Wakatobi w/ D70's

[kdietz]

Eddy.....yes, good strobe lighting and getting close is essential to get vivid colors ...there is absolutely no substitute for getting close and reducing the water column!

lukeROB....the viewfinder on the Ikelite housing has a little magnification that helps....I was very surprised about how easy it was to compose with the viewfinder vs LCD on our old cameras ( cp5000 and c4040 )....it was no problem keeping our perspective of what was going on around us....the only negatives are cost and travel bulk....

Karl

 

[marpacifica]

Very impressive, Karl.

Did you prefer using the 60 or 105 for your macro shots? I don't have the 60 and was wondering if it's worth getting.

 

[kdietz]

I think the 60mm is worth owning....it's very versatile.....can shoot larger fish portraits or 1:1 macro ....as you know, the 105 is great for macro because it gives you a little more working room from the subjects, but maximum subject size is 2" to 3"

I'm glad we have both, but if we are going after pygmy seahorses, anemone shrimp, nudibranchs, etc. is hard to beat the 105....for night dives, I prefer the 60mm.....plus the 60mm is fairly cheap

Karl

 

[ssra30]

Karl, fantastic pictures. I am very jealous. I saw that you used both the 10.5mm fisheye and the 12-24mm. How did you like the 12-24mm in comparison to the 10.5 .
I tried the 12-24mm lens on a few dives and was quite disappointed with the minimum focusing distance and the sharpness of the pictures using the Sea and Sea housing with compact domeport and will try to experiment with the diopter a bit before my next trip in a few months but heard a lot of good thing about the 10.5mm as well and it seems to be able to focus much closer to the subject than the 12-24mm.
Any thought on these 2 lenses.

 

[kdietz]

Hi Boi.....both lenses have their place.....I used the 12-24 quite a lot at first....I tried to shoot between f8 and f11 to keep down corner softness....had a little, but it wasn't too bad....when I zoomed to the 24 end the corners got better.....this lens is pretty sharp topside, so it must be a dome issue...the versatility gained with the zoom options made this lens very usefully for more than just WA reef scenes....at 24mm, I used it for several fish shots....sea snake....lionfish, etc....but was ready for large sea fans, coral scenes, etc. at the 12mm end

I finally put the 10.5 on and immediately loved it.....be warned, you have to be all over your subject, but it seemed sharper and the extra angle of coverage was useful for big scenes of soft coral, etc.....lighting a scene that wide can be challenging however....I ended up with my strobes approximately 6" outside my handles and aimed straight ahead.....if you spread them out too much the center of the scene would get dark....remember, you are only 12" or less to 24"max from you subject

I'm glad I've got both, but the next clear water WA opportunity I get....the 10.5mm will be on my camera first

I feel like the 12-24 sharpness issue can be resolved with the proper dome/ extension/diopter combination....it's just being able to figure it out!....my Ikelite port doesn't require a diopter, but I want to try one next time I've got access to a pool

Karl

 

[marpacifica]

Karl, thanks for the plug for the 60, and the comparison on the 12-24 and 10.5. I didn't think to check that it was the aperture that may have been affecting the corner sharpness at the wide end of the zoom.

How's the 10.5 above water?

 

[ssra30]

Karl, thanks for the info, I think I will try to experiment with diopter a bit first and see what happen. Alternatively I can try their big dome which is just a touch less expensive than buying the 10.5mm (ouch, this hobby is getting way out of hand :-( ).