First Dive of the Year
Small anemone crab
Edit: Some browsers might have issues with the photo enlarge and the video on the same page. For now, just scroll down the page when looking at the enlarged photos if you have them layered strangely. I am too tired at this point to deal with it, but will look at it another day.
I know it has been awhile since I have posted anything, but I have been laying low – taking a break from diving. I have been preparing for next spring, selling off most of my photo equipment, and saving up for a new, more professional rig. I am going with the Nikon D90 (yes, I switched teams), with an Ikelite case with 8″ dome and sigma 8-16 mm wide angle lens. My goal is around May to have everything in my possession.
I just got my case the other day, but have to save up a bit more to be able to afford the rest. Well either that, or actually sell my old equipment… I put it up on Ebay last week, but no bites yet.
I had a nice outing today, even though the current was high, and the conditions weren’t ideal. The weather was great. We have had an exceptionally nice winter over here, and it has been a great pleasure to get outdoors – even in January.
I think that my break from diving is a good thing. I have been doing a lot more photo work topside of late, and trying to improve my fundamentals, as well as my post-processing technique. I think it has made a huge difference in my photo work, and I hope we will see the results next summer.
Anyways, I took a short vid of an octopus that I harassed (seen below). Check it out, and enjoy the photos!
Beata Virgo Maria – Known, But Rarely Seen
The weather, my good friend Arnaud, and great visibility allowed the mounting of a small search for “La Vierge (The Virgin)” – also known as “Our Lady of the Seabed”. The statue, located about 100 meters off Quai Rauba Capeu, sits at a depth of about 16 meters. The statue is about 3 meters tall, and was realized in 1968 by the sculptor Alfred Gualtierotti.
I first learned about it several weeks ago, and I had wanted to find it, but logistics, vacation, and weather conditions had prevented it. This weekend was the first moment when everything was just right, and we set out to search for it. Due to the excellent visibility, we were able to locate it within about 15 minutes.
It is a beauty of a statue, and stirs the emotions to look at it. I won’t say too much more on the subject, but will let the photos speak for themselves. Enjoy the photos!
Meeting the Virgin
Deep in Prayer
Plage de l’Escalet near St. Tropez – New Discoveries
Aguillette, Needlefish, or Garfish
A few weeks ago, I went to visit the small town of St. Tropez. The town itself is rich and full of pomp. Huge yachts, fancy cars, lots of celebrities all about, and expensive designer shops. Not exactly my kind of place.
The town was nice enough, I enjoyed to architecture and the setting quite a bit. However, the highlight was the nearby beach of l’Escalet. What a jewel. Clear water, beautiful sands, and a healthy ecosystem as far as I could tell.
I have never seen as many fish anywhere in the Mediterranean as I saw there. Huge schools of sardines and saupe were everywhere, and at times, I could hardly fit even a small part of the schools into the view of my wide angle. I took a bunch of video, and condensed it down to around four minutes.
While editing the video, I realized I had over ten solid minutes of footage of huge schools of fish. School after school passed my angle of view, and it was honestly hard to cut it down.The end result is below. I just want to say that I accidentally grabbed my chipped wide angle dome on the way out the door (I bought another one after I chipped my first one, and kept it for spare parts). It is fine for photos – it rarely ever shows, but for video, it shows almost all the time. I also had something on my lens on the interior of my camera, but once I hit the water, there was nothing to be done about it. Sorry for that and I hope you can enjoy the vid just the same!
Sole (flounder) and a grande vive (greater weever)
To my absolute delight, I finally got close to a bunch of species that I had either very rarely seen from a distance, or never even knew existed in my area. These included the aguillette (needlefish, or garfish), rombou, petite sole jaune (both are varieties of flounders), grande vive (greater weever), and what I think is a dragonnet, but I have not been able to get a positive identification on it yet.
I got some decent photos of all of them, and then immediately began researching my new discoveries online the second I arrived at home. It turns out that the vive (or weever), has a vicious poisonous sting that can cause intensive pain for up to two weeks. It has dorsal fins with spines that if touched, will inject their venom and make the aggressor wish they had never gone near.
I also learned that the aguillette (or needlefish) has been known to be attracted to flashy objects, sometime propelling themselves towards the object while airborne. In other countries, these fish are a huge danger to fishermen while fishing at night. They will occasionally hurl themselves out of the water towards the light source, and stick their shark points into whatever they hit, including people. Their sharp beaks can pierce arteries, organs, and flesh. I even read one report of a young man in the Mediterranean who was pierced through his nose and out the side of his cheek. A little bit of surgery later, and he was good as new.
However, such attacks are rare in this area. But this leads me to a huge question; why do I always seem to learn these types of things AFTER I go chasing after something with my camera?
As always, enjoy the photos!
Cap du Dramont Photos
“for whatever we lose (like a you or a me) / it’s always ourselves we find in the sea”
Free Diving at the Cap du Dramont
Free Diving at the Cap du Dramont
Free Diving at the Cap du Dramont
Quick Photo Post
My best shot in a while.
I just had to post this shot from the weekend. It was a chance shot I got of a young boy – 14 or 15 years old diving off the rocks in Cap du Dramont near St. Raphael. I have more shots to post at some point, nice ones to boot, but I’ll post some of those another day. Right now, I have to get some stuff done around the house!
Monotone and Black and White Series 6-11
Working in monotone and black and white can liven up a composition
I don’t usually do a lot of work in black and white, but I decided to give it a shot. I always tend to think of black and white and monotone photography as a last resort for photos that don’t work in color, but the truth is that they can really make a composition sing. Some of the photos below have already been on the site in color, and some are completely new.
In other news, I had a run of rather bad luck in the last few weeks… My Canon G9 bit the dust last week, and my main hard drive on my server failed as well. The good new is that I sent the camera off to Canon to get repaired, and I expect it to be a relatively simple and inexpensive fix based on the research I conducted (fingers are crossed). As for my hard drive, I replaced it and got it back up and running within 36 hours. The bad news is that I hadn’t really counted on spending all that money, and it looks like I will be without my G9 for up to two months!
Luckily, I have my Canon Powershot D10 as a backup camera. It is much more limited than my G9 in that it is more of a point-and-shoot affair with much less manual control, and I am limited to 10 meters (about 33 feet) in depth. While I won’t be able to take it very deep, I have already heavily modified my rig to work with my D10, allowing me to use my strobe, my stacked Inon macro lenses, and my wide angle dome. All my alterations are completely home-made, and it even looks pretty cool. I spent all last week tweaking the setup and perfecting it. My initial tested are pretty good, and I just have a few minor light leakage issues when using the wide angle lens to patch up. I even hacked the camera with the use of the CHDK custom firmware in order to utilize RAW format. With that last touch, I can last a few months and keep shooting without missing a beat while waiting for my baby to get repaired. I think I will post pictures and details on how I set up my Canon D10. Some people might find it useful, and it might even spur on some further ideas on making the D10 a legitimate shallow dive camera.
I have a bunch more photos coming this week. I’ve been doing a lot of shooting these last few weeks, and a deluge of photos is coming your way soon! Enjoy the photos.
Rainy Day, Photos From May
The Comatule or Feather Star is an animal
Well, after a bunch of rain and a nice storm, I finally got caught up on all my photography. Today I am posting a melange of photos from the month of May.
I started scuba diving again, posting my 20th dive just yesterday. I also got my CMAS diving level one certification. I already had my PADI level one, but with a short set of exercises and 15 euros, I was able to qualify for my level one in France. That gives me some benefits, such as the ability to progress in the french system as well as the ability to dive autonomously to 12 meters in France. Plus, french divemasters seem to be suspicious of those who have PADI certificates, so I can put them at ease when diving in France. One of the guys who was in the office when we were finishing my paperwork for my new license joked that I was a real diver now! Somehow, I am pretty sure he was not joking.
Interesting Sponge
I had some cool experiences this month. We saw some more poisson lune this morning, and I got to swim with a large battery of barracuda. What an awesome experience! I was swimming at the beach, and I looked under me. There was a huge group of 30 or 40 barracuda in relatively shallow water, so I dove and swam with the group for several minutes (not all at once). They were so close to me, I could almost touch them, and it was a wonderful moment.
I also saw my first Comatule or Feather Star, which is an animal akin to a starfish. They are very hard to see, although I gather they are quite common. There were a few other neat discoveries as well, including a bizarre sponge I have never seen before. I am pretty happy with the photo I got from it. It looks surreal.
I’m going to take advantage of the rain and get a nice afternoon nap in. Enjoy the photos!
Oh Beautiful Corsica! Recollections From Miomo 5-11.
Miomo, just outside of Bastia, is a pretty little village
A couple weeks ago, my girlfriend and I sneaked away to Miomo, Corscia for a short, but superb four day weekend. We boarded a ferry from the port in Nice, and settled in for a pleasant six hour commute. On the way there, we saw several dolphins playing in the wake of the boat, and reveled in the clear, deep blue of the sea.
The Corsican accent is pretty pronounced, and was at first, difficult to understand. It is a mix of Italian and French accents with a strange emphasis on certain vowels. I am funny with accents, I was told that by the end of our four days, I had begun to pick up the accent when I spoke. That was fine with me. I really grew to like the accent and the people by the time we left.
We stayed at the hotel : l’Ariana in Miomo, and the staff there were wonderful! I don’t usually call out places to stay in my posts, but the staff and the people were a cut above. They were incredibly accommodating and friendly. We passed quite a bit of time with the staff, just chatting, swapping stories and asking questions. If you are looking for great hotel in the area, this is the one. Just try to get a room with a view of the sea. I should also note the hotel itself was great too – featuring a pool, a wonderful bar overlooking the sea, and a pretty good restaurant to boot.
The water was exceptionally clear
I should also call out the little pizzeria down the street too (there is only one, you can’t miss it). The owner there was super nice to us when we arrived after close. He made us two pizzas to go, and packed up a bottle of Rosé, and even borrowed us two glasses so we could picnic on the beach. Thanks for the wonderful service and thoughtfulness! Oh, and the pizzas were great too. I highly recommend the “Miomaise”.
The absolute highlight of the trip was the boat trip back. We saw lots of rare animals and fish, including at least six or seven Mola Mola, or Poisson Lune. We saw more dolphins very close to Nice, a squid, and several whales. One whale surfaced several times very near to the ship, and we got to see it closer than I have ever seen before. It was incredible.
On to the photos. The water was cool and clear. The waters in the area aren’t very deep, so you have to get pretty far from shore in order to do any diving. Shooting conditions were pretty wonderful overall, but I didn’t really find much in the way of subject matter. There were a lot of fish, but they were pretty timid, and I just didn’t find a lot of little critters to shoot. I was hoping for some interesting nudibranch, or flabelline, or shrimp or something, but I searched in vain. We saw lots of things, just nothing terribly unusual. I took advantage of the clear waters to do some live action shots and had some success. I continued to utilize my simulated HDR technique to bring out the detail in the water. You can see the rays of light playing in many of the shots below.
Back At It, With a New Concept
I am now experimenting with simulated HDR
I haven’t made any posts lately, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been at it. The water conditions have just been miserable for the last few weeks. I snapped a few shots here and there the last few weeks, but it was hard to shoot in the soup that was the Mediterranean.
Last week had decent visibility, but the sea wasn’t exactly cooperative. Lots of waves and I had myself a little accident. I reached for a rock, and there just happened to be a rascasse (or scorpionfish) who wasn’t too pleased to have my hand placed upon his back. Well, he shared his displeasure by stinging me, and I didn’t have a chance to explain that I just didn’t see him there. Turns out that scropionfish venom is not only painful, but I happen to be allergic. I got some meds for the allergy, and suffered through the pain for a couple of days, and everything was eventually fine. I will be carrying anti-allergy meds with me whenever I go diving from now on.
On to the photos! This week, I started playing with HDR (High Dynamic Range) photos and wondering how I could apply that technique to underwater photography. What HDR photos do is they allow the photographer to take several photos of different exposures and combine them together in order to bring out all of the details in a scene. I found myself thinking that this technique would be great for underwater photos, but there was a huge hurdle I could not get past – you need to take 3 photos and then combine them. Underwater, everything moves – the water, the fish, the light. It is simply impossible, even under the best of conditions, to get three successive photos that are close enough together to create a useable HDR.
I then remembered an article I read about a technique called “Simulted HDR”. In this technique you take one RAW photo at perfect exposure, and export it three times: one over-exposed, one perfectly exposed, and one under-exposed. You then combine the photos like you would when creating a regular HDR photo in order to create a similar effect. It’s not perfect, but I have begun to adapt this technque for use in my underwater photography.
Below, you can see my first attempt at it. I am pretty happy with the results, and will be working more with the technique this summer. Next week I will be in Corsica, and will be SURE to put this new technique to use.
Enjoy!
Dive 4-10-2011 Busy, Busy, Busy
Probably my favorite shot of the year so far.
Well, not much to report, except I haven’t been in front of the computer much lately. Well, except for work, which has been very, very busy. I’ve been putting in a lot of hours the last few weeks, and while this week has been relatively quiet, I have a feeling that the next three will be pretty reckless. It’s good to be busy though.
Add to that the fact the the weather has been beautiful… Well the old computer starts to seem awfully unattractive in my off hours. When I do have down time, I find myself watching an episode or two of MASH. What a great show. I’ve been watching it for a while now, and I have been pleased to find flashes of absolute brilliance written into it. For example, in season 4, episode 18, Hawkeye launches into a wonderful monologue where he picks up a hunk of garlic, a tea cup, and a stone. He begins to juggle. He says:
“I give you the human person, thumb and fingers, flexing madly, straining to keep aloft the leaden realities of life; ignorance, death, and madness. Thus we create for ourselves the illusion that we have power, that are in control, that we are…. loved.”
He stops juggling as he catches the garlic. Later as he leaves, the family at whose house he is staying offers him the three items he was juggling as a gift. He takes the garlic and hands it back to the woman and he says pensively “the love, I leave with you”, and steps out the door.
Tiny, tiny shrimp on the tip of my glove.
Anyways, on to the photos. I caught a shot of a new nudibranch this week, which I was very excited about. I also got a really great shot of a diver swimming to the surface, probably my favorite shot of the year so far. The most fun shot of the week award goes to the macro shot of a tiny, almost microscopic shrimp on the very tip of my glove. It was swimming past me, and looked like a self-propelled particle in the water. I reached out to touch it having no idea what it was), and it climbed on to my glove, quickly making itself at home.
I named him Fred. Fred was kind enough to model for me, and I saw him safely on his way before getting back into the boat.
Well, that’s it for this week. As always, enjoy the photos!
Dive 4-2-2011 – Spring Is Here!
The triptérygions changed their colors for spring
Spring is officially here in Nice. The sun was shining, the triptérygions changed their colors for spring, and the sun bathers reappeared this weekend. You can feel it in the air, happy times are here again.
It was a really good weekend for photos. For the first time, I feel like I am starting to get better at using my strobe light with my photography. This is especially evident with my macro work. My super macro shots came out extremely clean and crisp with colors that really pop. The only issue I am coming across is that I am getting many photos with details that are often washed out. This comes with me dumping so much light on the subject. Next up will be some research on how to avoid this.
Other than that, it was a fun dive this morning, with lot of strange critters about. There were some new ones that I have yet to identify, and there was another that can be seen quite often that exhibited some behavior I had never seen; it formed a giant rope-like colony with many individuals stuck together. It was something to see.
Hope it feels like spring wherever you are. Enjoy the shots.
Dive 3-27-2011 – Missing the Boat
I pulled out the old Inon Macro lenses this weekend.
So I wake up at 8:00 am on a Sunday, get everything together, and drag all my equipment down to the port to go diving with the CIPA. I arrive right on time, and lo and behold… The boat’s not there, and everyone is gone. Now anyone who knows me knows that 9:00 am is not my best hour of the day for higher level cognitive function, so I decided to sit and ponder my situation. About five minutes later, I get a text from my girl noting that it was daylight savings this weekend.
I forgot the change my clock forward and I literally missed the boat.
Having hauled all my gear down to the port, I decided to make the most of it and I went for a quick dive out at Coco Beach. It didn’t let me down. I ran into the same Doris Dalmatien that I ran into a few weeks ago. Only this time, he left his feeding tuft open long enough for me to get a really nice shot.
Other than that, I have a few nice macro shots (I worked heavily with my Inon Macro Lenses this weekend) from my afternoon at Cap D’Ai. I spent the day out there on Saturday, and boy was the weather nice.
I leave you all with a wonderful quote that I came across this week. These are supposedly the last words of Shakespearean actor John Barrymore (1882-1942). “Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him.” That guy sounds like he would be awesome to meet.
2-12-2011 First Dive of 2011
Small Spider Crab in Anemone
Where to begin? Since my last post plenty of things have changed. I moved out of my new place, made some new friends, got closer to some old friends, and started learning how to live the single life again. I can’t say I’m unhappy, life is too full of wonder to curl up into a ball for too long. At some point you have to start living again. I recently read a quote that I think it sums it up:
“Love can consign us to hell or to paradise, but it always takes us somewhere. We simply have to accept it, because it is what nourishes our existence.”
The last five months have been a heck of a ride, and I feel like I’ve finally come out on the other side. That means it is time to get back to what is important: my real work.
This week, I went on a couple dives and managed to FINALLY get a passable picture of a crab in an anemone. These are super hard to shoot, because they usually either hide themselves well, or the anemones are moving around so much that it is hard to focus on the crab itself. In this case, I was lucky enough to get close enough, and catch the crab a bit out in the open. It worked out well I think.
Also, in this week’s shots is the largest Doris Dalmatien that I have ever seen. As I came up on it, it had it’s feeders extended and it looked really impressive, but due to a flash malfunction, I missed the very first shot I took. After that, it closed it’s feeder tuft and became much less impressive. Ahh c’est la vie.
This week’s shots are taken either at the Phare in St.Jean Cap-Ferrat, or at the Cap de Nice.
Enjoy:
12-19-2010 Last Dive Of The Year
Nudibranch
Well, I dove my last dive of the year today, closing the book on an excellent season. My photo work certainly grew by leaps and bounds this last year, and I fully expect next year to be full of growth as well.
I’ll be heading to England over the Christmas holiday, and definitely won’t hit the water until at least the weekend after New Year’s. I guess there is a lot of snow up in England just now, but I am still hopeful it will be a good little vacation. I know everyone says the food isn’t that great up there, but I am looking forward to trying the beef Wellington! Ha.
Anyways, I didn’t take many shots, and there is nothing spectacular in this week’s set, but there is one pretty nice shot of two nudibranch feeding. I’ve never seen two specimens that close before, and it was at least something cool. I didn’t get any time to really shoot them, because it was just at the end of the outing. I had to take a couple of quick shots then roll out. Enjoy, and have a Merry X-mas, a Happy Hanukkah, a Super Kwanzaa, a Bo-Delicious Boxing Day and a Happy New Year!
Dive 11-6
My new shrimp discovery: Crevette drimo
I finally got back to the water after several weeks, and got to work out my new strobe again. I made a few new discoveries, one of which I have yet to identify. The first of these discoveries was a type of shrimp I had never seen before. It was tucked way back in a small crevasse, and I had some serious trouble even getting a shot at it. I did get a couple decent shots, but it took some serious acrobatics on my part to get my equipment even near enough to shoot it. I was able to track the identity down, and it turns out it is a “Crevette drimo” or Mediterranean bumblebee shrimp.
My second big discovery of the day was a type of starfish that I had never seen before, and I cannot identify. It looks much like the “Etoile de mer épineuse”, or Blue Spiny Starfish, but it was quite yellow. Maybe this is a seasonal change, or perhaps a close cousin? I have yet to find out. [Update: shortly after publishing, I was able to track the starfish in question down. Turns out it is a "Eoile de mer glacialis". It is related to the Etiole de mer epineuse. So there you have it.]
One last note, I saw five octopus during my outing, which is a lot. I think that breaks my previous record by at least 2. I saw several different varieties, and got quite close to a number of them. I actually had one cornered out in the open where he had no hole to squish into, when he went after my strobe light. I had it detached from my camera in an effort to line up some cool lighting, but he grabbed it and gave it quite a tug. I wrestled it away from him, but in the struggle, I lost position and he got away. I got a little ink for my trouble, and missed the shot. It at least makes for an interesting story.
Anyways, enjoy this week’s shots.
Dive 10-23
Macro shots show much improvement with the new strobe
I had some distracting life-type things come up recently that have kept me from posting my most recent shots. Sorry to anyone who was waiting on them.
This set of shots is interesting, as it is the first set of shots I took with my new strobe! Yes, I finally got a strobe for my underwater rig, and I can already see the difference. I was really able to get some more dramatic light, and there is a significant difference in color. However, the most impressive thing is that I was able to drop my F-stop value way down for my macro shots. This means that I can get a much larger depth of field and much more sharpness than before.
I was very impressed with the results that I got on my very first attempt, and am looking to get back out and try again.
Be sure to check out the sea cucumber shot. It was coming out of some sort of strange sac. I’m not sure if it was hatching, shedding, or reproducing. If anyone knows what that is, please let me know. Enjoy!
Weekend 10-16-2010
I was pretty happy with my anemone shots this weekend.
I will probably post an update to this post later this weekend, but I wanted to get these up since I am pretty happy with my anemone shots. Today was an interesting day, I saw several small bio-luminescent animals today. They were very small (a few millimeters), and I tried to point them out to others. However, as soon as I could get close enough to point them out, they would “turn out the lights”. I am not sure if anyone believes me, but I know I saw them. I am pretty sure I am not crazy, but how can anyone be absolutely sure on that point? Anyways, enjoy.
Weekend 10-10-2010
My favorite shot from the past couple weeks
For all those who have been bugging me, sorry it took so long to get these up. I’ve been in an odd mode lately. I have been a schizophrenic melange of extremely overbusy/super lazy. When I have not been busting my tail with some household or work project, I have been a crazy couch potato. I think it is a combination of my U.S. trip, and winter creeping in that has my energies so messed up.
Anyways, nothing really new beyond that. I have some shots from club dives through the last couple weekends, and I wanted to get those up before people start getting mad at me. I had one or two pretty nice shots that I liked quite a bit from the last couple weeks, as well a bunch of other so-so shots.
Weekend 9-22-2010
Oeuf au plat with crowd of Oblade
Well, I got back at it this weekend. Felt good to finally be able to spend some time in the water and do some diving. The last month has been a real whirlwind. I had a great time in the ‘States, and got in some quality time with the family, and that is always a good thing but I really fell behind at life. Since I got back, my life has been pretty stacked up with work, but I finally feel like I have been able to dig myself out just enough to get things back to normal.
Anyways, I got more oeuf au plat shots this weekend. They are invading over here. I have seen them almost every weekend I have been out for a couple of months now. Everyone I have talked to tells me that they are normally only rarely seen, but this year they are everywhere. Is this an effect of climate change or changes in the ecosystem? Or could it be just a fluke? I hope to learn more on the topic.
Weekend Shots, TF1, Oeuf Au Plat, Wide Angle Issues, and More…
TF1 Cameraman shooting the CIPA this weekend
Well, this is going to be my last post for a bit. I might pop on to link to the CIPA TV appearance if it gets online, but no photos for a few weeks since I will be “state-side” until mid-sept.
TV appearance you ask? There was a news crew that came out for one of the major French TV stations (TF1) on Saturday to film the CIPA (my diving club). I assume there were mostly there to catch Guillaume, but they were shooting the whole club, so I think I’ve got a good shot to make my French national TV debut in the near future. I have no idea when the piece is going to air, but I will post it when I get it.
Other than that, the weekend was a good mix of awesomeness and frustration. I had a great couple of outings this weekend, with lots of stuff to shoot, but I had some issues with my new replacement Fantasea BigEye G Series lens that made me miss a lot of shots. I chipped my old one (which I NEVER had a single issue with), and I had to pony up to get it replaced since I found it an incredible tool. To make a long story short, my new one came, and it seems to have either some errant moisture inside it, or some sort of subtle chemical stain on the inside of the glass that likes to ruin photos. It is not fogging that I am having a problem with. Moderate fogging I could probably deal with; it is a definite defect that really sucks. I have reached out to Fantasea technical support to get it resolved, and I will keep you all posted as to how it goes. [Update: I posted an email to support, and they responded within a few hours on a Sunday, which is a good sign. They asked for a receipt, and a photo of the defect, which I promptly supplied.]
“Méduse œuf au plat”, or egg jellyfish
Last but not least, after having seen my first “Méduse œuf au plat”, or egg jellyfish a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon at least seven that I counted earlier today. When it rains it pours I guess. As of a few weeks ago, I had never seen one, but now I’ve seen at least eight in the last few weeks. I wasn’t too pleased with my shots from last time, and while not perfect, I am quite a bit happier with the ones I got today.
Enjoy, and I’ll be back with more shots in late Sept.
Fantasea BigEye Lens G Series (For Canon G7, G9, G10, G11, S90) Review
BigEye Lens G Series Wide Angle Wet Lens
The BigEye Lens G Series gives Canon G Series and Canon S90 series users the ability to take relatively wide angle shots without the need to upgrade to a more expensive case.
The first thing to understand when looking at the BigEye Lens is to understand what it does. If you go into it expecting to be able to take truly wide angle shots on par with some of the other wide angle wet lenses out there (such as Sea & Sea, Dyron, or Inon), you will be sorely disappointed. This product will only take the G9 down to about a 25 mm equivalent, the G10 and G11 down to about a 20mm equivalent. It’s right around what is generally the considered top end of the wide angle spectrum.
What this product does, more than anything else is recuperate the loss in wide angle caused by refractive magnification of the water. One of the first things you learn in scuba diving theory classes is that, due to the refractive qualities of water things always seem larger and closer.
BigEye Lens G Series Wide Angle Wet Lens
The water acts as a natural lens which converts a 35mm equivalent flat port lens to approximately 47 mm, and a 28 mm lens to approximately 37 mm. The rounded dome port on the BigEye lens counteracts that and subtracts a little on the bottom end to decrease the native focal length by a factor of 0.7x. As far as I know, this is the only wide angle wet lens solution available for stock G series and S90 Canon underwater housings. If you want something with more coverage and a wider angle, you’ll have to look at another housing. I would recommend starting with an Ikelite, and pairing it up with another after market wide angle lens such as the Inon UFL-165AD Fisheye Lens. I have read that there are individuals who have experimented with other popular lenses on the listed Canon housings with poor results, and I have not yet found another viable wide angle solution on the market.
EyeDaptor G9-G10
It works with several Canon G-series Housings as well as the Canon S90 Housing (Canon G7, G9, G11, G10, and S90 housings; WP-DC34, WP-DC28, WP-DC35, WP-DC21 and WP-DC11). The G7, G9, and S90 housings require an additional adapter in order to work with their respective housings; Eyedapter G7/G9 version S90 version.
The BigEye Lense mounts via a pressure fit/bungee cord system. Two hooks on bungee cords hold the lens to the Canon casing. It is a relatively simple system that works effectively, however it can slip off with quick movements underwater. Fortunately the flat glass in the back is made of very strong scratch-resistant material so this won’t likely cause any damage to the glass if it should occur. The front glass, however, is a different story. It is fragile as heck. If you purchase one of these, you’ll have to be VERY careful with it as it will scratch or chip very easily.
BigEye Lens G Series With Home Made Cover
I ruined my first one within two weeks (I was getting into the water and dropped my camera on the way in, which chipped the glass), but I learned my very expensive lesson. I recommend keeping the dome glass covered whenever not in use. The Fantasea version comes with a neoprene cover, the Japanese version (branded as FIX rather than Fantasea) does not. For my second one I fashioned a simple cover out of an old neoprene glove and an elastic band. It’s not as pretty as the commercial cover, but it protects the lens effectively. Light scratches can be buffed out, but chips and deep scratches can ruin the dome lens, depending on where they are. For light scratches, there are commercially available kits you can find online. When mine got chipped, the primary problem was that the auto-focus seemed to want to find the chip 60% of the time, which just made shooting with it more frustrating than anything.
Lens Flare Is Not A Huge Problem
The lens is made of optical glass, which is generally considered better than acrylic. Optical glass is less prone to lens flare and ring reflections than acrylic. You will have issues with lens flare with a dome lens, but you can generally keep these under control if you are not shooting directly into the light. You can also rotate the included petal lens hood in order to help with flare in certain situations.
A few other things to note about the BigEye Lens:
1. This lens needs to be used in macro mode the time.
2. I’ve read about some people having severe issues with fogging with this product. Evidently this was an early production issue that has since been taken care of, and I have had no issues with fogging. If you do start to have issues, try keeping the BigEye immersed in cool water for 10 minutes before your dive.
3. This product does absolutely nothing on dry land. It is specifically designed to work underwater and works in conjunction with the refractive properties of the water.
4. It blocks the internal flash. You will either need to use ambient light or use an external strobe with this product.
5. Fantasea sells a product to attach the BigEye to certain strobe and flex arms. You can find it here.
6. At times the unit has problems with bubbles getting trapped between the unit glass and the camera body. This can be annoying, but with practice, you can get rid of the air pockets quickly.
I've taken some of my favorite shots with the BigEye
All in all, this is a pretty affordable and pretty solid product. It’s not the widest angle lens out there, but it’s simple, not terribly over expensive, and it works. I’ve used it quite a bit, and I’ve done some of my best work with it. You can do a lot with this product with just ambient light, and the ability to switch it out with macro lenses or just going straight flat port in the middle of a dive gives you enormous flexibility in the field. Between the BigEye and a set of Inon macro lenses, you can get an unparalleled range of focal lengths and photo composition options that a DSLR rig just can’t match.
The lens flare issue isn’t horrible, even though it is there, and the quality is there, with minimal distortion at the edges. I have noticed a problem with sharpness in some shots, but I am not 100% sure that is not just motion blur in those cases. All in all, this is a great way to reduce the amount of water between you and your subject, which is critical in underwater photography. I recommend it for Canon G series and S90 users as long as they understand what they are getting before they buy.
Product Specifications:
- Depth rated to 60m/200 feet
- Field of view recovery (magnification): 105% (X0.7)
- Angle of coverage: 80 degrees
- Lens material: Optical glass, hard coated plastic and anodized aluminum
- Weight: 498g
- Dimensions: 157x77mm
- Box includes: Neoprene lens cover (only in American Version), secure line, warranty and instruction manual
I have included several sample shots below to show off how the BigEye Lens G Series works:
Weekend 8-1-2010 Critter Shots
Méduse œuf au plat, or egg jellyfish
Here is the second batch of shots from last weekend. There are a few shots of macro critters, plus a “Méduse œuf au plat”, or egg jellyfish. It was the first one I had ever seen in person, and even thought it was a very small one, I am happy to have seen it. The mini crabs are the exact same ones I shot the week before. I just wasn’t thrilled with the results, so I went back and tried a few new techniques for getting them shot better. I think I succeeded, but I’ll let you be the judge.
Additional Tips On Using Stacked INON UCL-165 M67 Lenses For Underwater Macro Photography
Dual INON Lenses For Macro Photography
Thought I’d post an update on some additional tips that were submitted to me from jcnavarrog through Flickr. He offered some useful tips as to how to best use dual stacked Inon UCL 165 M67 macro lenses that I thought were worth sharing.
Camera Settings:
1. No matter how light or transparent the subject, whenever using stacked Inons, set your camera settings to: f8.0, ISO 80 (ISO 100 if can’t use 80), macro mode and flash compensation +2.
2. Zoom the lens all the way in (full zoom)
3. Set the camera to manual focus
After you have your camera properly configured, you simply get your camera within a few inches of your subject, and simply “rock” your camera slowly back and forth until the subject is in focus. At first, this can seem pretty difficult, but with even a few minutes of practice, you can start to get the feel for this technique. I have used this technique myself, and I can report that you can get far closer to your subject using this method. The photos below were taken using this method. Again, thanks much to jcnavarrog for the tips. Also, I have another article with more information about using Dual Inon Macro lenses for underwater photography here.
One Year Anniversary
My first passable Rascasse photo
The 20th of July will mark the one year anniversary of www.azur-diving.com. I started underwater photography just under one year ago, and it’s fun to think of all the things I’ve gotten to experience and see, courtesy of mother nature. The photos in this site represent only a small fraction of the beauty that mother nature has presented for us, and I’m looking forward to capturing more of it on camera. I posted this today, since I am heading to Corsica for a week of camping, hiking and diving. I won’t have any updates next week, but I’ll likely have a huge update once I get back.
Looking back at my first pathetic attempts at underwater photograhy (we’ve all got to start somewhere), it is amazing to me how far this site and my work have progressed in such a short time period; it has gone from point and shoot documentation to what I hope is beginning to resemble art. I understand that I’ve still got a long, long way to go before I can reach the level I want to reach, but it is comforting that I’ve been able to at least get this far. I wouldn’t been able to get where I’ve gotten without the encouraging words of friends, family, supporters, and of course the patience and (sometimes harsh) opinions of my lovely partner. So thank you all, I can only hope to get even better with your support. I’ve got to push even farther if I want to reach my ultimate goal of being at least able to compete at the World Festival of Underwater Photography in Marseille. I am at least going to enter for the first time this year and see how I stack up.
Okay, down to business. This week’s photos are, in my opinion, average at best. I missed a few great shots,and this morning, I struggled with shooting racscasse (scorpionfish). The rascasse, in my opinion, is a beautiful and varied fish that can change colors to blend in with it’s surroundings. This makes them incredibly hard to shoot, since they either blend in so much with their surroundings that the pictures look flat, or they have such variation in color that you get “hot spots” which are blown-out white areas. Using flash makes their eyes turn yellow, and gives instant hot spots, so that just makes it that much more difficult. I’ve taken perhaps hundreds of shots of different rascasse, and I’ve yet to get one that I am completely happy with… Until today. I managed to get ONE shot finally that I like, and that is a good place to start.
Otherwise, in this week’s shots I have a picture of my partner crossing a thermocline. It’s not a wall-hanger, but you can see where her body and oxygen tank are all distorted in the photo. That distortion happens when you move to another warmer or colder layer of water. I also have a few shots of octopus, a shell I have never seen before, a nacre ( a relatively rare and large mollusk) and a rather large chapon. We also saw a Poisson Lune (or Mola Mola) from the boat, but I didn’t get a shot. Enjoy the shots, and I hope I’ll have some better ones when I get back from vacation!
