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Author Topic: Underwater Photography  (Read 10475 times)

Paul Kay

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Underwater Photography
« Reply #20 on: October 25, 2007, 04:57:52 pm »

If you are interested in taking the Ikelite/5D route, then take a look at their DS125 strobe. If you go with a fisheye lens you will almost certainly need 2 though! My real favourite wide-angle is a 24mm f/1.4 and many single strobes, including I think the DS125, have sufficient coverage to operate with this focal length - its not everyone's cu of tea though!
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jule

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Underwater Photography
« Reply #21 on: October 25, 2007, 06:25:55 pm »

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I've used my 5D with Ewa Marine thingo. It works well for what it does, but it's certainly not a diving unit. The great thing is that it works well for situations where you need to take a camera out with you into the water, and it does protect it (it's also a flotation device). But the deeper you want to go the less air you can have in it, and I just don't have enough trust in the sealing system to go any more then a metre at a time... Maybe two metres, but the air pressure in the bag is so great, by the time you get to the bottom, lift the camera up to take a photo, compose it, you're already out of breath from swimming hard to get down.


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The Ewa marine plastic bag housing has more chance of leaking in the top 2 metres because of the LACK of pressure on the seals. This is where most of the floodings occur with this type of housing.

I would advise to choose the camera you like and are comfortable with - the one you intend to use on land - and the one you intend to keep for a few years, then get the housing for it.

You must be familiar with the camera you are using under water and know it like the back of your hand. You don't want to be trying to work knobs and sorting out where the functions are on your 'new' camera, when you have added variables such as ensuring oxygen supply and watching bottom time.  

Even familiarity with processing of a particular camera is important. If you have an established routine and processing parameters and routines for a particular camera which you use on land, it is way easier to continue with these (although there are slight colour anomalies which present under water).

and yes... heaps of strobe.

Julie
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ceyman

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« Reply #22 on: October 25, 2007, 07:40:28 pm »

Here are some snapshots I took with a Canon SD700 P&S in the Canon housing and the internal flash only.  I carry the P&S around just in case, and while planning the trip to Fiji bought the case on a whim.  After all, it was only $134 & I would want to take snapshots in the dive boats, anyway.

I was pleasantly surprised at the results.  The first thing I'll do is buy a strobe -- and a good enough one that if I buy a housing for the 5D one day I can use it.  As everyone has said, there's never enough light.  

carl
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Morgan_Moore

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« Reply #23 on: October 26, 2007, 02:31:46 am »

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From my quick study (all of your comments) a good strobe seems to be the key since they are expensive it makes more sense to house the 5D than buying a G9, this means probably an additional expense of a 15mm lens and dome port. I had hoped for a clever, reasonably priced solution but as usual photographic problems are best solved with $$$$$ so probably after the first of the year I'll invest in an Ikelite housing (seems to be the best priced) a lens (16mm or zoom) and do more research on strobes to preserve the ettl feature.
Thanks
Marc
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A quick save on cash is to go for a used 20mm (as my first post) )or maybe a sigma wide lense

I hate stigma lenses because I feel them not to be phisically robust easily sratched etc but if they are only used in a housing the robustness is provided by the housing

S
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Sam Morgan Moore Bristol UK

marcmccalmont

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« Reply #24 on: October 26, 2007, 11:40:31 am »

I would like DxO compatibility also. The 15mm 2.8 fisheye, 20mm 2.8 and the 16-35mm 2.8 ver I all are available used (eBay), DxO compatible and fit the 6" dome. The zoom might be the most versatile.
Thanks
Marc
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Marc McCalmont

EricWHiss

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Underwater Photography
« Reply #25 on: October 26, 2007, 07:54:55 pm »

I've got the Ikelite housing for my 5D and two ds125 strobes, and can recommend their units.    The ikelite will offer you eTTL flash exposure and flash compensation on the outside controls which is  a big plus. I use my 17-40mm zoom with the ikelite which has a control to adjust zoom which is really cool.  

I started my underwater exploration with a rented rig in a titan housing.   I much prefer the ikelite.  

I believe another way to go could be using the nikonos 35mm set-ups which can be had very cheap on ebay.

As others have pointed out, you will really find out how much crap there is in water - angle of sunlight and orientation of flash will be important.  You will also want to be as close to your subject as possible for the same reason.
« Last Edit: October 26, 2007, 07:55:23 pm by EricWHiss »
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stever

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« Reply #26 on: October 28, 2007, 01:31:55 am »

there's a pretty good reason the nikonos are cheap on EBAY - digital
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EricWHiss

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« Reply #27 on: October 28, 2007, 02:03:11 pm »

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there's a pretty good reason the nikonos are cheap on EBAY - digital
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As I wrote earlier, I sprung for the ikelite and 5D.   The nikonos might still be a good deal if you only have a few shoots planned its a good way to get the quality you'll likely want.  Starting out, I a shoot with a nikon d70, and then one with a canon 20d and neither of these had enough real detail to make prints bigger than 8x10 - a surprise because it was there above water.
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stever

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« Reply #28 on: October 28, 2007, 09:24:20 pm »

i'm certainly getting detail from the 20D underwater to print larger than 8x10 even with the 17-85.  I think the size of print i can make is limited as much by water conditions as the camera - although if you want to shoot wide angle, the lens choices for Canons crop-frames aren't stellar.
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pobrien3

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« Reply #29 on: October 29, 2007, 06:50:19 am »

Like everything else in photography, it depends on how serious you want to get and what you want to photograph.  I've used an old Canon S50 with a cheap housing down to 30m, and it produces pretty decent close up shots.  The housing is cheap, transparent and the built-in flash shoots through it reasonably satisfactorily. A strobe is essential not just because of absolute light levels, but to replace the red light that is absorbed underwater.  You'll also need the ability to get it well off the lens axis otherwise particle scatter will kill your shots.  And ideally you want two strobes.  Whether you want to match those to a 5D in an Ikelite (if you get even partially serious, that's the way to go) or the DSLR in a cheap housing, it'll make the world of difference, even to macros.

Also, expect to use more gas as you inevitably use up quite a bit more energy than you would without the camera.  Ideally dive overweight to improve your stability, so yet more gas will get used.  And keep an eye on your guages as it's alll too easy to get absorbed in the picture taking.  Best if you get yourself tech qualified and go shallow on twins, which will give you quite a bit more time.

It can be very rewarding, but there's a lot of gear to carry around and take into the water!

Peter
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pobrien3

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« Reply #30 on: October 29, 2007, 06:57:06 am »

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there's a pretty good reason the nikonos are cheap on EBAY - digital[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=149120\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
The Nikonos is a bugger to use - manual everything, and you have to make guesstimate corrections for focus distances.  By the time you've thought it all through and pressed the shutter, you're lucky if the shot's correctly exposed and / or in focus, and indeed if your subject hung around long enough for you to stop messing about.  I wouldn't think twice about it - digital is the only way to go underwater, IMHO.

Peter
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stever

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« Reply #31 on: October 29, 2007, 11:17:44 am »

you can get good images with one strobe - i'd recommend getting comfortable positioning and aiming one strobe before adding a second
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steeliejim

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« Reply #32 on: December 26, 2007, 03:24:36 pm »

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The Nikonos is a bugger to use - manual everything, and you have to make guesstimate corrections for focus distances.  By the time you've thought it all through and pressed the shutter, you're lucky if the shot's correctly exposed and / or in focus, and indeed if your subject hung around long enough for you to stop messing about.  I wouldn't think twice about it - digital is the only way to go underwater, IMHO.

Peter
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Hmmmm, I looked in here because I am interested in the housed G-9, but, sorry Peter, I have to strongly disagree with you re. the Nikonos.  I have two V's and a IV.  With the 15 mm lens, the Nikonos 5 handles like a P&S, except much better pix (a lot of pros who switched to digital still use the 15mm Nikonos for wide angle.  It has such a wide depth of field it's almost impossible to get out-of-focus shots with just a bit of care.  Auto mode works very well for 75% of the shots, and if you are looking for certain effects eg, sunburst in top of pic, you just pre-adjust, which you would have to do with any camera, even the most sophisticated housed dslr.  

I scan my slides, put them on the computer, and then process them if I need to.  I'm thinking of switching to digital because I'd like more flexibility underwater, and I'd like to see if I got the shot I wanted while I still have a chance to redo it, and I don't like running out of film when THE shot of the dive appears.  Also, I've gotten some wonderful macro shots with the tubes and framing wires.  BUT, critters don't like the wires in their faces, and when I have that set up, I'm stuck with macro for the whole dive.  

But, again, Peter, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG about your percetions of the Nikonos.

Jim
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Paul Kay

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« Reply #33 on: December 26, 2007, 04:08:47 pm »

I've shot underwater on Nikonos IIs, IIIs, IVs & Vs! Nikon F, F2, F4, F801, and F100, I now shoot underwater with Canon 1DS/5D and there is nothing that could tempt me to use a Nikonos again. Sorry to be so blunt, but the Nikonos was (ie all were), at its best, pretty hard work to use IMHO. They could be used, and with effort could produce some excellent results, but in comparison to a modern dSLR all Nikonos cameras are archaic and the difference in output quantity/quality is substantially orders of magnitude!!! Compare a Nikonos V to something like a G9 and the difference is still pretty dramatic - you only have to look at divers to see how many more now use cameras - and get results! I'd actually say that the underwater world embraced digital faster and with more appreciation than the above! Digital has revolutionised underwater photography and the Nikonos has sadly had its day.
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