These are the best Sony lenses for underwater photography when you want sharp corners behind a dome, fast and reliable AF through water, disciplined flare/ghosting around sunballs, and close-focus ability for CFWA, fish portraits, macro critters, and ambient wreck scenes—and here’s what to look for as you buy: prioritize lenses that pair cleanly with your housing’s ports (check port charts), rectilinear wides that behave behind 180–230 mm domes, fisheye or wet-wide solutions for close-focus wide-angle, true macro with long working distance for shy subjects, quiet linear AF for video, and zooms that accept gears; stabilization is secondary with strobes but helps for ambient video; standardize front diameters if you run wet diopters, and plan buoyancy so the rig is slightly negative. Full-frame wide heroes: FE 14mm ƒ1.8 GM (crisp corners in a proper dome, great for wrecks and reef scenics), FE 16–35mm ƒ2.8 GM II or FE PZ 16–35mm ƒ4 G (versatile rectilinear zooms—use large domes for edge discipline; PZ is lovely for video moves), and FE 28mm ƒ2 paired with wet-wide or fisheye converters (SEL057FEC fisheye converter for full-frame fisheye, or Nauticam/Sea&Sea wet wides for travel flexibility); kit zoom pairings that punch above weight: FE 28–60mm with WWL-1/WWL-C/WACP-C delivers corner-to-corner sharp CFWA while keeping rigs compact. Full-frame macro staples: FE 90mm ƒ2.8 Macro G OSS (benchmark—excellent working distance for skittish shrimps and gobies, beautiful detail), FE 50mm ƒ2.8 Macro (fish portraits and larger nudis in tighter visibility), and FE 70–200mm ƒ4 Macro G II (0.5× across the range in a flat port for larger marine life/detail hybrids); add wet diopters (+5/+10 achromats) to the 90 Macro for supermacro. Fish-portrait/ambient tele: FE 85mm ƒ1.8 (light, quick AF in clear water for mid-size subjects) when your housing supports an appropriate flat port. APS-C wide and macro kits: E 10–18mm ƒ4 behind a dome for rectilinear reefs, E 11mm ƒ1.8 for available-light wide and video (stop down for corners in domes), E 16–50mm with wet-wide (WWL-C) for compact travel rigs, and E 30mm ƒ3.5 Macro for budget 1:1; mounting FE 90 Macro on crop yields extra working distance for tiny critters. Practical buyer tips: build a two-lens spine (16–35 in a 180–230 mm dome + 90 Macro in a flat port) and add a 28–60 with WWL-C for small-rig flexibility; favor lenses with short MFD for CFWA—being inches from the subject cuts backscatter and makes strobes efficient; choose mini-domes for super-close CFWA and larger domes for blue-water scenics and cleaner corners; verify zoom/focus gear availability before purchase, and trim buoyancy with floats to reduce wrist strain. Underwater shooting tips: get close, then closer—water steals contrast; for strobes, start around 1/160–1/250 s, ƒ8–ƒ13, ISO 100–320 and adjust strobe power to taste; for ambient/available light, expose for background (blue/green), add a touch of fill, and consider manual white balance for natural tones; angle strobes out to minimize backscatter, keep the lens hood just outside the dome to avoid reflections, and use a rubber hood on flat ports to kill surface glare; for CFWA, place the subject inches from the dome and the sunball at an edge for rays without ghosts; for macro, switch to MF with peaking or use AF-C with a small spot, rock gently to focus, and stack diopters only when water is clear; for video, hold 1/50–1/60 s with a VND if necessary, enable breathing compensation, and prefer internal-focus lenses; rinse housings thoroughly, keep O-rings immaculate, and plan your kit by destination—blue water loves fisheye/rectilinear wides, muck dives love 90 Macro + diopter—so whether you’re framing turtles in cathedral light, shooting CFWA of anemonefish, or chasing pygmy seahorses, the best Sony lenses for underwater photography combine dome-friendly geometry, macro precision, and confident AF—so your corners stay clean, your colors stay rich, and your images feel clear and alive beneath the surface.