens underwater is the fact that with this increased field of view, we can now get nearly twice as close to our subject without cropping our intended composition. On land, where we're shooting through air, we can more or less compose the same scene regardless of whether we're using a wide-angle lens or a telephoto lens, we just need to back up further. It doesn't work like this underwater, unfortunately, the more water we have between our camera and the subject the more clarity and color we lose in the image, especially in water with a lot
Before we talk about the benefits of taking wide-angle photos, I want to quickly explain what exactly I mean by “Wide Angle.” Wide-angle generally reefers to the photographer using a lens or a lens adapter that either goes onto the camera itself or mounts on the housing and will significantly increase the field of view
