pictures from Maldives with Panasonic lx5 in 10 bar Housing

[scipionems]

Hi to all,
here you can see some pictures made with Panasonic lx5 in 10 bar Housing.
selezione Maldive 2011
Scipionems

 

[rusti999]

Nice pictures. Did you use any wet lenses?

 

[Puffer Fish]

Very nice... and I had that same question about wet lens..

Nice work with lighting...you did a really large variety of styles, I like seeing that.

 

[scipionems]

Thank you very much! You are very kind!
For the pictures to the blu ribbon eel and to the leaf scorpion fish, i used an Inon UCL 165 macro wet lens M67.
For lighting I used two Inon D2000.

Scipionems

 

[scipionems]

I made even some video with the LX5
YouTube - scipionems's Channel
YouTube - scipionems's Channel
YouTube - scipionems's Channel
Scipionems

 

[cim72lando]

Thanks for the pictures and videos. When did you go to Maldives? I am wondering if there are certains months of the year when sightings of pelagics are more frequent.

 

[scipionems]

Hi Cim72lando,
I started for Maldives the 27 of February and I returned in Italy the 13 of March.
Usually february-march is the best period for the climate in Maldives, because this is the "dry" period (no rain, sea more flat).
I went on M/y Rani for a liveboard of 15 days.
We started with the M/y Rani from Male airport and made dives in Rasdhoo Atoll, Ari nord, Ari sud, Male sud.
It is the "classic" tour of Maldives in this period, because -for the current- mantas are on the side of Ari atoll.
We saw even the whale shark at the end of Ari south Atoll .
We made dives on "thilas" (no corrent, near the reef, good for pictures) and in "pass" (strong corrent coming INto the channel that connect the atoll with the Indian Ocean, this means a lot of sharks, eagle rays, big tunas and pelagics, good for videos ).
ciao.
Scipionems

 

[mofongo_max]

Thanks for sharing. Nice turtle with the barnacles on its belly.

 

[starflight]

Hi Scipionems

Great images! Thanks for sharing them. I recently just came back from 5 days in Maldives as well. This was our honeymoon so though it wasn't a scuba diving trip, still managed to get 6 dives. The thilas there were amazing and you have done a great job capturing the colours! We had our new LX5 as well but because we didn't have a casing for it at the time, we had to borrow a Canon G12 with the OEM Casing. Your pictures are really nice. I love the colors of the the pictures you took. We used 1 Sea & Sea YS-01 but the results were on and off.. Mainly off I guess because it was our first time using the strobe and the camera was borrowed.

Since the LX5 is ours we want to invest in a casing for it. How do you like the casing you are using? Do you find that you can change all the settings such as aperature and shutter speeds well in M mode with the case you have? How do your strobes connected to the camera? Would you mind also sharing some details on the camera settings that you mainly used? I'd love to get some guidelines before we go out on a our next time.

Thanks!!!

 

[scipionems]

Hi Starflight,
thank you very much, you're very kind.
I have a 10Bar Housing for my Panasonic Lx5 and it is good, but not perfect.
I mean this housing has an external command for the rear dial of the LX5 that it is not well designed.
You have to push for changing between aperture or shutter speed and than you have to rotate this rear command maintaining a gentle pressure on the command for changing the value of aperture or speedness.
The problem is that the inside head of this command is flat and it does not grasp on the toothed rear wheel of the Lx 5, so if you push too hard you change between aperture/speedness instead of changing the value of aperture (for example)... It is not very easy to operate .
I solved the problem putting a piece of Anti-slip tape (0,6 thick) on the flat head of this command, but often I have to change this piece of anti-slip tape for consumption.
I know that the new housing of 10Bar now have a toothed wheel, so perhaps this problem is solved.
Now I have seen that there are two new housing one or Recsea and one of Nauticam (but both are more expensive than 10Bar).
Nauticam International Ltd.
RECSEA PANASONIC LUMIX LX5 UNDERWATER HOUSING
I like very much the Nauticam housing, because it seems to have a better system for the rear dial of the Lx5 (and it is less expensive than the one of Recsea).
For the pictures in Maldives I used two Inon D2000 connected with fiber-optic cable, they work very well.
Usually i set the Lx5 in M mode, with the shutter speed at 1/125 or 1/160 and I change the aperture according to the sutjects, the condition of light, the deepness and so on.
Often I use - for macro subjects - an Inon Wet macro lens Ucl 165 M67.
Ciao
Scipionems.