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!
Using Dual Stacked INON UCL-165 M67 Lenses For Underwater Macro Photography
Dual INON Lenses For Macro Photography
My Inon UCL 165′s changed the way I shoot underwater photography, and I am so glad I got them to compliment my G9. I almost didn’t buy them, but after hours and hours of research, I finally decided to roll the dice. It really was a roll of the dice too, since I could hardly find any information on how to use dual-stacked Inon lenses, and what they actually did. I only knew that other photographers were using them with much success. I couldn’t find a good guide on exactly what they did, how to use them, or how to attach them. I just had to put it all together for myself. Hopefully this guide will help those of you who are looking into it get the information you need with much less effort.
What are stacked INON UCL-165′s?
The INON UCL-165 is a special Macros wet lens that allows photographers to get more magnification from their macro shots. This is not to be confused with zooming in on a subject; you will have to get up-close and personal with your subject in order to use them at all. I was a bit disappointed when I first got my lenses at how close I had to get to my subject to use them (I was under the impression that they would give you the same macro from farther away, but this is not the case).
Tiny Crab Taken with Stacked Inons
Most of the time, when shooting a subject with my macro lenses on, my camera lens ranges from practically touching the subject to shooting from several inches away. Don’t buy these if you want to shoot really mobile critters or things that spook easily close up.
The unique thing about the INON lenses is that they are threaded on both sides (67mm thread), meaning they can be attached one directly on top of the other, so you are not magnifying only once, but twice. This is what we mean by “stacked” lenses. Below are some dry-land shots that illustrate the difference between no lenses, a single lense, and stacked lenses.
Canon G9 in Canon WP-DC21 Macro Mode with No Lense
Canon G9 in Canon WP-DC21 Macro Mode with Single Inon Lense
Canon G9 in Canon WP-DC21 Macro Mode with Stacked Inon Lenses
How Do I Use Them?
There are a few things you need to know about how to attach and use INON Macro Lenses. First of all, there are two basic types of mounts for these lenses, “bayonet” mounts, and threaded mounts. The difference between the two is how they attach; bayonet mounts attach with a quick turn and click system, and threaded mounts, which need to be screwed on. The bayonets mounts are much quicker to attach and detach, and thus are generally preferred. Threaded mounts are more universal in that there are many adapters that you can buy to attach threaded lenses to a wide variety of cases. You will have to do some research to find which mount will work with your case. As far as the Inon macro lenses go, the UCL-165AD is the bayonet mount, and the UCL-165 M67 is the threaded version. The lenses are identical except for the mounting system. Be sure to be check which one will work with your case before you buy.
Also be aware that each case is different, and unless it is a dedicated case manufacturer (i.e. Ikelite), you will likely have to purchase a some sort of after-market adapter to attach a wet lens. In my case, with the Canon G9 and the Canon WP-DC21 case, the only available adapters were of the threaded variety.
In order to take macro photos, you will have to use some sort of flash. This is due to the fact that macro photography reduces the distance to the subject, an in the process significantly shortens the depth of field. The only way to counter this is to shoot at a f-stop of 6.3 or higher. Shooting any lower that that will yield very small depth of field, and you will have only a very tiny portion of your shot in focus. Unfortunately, this rules out using natural lighting under almost all conditions underwater, since a higher f-stop will allow a much smaller amount of light in.
As far as a flash goes, you have two options: using the internal flash, or using external strobes. I won’t go into too much detail with this in this article, but external strobes are generally better to use if you can afford them. If you can’t, there are some neat tricks that can yield some really high-quality macro results without an external strobe. All you really need is a few tools, a piece of metal, and some time in order to create a few simple mods that can get you by with just your diffuser. Learn more here: http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=25455. I currently don’t use an external strobe, but am planning on getting one eventually for two reasons; I am sick of dealing with excessive backscatter in my photos, and my wide-angle attachment blocks my internal flash, so I will be forced to get an external arm if I am ever going to use flash to shoot wide. In my opinion, one can easily get away without an external strobe for most situations with some work, but it is better to get a strobe if you can.
Halo effect when used on terrestrial subjects
Lastly, if you are looking to use these lenses for dry-land photography, stop now. These are designed specifically for use underwater, and they take advantage of the light refraction qualities of the water to function. I tested them out myself with a 67mm threaded Sigma lens that I have for my DSLR, and I can verify that it is not suitable. What happens on any subject with depth, (you can’t see it on the coin examples I shot above, since they are a flat plane) is that you get a blur or halo effect on the subject as it moves away from the lens. Click to enlarge the rose photo to see what I am talking about. It is pretty evident.
Well, that is all I can think of for now. Hopefully this helps anyone who is interested in getting started with macro photography using stacked Inon UCL-165 lenses.
[Update: I got a few extra tips from a fellow Flickr member on how best to use Inon lenses for underwater photography, I made a post about it here.]
I will leave you with a quick gallery of photos that I have shot using my Inons:
Photos for the Weekend of 7-4
Tried some water silhouette shots
The holiday weekend passed quickly and without anything extraordinary happening. I got a couple of nice shots in, but nothing as dramatic as last weekend. I did, however, find the same nudibranch that I missed my shot of last week, and I got a passable shot this time. I also got to shoot a bizarre type of miniature spider crab that I found habitating an anemone. I barely saw him, and he’s even hard to pick out in the photos. Finally, I decided to do some more wide angle work (as wide as I can), and came up with a few fun water silhouette and surf shots.
Photos From Cap de Nice May 23, 2010
The highlight of the day: a tiny crab macro shot
Today was almost ideal shooting conditions, the water was as calm as I had ever seen it, and the sun was out full force. The only thing not completely perfect was the visibility, which was better than it has been of late, but still not ideal for panoramic shots.
The best part is that I FINALLY got to really use my stacked Inon Macro lenses when I found an absolutely tiny crab, no bigger than 50mm across. I was able to get my lenses right up next to him for a super shot. I am glad I even saw him. I am always on the lookout for stuff like that, but tiny little things like that are just hard to find. Scroll down for the pics.
RSS readers click here for the gallery.
What You Can Do With an Empty Beer Can, Some String, and Some Anchor Screws
My camera case with my new home-made light reflector
I am just so darned proud of myself right now! I managed to create something incredibly useful from an empty 20 oz. beer can today. I even got to drink the beer while I was making my creation! It doesn’t get any better than this. I posted a few pics to show my new creation off.
I was having a problem with my macro shots in that, when I got close to the subject, the camera itself was casting a shadow. What you would get is a photo that was always very bright at the top and very dark towards the bottom. I found a modification that Brian Mayes (scroll to the bottom of the post at the jump) had done with his rig to basically create a metal reflector to bounce the light back on the subject from above that minimized this effect. So I was inspired to take a crack at my own version.
My reflector mod is actually my second attempt. For the first, I actually found some scrap metal, and made something similar (although far less elegant) than Mr. Mayes’ solution. It worked well, but since I do most of my work on lung power rather than scuba power, I had trouble with the reflector falling off whenever I dove towards the bottom. Once, I managed to get it back on, it worked like a charm. However, it wasted so much valuable time for me underwater that I eventually just gave up on it.
The metal piece is made from an aluminum beer can
After rummaging through my house, and finding some anchor screw sleeves, I cut my beer can into one long sheet, folded it in half, and then folded the edges over to remove the sharp edges. Being that it is aluminum, it won’t rust, but it will eventually corrode over time. This shouldn’t be a problem, because I can easily make a new one in 20 minutes, as long as I am in the mood for a 20 oz. beer (which is all the time).
I then found some really short bolts that fit relativity snugly into the anchor sleeves. After drilling 2 holes for the bolts, I screwed the metal plate onto the anchor screw sleeves, and made sure I had some rubber cement handy to make sure they don’t work their way out. Then, all that was left was to drill a small hole for the nylon thread leash, and tie off the the thread. I then burned the nylon ends to prevent fraying.
For mounting, it just slides right on, since the anchor sleeves are slotted and they hold on to the diffuser via straight pressure. I ran a few test shots, and it seems to work well so far. We’ll just have to see how well it holds up in the field tomorrow.
The finished product. Can't wait to fully test it.
[Edit:] Tried it out today, it worked great, except I have to make a few minor adjustments to the holding mechanism (it didn’t stay on quite as well as I had hoped). I am also afraid that I will run into some durability issues, as I already had one bolt come loose. I will be making some mods this week though.
A Few Shots From The Weekend.
Centure de Venus
Check out some weekend shots. I went diving with the CIPA on Saturday, and caught a decent photo of a “centure de Venus” (translates to “Belt of Venus”). Plus, I caught some shots of a seche or cuttlefish on Sunday, plus a few extra macro shots as well.
Blog Readers, Check out the pics here: http://www.azur-diving.com/2010/05/16/a-few-shots-from-the-weekend/
First Shots From My G9
Macro shot with stacked Inon lenses
It’s been awhile since I posted anything on the old blog, but summer is just around the corner, and I have gotten a little photo time the last couple of weeks. My initial thoughts so far on my new Canon G9/WP-DC21 housing and stacked Inon UCL-165 combo is that it is a solid combination, but I disagree with anyone who says a G9 can function as a valid dslr replacement. The image quality and speed are just on different levels.
Photography is all about trade-offs, and this is especially true with underwater photography. On land, I’ll take a full dslr camera over a point and shoot any day, but underwater, a solid point and shoot has several advantages: 1. It is so much more portable – I have to lug enough gear around, my camera shouldn’t be heavier than the rest of my gear. 2. It is much more flexible as far as focal length goes. With my G9 I can shoot everything from 1 cm to as far as the lens can see, in everything from 35-200mm equivalent. With a DSLR you don’t have that sort of flexibility underwater since you can’t change lenses on the fly. 3. It’s so much cheaper – my rig cost me around $850 (including camera, case, stacked inon macro lenses, and adaptor, plus all the taxes, shipping, and a few extra bucks for mods I did), and I have a feeling that I am going to get my money’s worth with this system before I am through with it.
It's much easier to shoot stationary objects due to the G9's slow focus speed
We got the good stuff out of the way, but as I said, photography is all about trade-offs. I really noticed that there are a few things that I had to give up: 1. Image quality – Not to say the G9 is bad. In fact, many folks might consider it just fine. But I really see the difference, especially around the edges. You just can’t expect compact zoom glass to be on par with a prime lens. 2. Speed – For me, this is the worst part of the deal; My G9 focuses and recycles so much slower than my DSLR with a pro speedlight. When the flash fires, it can take up to 6 seconds to prep for the next shot, even in continuous mode, and that’s with a stationary target in good lighting. You really have to make every shot count. 3. Low light performance. The G9 is terrible at anything above ISO 400 (some people might not even find 400 acceptable, but I do in certain conditions). Grain is noticeable at 400, and intolerable at 800. This, I think I can work around, but it sure would have been nice to be able to have little to no grain at 800. I’ll just have to make sure to get more light on the subject.
Overall I am quite happy with my system, though I will say, it will likely take me a few months to just get comfortable shooting it. It has many of the features of a high-end DSLR but it’s not built like one. It seems much more cumbersome to use than the familiar interfaces for both Nikon and Canon DSLR’s. I believe that, in order to really get good shots out of the G9, I will have to get good and fast at navigating the menus and making on-the-fly adjustments. That is much harder to do than it sounds, especially in an underwater case, but I have confidence that I will see vast improvements in my portfolio this year.
Without further ado,here is the photo gallery (rss readers, click here):
First Encounter with a Rhizostome
I had a very unique encounter today.
This morning while on our Saturday dive, I happened to look down, and I saw an unfamiliar shape moving beneath the surface. Turns out it was a Rhizostome; a relatively rare jellyfish that lives in open water, and can grow to 100cm/40 inches across! The one we saw wasn’t quite that big, but it was very impressive. Take a peek at the gallery. I am thrilled with the shots I got.
I couldn’t find much information about this beautiful creature, but I did find a couple of links on it:
Doris Link (French): http://doris.ffessm.fr/fiche.asp?varpositionf=1&fiche_numero=217
I found a short article on it here in English: http://www.vattenkikaren.gu.se/fakta/arter/cnidaria/scyphozo/rhizocto/rhizoce.html
My Quest to Find a New Underwater Camera
One of my last shots with the Ewa-Marine U-AXP and Canon T1i
It’s been a long couple of weeks, I had some unfortunate things happen to me, but in the end, I think I will be better off for it. Sometimes the universe pushes us, albeit unwillingly, to a better place. Getting there, however, is not always pleasant, and it often requires lots of blood, sweat, tears, and research. I wanted to post about my experience in trying to find an affordable underwater camera rig because I hope that this might help others in their quest as well as help share my experiences and observations in some of the individual products I looked at along the way. In the last few weeks, I came face to face with the reality that my hobby (underwater photography) is prohibitively expensive.
For the last year, I have been using an Ewa-Marine U-AX underwater housing. For those of you not familiar with this solution, it is essentially a very strong plastic bag for your camera. The advantages with these cases are as follows: they are CHEAP, you can get your DSLR in the water for $300 or less. You can use your TTL topside speedlight I already had a Canon T1i DSLR and a Canon 580 EX flash already) in these cases. They are flexible in that they support multiple lenses and multiple camera bodies, if you upgrade, you can use the same casing. Supposedly they can go up to 20 meters (some Ewa-Marine housings are rated for quite a bit deeper). Did I mention they are cheap? The trade off is the fact that they don’t (except for one or two newer models) have support for external wide-angle domes or wet lenses, there is no external flash support, and in my experience, are of questionable reliability.
Optional BF-1 Weight System for Ewa-Marine U-AXP
In my case, my Ewa-Marine housing worked well with constant use for about 5 months. Where I started having troubles was shortly after I got the optional BF1 1.5 kg lead weight system. I suspect that the casing I was using just wasn’t really designed to handle the weight system, and the strain started loosening the seams near where the carry strap attached. This is all conjecture of course, but I did notice that they re-designed their casings to distribute the weight differently along the top and bottom of the casing in the more recent U-AXP. In my case, I had problems within a month of adding the weight. I got a leak along the bottom seam just next to where the carry strap attached which damaged my camera. I got the housing repaired (which they did for free), and within a month or so, I had it back to me. I got it back, and 3 dives later, it broke again. Same issue as before, only this time along the top seam next to the carry strap.
U-AXP with failure points indicated in red
The newer Ewa-Marine U-BXP100 - Notice how the straps have been moved to allow for the weight disrtibution to be dstributed across the bottom of the housing.
Luckily I caught the leak, and all that happened is that I had air expelled, and no water went into the housing. But that left me with an issue. I had lost complete trust in my housing, and I decided I had to look for something else. Don’t get me wrong, I had a good customer experience with the Ewa-Marine team, and I think their product has it’s place. For instance, there is a guy who I found online who photographs wakeboarders, and he uses it as a shield for his rig. There are also plenty of snorkelers who use it successfully. It also looks as if they re-designed their newer bags to possibly eliminate the problems I had, so I would be open to the idea that my experience is no longer representative of their newer products. I won’t find out however, as I have decided to move on.
I started by looking at the Ikelite Housing for the Canon T1i, but found it extremely expensive after the ports, domes, and strobes.
This is where my adventure really began. At first, I decided that the only obvious solution was to get a hard case for my DSLR camera. After much, much research I started to realize that I just can’t afford a real rig for a DSLR. It is just SO expensive. Case, port, new macro lenses, strobes, dome ports, etc. All in all, I was looking at around $5000-$1000 for a full rig, and $3500 just to get off the ground. And I already had the DSLR! Oh, and don’t forget, if you want to upgrade or change your camera, you have to start all over.
Needless to say, I was heartbroken. I started weighing other options, but was quickly finding that the only options open for my budget were point-and-shoot cases. I was discouraged by the lack of quality optics, and especially by the potential loss of RAW flexibility. It was at that point, I discovered this site: http://www.uwphotographyguide.com. This site is, I have to say, one of the best, most well organized and most comprehensive resources on underwater photographers. If you are a novice, this site is the place to start.
After digging through that site, I found some great recommendations, and eventually to a short list of potential candidates. That short list included the following: Canon A570, Canon S90, Canon G9/G10/G11, Canon SD990, and the Panasonic Lumix LX3. I quickly eliminated a number of options: The A570 is a little on the old side, with a 7.1 mp sensor. While an excellent camera, with a good, fast lens and a solid zoom range, I just couldn’t see myself in investing in it when compared against some of the competition. The SD990, while a veritable dream, does not have RAW support. The S90 looked very attractive, and stayed in the running until the very end. I eventually passed it up mostly because of the price/performance ratio and because of the lack of real solid reviews and information. The S90 could have been my choice, had I been conducting my search 1 year later. The Panasonic Lumix LX3 is powerhouse. Fast lens, 720p video, wide angle lens, excellent macro, RAW, etc… However, the killer for me was that the housing options were very pricey. If you have a few extra bucks, I would really look hard at this one, as it is probably one of the best compacts out there.
Canon G Series (pictured: G9)
That pretty much left me tentatively with the Canon G Series. I have to say that I was still pretty skeptical about the quality of work one could do with even a top end point-and-shoot. To ease my fears, I started trying to find photo examples from the G series. I found this site, which has lots of shots from different types of cameras, organized by type:http://forum.kapalselam.org/category/camera/canon-powershot-g9/page/1/. After much more searching, I came across a useful little utility on Flickr call the “Flickr Camera Finder” (found here:http://www.flickr.com/cameras/). And this is where the magic happened. By searching based on particular models, and then filtering by the keyword “underwater” I was able to see the results of each camera that I was looking at. See the results here: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=underwater&cm=canon/powershot_g9 I stumbled upon a world of underwater compact photography that is as active as it is spectacular.
I was particularly taken by one man’s (Brian Mayes) stunning macro work with the Canon G9 using nothing but the Canon WP-DC21 housing and stacked Inon UCL-165 Macro Lenses. You HAVE to see his stuff to believe it. He uses no strobes, no high-end housing, nothing special. Here is his profile with an explanation of his rig:http://www.flickr.com/people/brianmayes/, and here is is photostream:http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianmayes/. I also made a gallery of other peoples work shot with the G9: http://www.flickr.com/photos/83275239@N00/galleries/72157623461443090/ It was largely due to his work (and a few others, including Ammar Al-Fouzan and CK) that I ended up choosing the Canon G9. This camera features a 35-200mm effective range, a low end aperture of 2.8, 12.7 MP sensor, RAW, and most importantly excellent 1 cm macro functions. Dpreview review: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canong9/.
The biggest two limitations were as such; 1. The 35-200 mm lens is just a little short of being able to do real wide-angle shots. Most of the other options listed above feature 24-28mm on the wide end. 2. The Canon WP-DC21 housing does not come with TTL ability should I ever need it. I can always go with slave strobes if need be, or I can always upgrade to the Ikelite housing if I never need to.
Canon G9 WP-DC21 Housing with stacked UCL-165 Macro Lenses
I found an adapter online that will allow me to eventually add stacked Inon UCL-165 lenses, and I also found a wide-angle dome port made by Fantasea that will supposedly work with my housing. That last part needs some research, but I am going to explore it further when I have more time. Update: I actually found a 0.7x Wide Angle Dome one from a Japanese company that looks like it works better. You can find it here.
I had to make a lot of sacrifices in my expectations in moving to a compact option, but in the end, compacts do have several advantages; 1. They are lighter and smaller – taking my rig with me will be much easier with this setup 2. Wet lenses: With a DSLR setup, you can’t change lenses underwater, with a compact, you can: http://www.uwphotographyguide.com/underwater-wet-lenses 3. Cost: I can do a lot more with a lot less money 4. I have a flexible rig that can do some some wide angle, excels at macro, and can zoom to 200mm effective.
Again, I had to sacrifice some things versus my dream of having a DSLR housing, but bottom line is that I can (hopefully) take great photos for relatively cheap. In the end, I managed to find a used Canon G9 on ebay for $300 USD. I found a WP-DC21 case for about $200. I will eventually be adding the macro lenses by Inon 2X $150, plus about $65 for the adapter. Getting started will run me around $500, and if I add the Macro lenses, add another $365. Not too shabby for a decent setup capable of returning great results. While not perfect, I think it is something I can be happy with. Are there better on the market? Absolutely. Am I going to find better than what I found for the money? I doubt it.
Check out the Flickr Gallery of G9 underwater photographs.
Again, this was a long and not very fun process, and I can only hope that by retracing my steps, I can help give someone else a point in the right direction. I think there are a lot of people out there who are like me: passionate about underwater photography, but not willing to spend thousands on a rig. There is hope out there, you just need to get educated and know where to look. So, good luck, and I hope this helps. I will be posting shots when my equipment finally gets here, which will be mid March when all is said and done. I can’t wait!
Photo Gallery is Updated
Underwater Photo Gallery
I recently updated the photo gallery, and just wanted to get it out there that all my top shots are going to be found here: http://www.azur-diving.com/photo-gallery-2/. I will be updating it regularly with new entries, and I will post updates when I add a bunch of new ones.
Back from Marseille and the Festival mondial de l’image sous-marine
World Underwater Photo Exhibition - Lots of Impressive Photos on Display
We’re back from the World Festival of Underwater Pictures in Marseille, and I have to report that it was pretty awesome. A good time was had, I learned a lot, and I only had to sit through one boring film. I won’t say which one it was, but I will say it had sharks in it. 
Before I get started, I want to note that you can find my weekend photo gallery here: http://www.azur-diving.com/marseille09/
The photos were pretty great. Some were obviously better than others. There were some wonderful shots, but the shot that really got me was a black and white print with a free diver that was swimming next to an octopus. It was so gorgeous because the diver’s body was curved in a similar fashion to the octopus, echoing and complementing the organic shape. It gave me a feeling you can normally only have for a few seconds at a time when apnea diving. It is the feeling that comes when, just for a moment, you feel like a part of the environment rather than an intruder. You can only know it once you’ve felt it, not really sure how to explain it. Anyways that was my personal favorite, and there were a lot of other great entries. Overall the photos were pretty solid, but I think that I can compete for sure next year. I don’t think I can win, but I feel like I should be able to put up a strong shot or two next year. I’m going to enter for sure though.
A few interesting notes from the show:
Underwater Photographer Cathy Church
Met world-famous marine photographer Cathy Church – It all started as we were passing by, and I heard her having trouble in conversation with an odd little Frenchman. She was trying to explain something in English, and he wasn’t understanding, so I helped out and explained it in French. Well, it turned out that she couldn’t get rid of him, and he was really quite disturbed (he wouldn’t leave her alone), so she asked us to help her and see if we couldn’t help to get rid of him peaceably. 30 Minutes later the man was happily on his way elsewhere, and I got her to explain a couple of her techniques in trade for the assistance! It was pretty cool, I learned a bit, and got a few ideas for my own work. So it was definitely worth it. Thanks Cathy, and I hope the rest of the show went well. That was quite amusing, and added a bit of color to the whole thing.
Here’s a link to Cathy’s site. Check out her art Gallery, her stuff was one of the highlights of the show for me (her work is incredible): http://www.cathychurch.com/
François Sarano was there signing books
François Sarano, a member of the team responsible for the upcoming film “Ωceans” was there signing the release of the corresponding book – This guy is a legend, he spent 10 years on board the “Calypso” with Jacques Cousteau going everywhere and doing everything. After Cousteau died in ’97 he made a promise to give up diving and exploring, and decided to become a tourist guide. He couldn’t stay away however, and when he was approached by Jacques Perrin for this film, he eventually agreed, saying that “Jacques Perrin has completely changed my way of looking at the ocean. With him, it’s not about discovering the unknown; it’s about discovering what the sea evokes within us.” I, for one am, very excited to see this film coming out in 2010.
Ωceans official site here: http://www.oceans-lefilm.com/
My New Sea Shepherd Sticker!
Got acquainted with Sea Shepherd – This was great. We stopped by the booth initially because I thought their stuff was cool, and I wanted to nab a free sticker. Well it turns out the stickers weren’t so free, but they were cool enough that I bought one. Turns out that Sea Shepherd actually recruits people to go to places and actually DEFEND whales and dolphins. They investigate, report, and actively intervene in some cases. The gal we talked to was very, very into it. She was actually visibly trembling while she was talking about her love of the marine animals.
Check them out here: http://www.seashepherd.org/
Night view of Marseille from the Expo Center as we were leaving the show
Holy good pizza! – I have to give a huge shout-out to La Piazza Papa, a small chain that makes some surprisingly good chow. We were pretty hungry when we left the show, and stopped at that place just on the Old Port area, and MAN WAS IT GOOD! We actually ordered a second pizza to split after finishing the first one. That’s a first for me. I’ve never eaten a pizza and a half in one sitting before. It was that good. I could have just been that hungry, but we have one here in Nice. so I am going to go back and try it out. I’ll let you all know.
Calanques De Cassis
The Calanques De Cassis are worth a look – This area, just on the edge of Marseille proper, is really quite rocky and quite beautiful. It is basically a collection of deep rocky bays cut into the shoreline called “Calanques”. We spent the afternoon there, and it was quite incredible. It’s a lot of walking, so be warned. I just so happened to have my mask and a pair of trunks with me, and in 40 minutes or so in the water, I saw a plethora of different sea critters including a Mérou, an octopus, a sea-spider, and all kinds of anemones and fish. I want to go back in the summertime for sure.
I highly Recommend the Calanques De Cassis if you get a chance. I liked it quite a bit.
Heading to Marseille for the 36th World festival of Underwater Pictures
Festival mondial de l'image sous-marine
Tomorrow morning, we embark for Marseille for the 36th World festival of Underwater Pictures. I am pretty stoked. It looks to be pretty interesting, and it’s definitely one of my favorite subjects. I’ll hit you all up with info and pics when I get back. Until then, here’s more info from a site I found detailing the event: more info.
And here’s a site in french: french site.
Ciao!
Species Lists Coming Along
I have been working HARD the last week on my site. I currently have about 20 marine species listed, named and documented, and I have another 15 teed up and ready to go. After that, I have a ton more species that I haven’t even started yet (and a bunch more that I don’t have photos for), so stay tuned, there is a lot more content on the way.
Cabot, a species that will be coming soon in my marine animal list.
You can see the first entry here: http://www.azur-diving.com/cote-d’azur-marine-life-–-fish/
