Indonesia - Raja Ampat, photos shot with 7D

[ileiman]

Here is a small selection of photos I shot with the Canon 7D on a two week liveaboard trip on MSY Seahorse, March 2011. The route we took was from Ambon to Sorong: Nusa Laut, Banda Islands, Pulau Koon, Misool, Waigeo, Dampier Strait. A total of 38 dives.

The 7D was in Ikelite housing, I had two Ikelite DS161 strobes with 12+12 inch Stix buoyancy arms, and the following set of lenses:

• 
  Sigma 17-70 mm DC Macro OS HSM,

• Tokina 10-17mm fisheye,

• Canon EF-S 60mm macro.

The majority of dives I ended up using my new Sigma 17-70 mm lens due to its versatility. At 17mm it is a quite a decent wide-angle, even for shooting Mantas - and at 70mm you can do some sort of macro, even pygmy seahorses are doable. With this lens I had the Ikelite 8" dome, which gives a very good image quality but is of course huge. Before this trip I shot only with the Tokina fisheye, but now I found that to be almost too wide angle and suitable only for special occasions. With the 60mm lens I didn't like at all to be forced to shoot only macro for an entire dive, when there was always the possibility to see almost anything.

Most of the time I shot with Manual exposure at ISO 100.

 

[jake11]

What were the dates of your trip? I am curious as to when you were in the Dampier Strait and Waigeo. Were you able to dive all of the sites in the North or were any of the sites closed off due to film crews in the area? Gorgeous photos!

 

[ileiman]

What were the dates of your trip? I am curious as to when you were in the Dampier Strait and Waigeo. Were you able to dive all of the sites in the North or were any of the sites closed off due to film crews in the area? Gorgeous photos!

At Dampier Strait and Waigeo we were from 19th to 21st March. As far as I know, we were able to dive all the planned sites: Manta Mantra, Citrus Ridge, Arborek Jetty, Sardine Reef, Mioskon, Blue Paradise, Friwibonda, Mike's Point, Cape Kri, P-47 bomber at P.Wai. We didn't see other divers or boats where we dived, except end of 2nd dive at Manta Mantra.

 

[Magrone]

I also did a trip in March (6-17) and conditions were excellent. Loved the manta dives! We did not see any film crews and not many boats in general. We shared a dive site once at Mioskin and once at Boo Windows but these sites were both close to the resorts I believe.

Thanks for sharing the pics. I have pics of the same Mantas! I can tell by the markings.

I don't agree that the Tokina 10-17 is only useful for special occasions in RA (these are some of the best reefscapes in the world!) but I did have to try and keep my mind off of the excellent macro subjects that the DM would point out when I had it on. I mostly shot with the Tokina and switched to the 60mm on occasion (mostly night dives).

I have been considering the 17-70 but I'd rather not deal with the fisheye dome that it fits behind. A little too large for travel IMHO. Good to see this set of pics as I was wondering what I was missing without a midrange.

 

[ileiman]

I don't agree that the Tokina 10-17 is only useful for special occasions in RA (these are some of the best reefscapes in the world!) but I did have to try and keep my mind off of the excellent macro subjects that the DM would point out when I had it on. I mostly shot with the Tokina and switched to the 60mm on occasion (mostly night dives).

Maybe I should rephrase that. Tokina 10-17 of course suits almost any divesite at RA, except on nightdives. But you won't be shooting anything small with it, just pretty big things & reefscapes, and anything mid-sized at a ridiculously close range. For example a scorpionfish needs to be almost touching your dome before it fills the frame at 17mm fisheye. But if you want to shoot a huge seafan, which are in abundance at RA, then the 10mm fisheye is just the right thing for that.
I also regret deeply that I didn't take the Tokina for the P-47 bomber dive, the Sigma wasn't wide enough to shoot that wreck.

I have done an entire live-abord, 36 dives, with only the Tokina, and I got really bored. Also doing a lot of dives with a macro lens gets boring. So the versatility of the 17-70mm is what really made me choose it most of the time. Also the fact that once it is on, it is "good enough" to keep on the entire day. The battery on Canon 7D will last an entire day (4 hours diving), so no point opening the housing if you don't really have to

The 8" dome that I used with it, is the same dome I use with the Tokina, I just change the port body. The worst thing with the dome is of course that it doesn't fit to small places, where small creatures lie. For example, I saw many Mantis Shrimps, but they were always in a spot where the dome just wouldn't go :-(

I don't think the dome is the worst thing to transport. The worst thing is the dual Ikelite DS161 strobes. They are heavy, and they can actually break. One of my DS161's got actually broken on the return flights (the flash tube). The acrylic dome probably doesn't break very easily, and scratches on it are easy to remove.

 

[jake11]

Thank you so much for the info. We were told that Northern RA was closed off due to film crews so we couldn't dive there. It looks like this was not the case!

 

[Magrone]

Thank you so much for the info. We were told that Northern RA was closed off due to film crews so we couldn't dive there. It looks like this was not the case!

That is a serious bummer! I contacted my DM and trip coordinator after our trip and he said that the trip following the one I was on was stranded in the north due to bad weather in the south. Hopefully you were able to get some good dives in before the weather turned. I can't imagine that it would be possible to shut down the whole northern part of RA for filming. That's ridiculous and I would be very upset having traveled so far and paid so much money!

 

[ileiman]

Thank you so much for the info. We were told that Northern RA was closed off due to film crews so we couldn't dive there. It looks like this was not the case!

Where did you dive then?

Our entire route was: Ambon, Nusa Laut, Banda Islands, Pulau Koon, Misool, Dampier Strait, Sorong.
Out of these Misool was the best area in terms of corals and fishes, also visiblity was good.
Right after that I would rate the Banda Islands, and there visibility was not just outstanding, it was amazing.

In Dampier Strait I was disappointed to the "poor" visibility, compared to the other areas that is, and also the currents there were challenging to dive and made photography with a big camera really hard.

 

[jake11]

We went South to Misool and then up the Western side of the Halmaheras to Lembeh.
Misool is nice but we have been there now 3x and wanted to dive the North.

 

[photog]

Round trip Sorong-Sorong with a photo/video group gives one a better chance of seeing both north and south in good conditions for photos and video.

On one way trips it isn't possible to move around Raja Ampat for best conditions.

However it is not a large area and on a 2 week trip should get about 60-65 dives in on a round trip since do not need to move long distances overnight AND also be able to choose areas to dive based on conditions during the trip.

We have done many round trips and also several one-way trips between Sorong and Ambon, Kaimana or Halmahera/Lembeh, etc. The diving is always noticeably best in Raja Ampat. I find it frustrating to be on a one way trip and not have the option to move around for best conditions... have always done those one-way trips because our regular guests want to do them after several Sorong-Sorong trips in previous years.