The Underwater Photography Show
The Underwater Photography Show
On The Underwater Photography Show we chat about all aspects of underwater photography. The hosts, experienced underwater shooters, Alex Mustard and Matt Sullivan talk about techniques, equipment choices, locations and topical events in our community like contest results and major publications. The aim of the show is to improve your underwater photo skills and knowledge in a fun and entertaining format.
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Great episode! I want to think you wouldn't use the 5T filter together with the EMWL, right?
I've not tried it - but no.
Split level photography is near impossible indeed...I haven't found a solution yet for my Nauticam NA-EM1III housing. So if somebody has THE solution, please let me know.
My personal favorites, in this order: Olympus 8mm f1.8 fisheye PRO, Panasonic 45mm f2.8 macro (to be able to be more flexibel), Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 PRO and the Olympus 60mm f2.8 macro. I have used other lenses such as the 7-14mm, but that didn't work for me at that the time, a lot of corner distortion. I also have the Olympus 30mm f3.5 macro, but it's too wide in general and I only use it for specific occasions.
Thank you
Thanks for the video. No chance of getting a Nikon 5t ha, must have all gone after thif video.
Always great to see what gadgets folks find beneficial. I used to reply on my Sensor Gel Stick by Eyelead for my Nikons but with the Olympus sensors not locking in place when the camera is off I fear the stickiness of the gel stick may damage the sensor so I will have to pick up the Sensor Clear pen. Alex do you have a suggested brand name for the contact cleaners I should look for. It also sounds like a great accessory to have on hand.
Alex: Can you use the Nikon 5T with a 62-67mm adaptor on the external Nauticam port threads vs on the lens - and not worry about it hitting the front port without the adaptor?
It'd be great if you could dedicate a few episodes to photography itself, rather than just focusing on gear.
Great job guys. I'm getting two of things you suggested. I just wish that you gave a link and the exact name of the items you showed. Perhaps in the comments section.
Great video. Some of these things could really use a link or just what they are called
I love my D500 and won't be sell it any time soon. All great point guys. If people have the money why not but while I could afford to do that I'll spend it on more trips.
This isn't the topic I hoped it was. I was hoping to get an idea of what people think about shooting an individual creature tens of multiple times. I hate being shot with flash photography and I live in a very much brighter world that most of the beautiful creatures we go to photograph. I personally try and limit myself, especially for slow moving creatures that can't get away, for example seahorse etc. What do others do? Am I being too squeamish? Has it been proved to do zero harm? On the actual topic - honestly who cares? I'm towards the low end of shots per dive as I mostly dive in the UK an there aren't always so many good subjects and we don't always manage 1 hour dives on a site (cold, depth/NDL with no shallow subjects, poor air consumption of less experienced divers etc). That said I shot 3000 photographs with manual shots when diving and snorkelling for two days with Whaleshark in Cenderawasih last year. Whatever suits your style, location and subjects.
Great video as ever. I'm not sure I understand Alex's comment about diving underweighted???? Surely correctly weighted is how to dive all the time. Over-weighted is clearly wrong though, 🙂 mostly 🙂. Happy to be corrected 🙂, I'm a UK drysuit diver so what do I know about this warm? water stuff 😂.
I love these! Thank you!
It’s useful to hear your perspectives on how the photographers could have improved these shots.
Thanks so much for featuring my image guys! Always appreciated!
+5 diopter on flip holder: when not in position on the port, the diopter is useful as a magnifier to differentiate a nudi from a speck of algae. Pointer stick or repurposed wooden chopsticks to help find macro subjects when you move camera into position,
Interesting and helpful, thanks guys!
E for extended maybe? If I remember correctly.
#lifegoals….I have been drooling over this optic since it came out. ❤ The perspective is just so unique and interesting, that makes it super attractive to me. Maybe I’ll be able to afford it eventually.😅 Thank you for this video, so that I can indulge in nerding out about this cool piece of kit.
I used to store a macro wet lens on a lens caddy affixed to one of my camera strobe arms. I'd have to unscrew it from the caddy and fiddle around with screwing to the front of my camera port during the dive. About 5 years ago I switched to a flip lens holder mounted to the port which allows me to quickly mount and unmount a macro wet lens in seconds depending on the subject. I consider this an essential accessory now.
I would enjoy seeing in a future episode, your camera housing set up with floats, strobes & snoots that you found that works best for you
Vey nice video keep it up...
The Kim tech wipes are great for camera lens cleaning as well. Every set in Hollywood uses them for the cinema glass. For travel I usually pull them out of the box and into a ziplock bag.
I have 2 accessories I enjoy: a small portable rechargeable air-blower to use if there is no compressed air in a camera room or back in my room after rinse and Chemical Guys heavy medal polish to clean the metal housing, ports & extension rings of grime & water spots when I return home - it really restores the black finish
Great episode. Loving the content. If possible, it would be really helpful to include links to the accessories. Thanks
One of the guys on my Red Sea workshop, Fred, is using a viewfinder, and he says another advantage of the monitor is that it makes camera batteries last much longer - especially on mirrorless
Great info as always, looking forward to part two.
I've never changed my o-rings either. I have noticed that the o-rings on the Retra strobes seem to stay in the elliptical shape when you remove them from the strobe. I wonder if they will eventually require replacing over time as a result of this inelasticity? Also, I learned from you Alex, the habit of running the o-ring through my mouth. While some may find it a disgusting habit, what I like about this approach is that it's very easy to detect any grains of sand or hair with my tongue - something I wouldn't be able to do just by feeling it with my fingers.
Next topic: service of the underwater housing, you guys ever do that? 😄
I do what you guys are doing. If it ain't broke don't touch it, however, with 4 indoor cats I do make sure to inspect for cat hair :)
I am pretty sure that Nauticam's grey O-rings are, indeed, silicon, too. There are different kind on mixes of silicon and Nauticam one is definitely softer than e.g. Inon one. You can use same grease for all types of silicon O-rings. The other widely used O-ring materia is then nitrile rubber and there ase differen hardness of it, too. Most common is BR70 but e.g. tank neck O-ring's hardness is BR90.
indeed, many different types of grease look the same and are called "silicone grease" including by the manufs. Using an actual silicone based grease on silicone O'rings causes swelling. The cheap silicone tubs you get at dive shops is generally silicone grease that will cause issues with silicone O'rings. Use the manufs recommended grease, or if you want to make life easy, use cristo lube or tribo lube and it will work with any O'ring and not cause problems, and can also be used on regs including nitrox clean. A good clean water soak is crucial for the non user serviceable O'rings to reduce salt crystal formation which can damage O'rings. The average dive boat or resorts camera rinse tank is not clean water after half a dozen housings have been dunked in them. better than the ocean but still not the best, especially if you will put the housing/strobe etc in long term storage. Removing user serviceable O'rings (especially buna ones that do take on a set or shape in storage more than silicone) for long term storage (more than a few months) is important. Matthew, your "loose" O ring is most likely because it has swelled because as you said you use any old silicone. Subal are black but also billed as special super soft. They may be silicone (not sure) but if a super soft buna (rubber) the softer durometers have a lower acrylonitrile level and are more prone to swelling. Keep in mind at depth the pressure at thee seal will push the grease into the O'ring material. Buna O'rings really should be replaced annually. Silicone if not used wrong lube will last much longer.
I guess I'm better safe than sorry given the cost it would be to replace a Sony A7RIV and 16-35 GM or 90mm Macro lens, I'm pretty anal with cleaning & lubricating mine especially between dive trips - but check with the company as Ikelite states NEVER lubricate their O-rings on their strobes.
Great insights. Thank you for calling on more underwater photographers to think about making these types of images...we sure need it.
I bought the FCP-1 and initial thoughts were - I wish it provided a little more fisheye effect in the 28mm length and as Sony shooter - I hope that one day we can have a better choice of lens to shoot with than the 28-60 & 28-70 currently, I miss shooting my 16-35 mm GM lens for a little better image quality
Super interesting discussion, and something I have wondered myself. My perspective is as a South African trying to get into underwater conservation photography. Cost and competitiveness is the biggest reason, here at least, that there is very little underwater conservation photography. Most photographers locally have earned their wealth in jobs outside of underwater activities, and there is a big push away from environmentalist work due to its difficulty in getting a sustainable job. Also far less younger scuba divers, as the hobby is getting more and more expensive. Marine internships are mostly full of foreigners who pay money that local people cannot afford. Many people locally are interested. In South Africa there is also a lot more focus on terrestrial wildlife as it draws in far more tourists. Africageographic essentially a safari selling website rather than the "geographic" counterparts in other countries. Underwater advocacy has little traction outside of tertiary education institutes departments, or small marine communities. But then again, it's hard to justify the cost of underwater photography when youth unemployment is above 40%, and people are starving and dying of diseases every day that are almost non-existent in the Western world.
Loved this, please do more.
It's quite strange listening to Martin now but fantastic that you did this interview and shared it, Alex - thank you. I still hear Martin coaching me in a Bournemouth swimming pool with my brand new Sea & Sea compact. And always heard his distinctive voice when I read a passage from his book. He's been a massive influence on the uwp scene.
My sense is that using a viewfinder allows you to position your body closer to the camera and sort of lock in the physical camera position better, especially for macro. This seems like a more stable way to hold the camera versus extending your arms and using an lcd or external monitor. I've never used a monitor so I'm just making an assumption here. Also, I wonder if you can see all the composition details as easily using an external monitor. The image in the viewfinder must be larger than something like the 5in monitor like Matthew uses.
I still lived and studied in Hungary when I got a scholarship to the National History Museum, London. It was the year of full eclipse, so it was in 1999. I was lucky to meet at NHM with Linda and Brian Pitkin, very nice people. Brian took me once to a BSoUP event and he was very excited. Martin Edge introduced his new book (2nd edition of the Underwater Photography) and he gave a presentation about ring-flash and blue water macro, as I remember. It was an excellent talk, very inspiring. I came back from this BSoUP meeting with lots of inspirations and a signed book from Martin. I learned a lot from his excellent book and I guess I was the first Hungarian photographer taking blue water macro (it was not that trivial before digital cameras). I feel really sorry. It's a big loss for the underwater image maker community.
Took me a while to get accustomed to using the 45-degree angled viewfinder, but once I did it became my go-to piece of kit! But friends use monitors and I'd like to try that after listening to what Matt says here.
Great topic! I use the LCD on the OM1 in my AOI housing pretty much exclusively but am going to try out their LCD magnifier as it can be adjusted for prescription strength. I need my prescription mask for distance to see what's around but this requires holding the housing at arms length so that I can view the LCD screen properly.
those LCD magnifiers are fantastic options as well for the cameras that can accept them!
Really interesting video. I am tempted to try an external monitor even for blackwater dives. Actually I am using the lcd of my camera for blackwater dives , because using the 45°viewfinder for me is a nightmare.... The tiny subjects in blackwater dives move everywhere and only having the camera far away from my eyes allow me to follow the movement of the subjects. So, may be, using a large monitor is better than the tiny lcd of the camera... Thank you for the video
My first blackwater dives were in Lembeh using a 45deg viewfinder and I found it very challenging to target subjects. I remember Alex telling me that it was just a matter of muscle memory, but I still think that using the viewfinder in this scenario is less optimal than an lcd or external monitor.
@@jasondbaker I agree with you.
Right on topic for me, thank you! Great video!
Are you in the market for one or the other?
@@matthewsullivan4026 totally aiming for the monitor option, and Kraken is actually the one I have been eyeballing. Not having to buy an additional housing for it just makes sense to me. Hoping to save up and be able to purchase it around December timeframe. :-)
RIP Martin Edge. A really humble and likable man.
Very interesting but that would be much more relevant with examples and real test comparing.
Very sorry to hear about this RIP Martin.
Wonderful! I feel sorry that all the possibilities we felt in the old days are no longer available to people just entering underwater photography now. Fascinating insight into a man I met only a couple of times yet his influence was pervasive in the best possible way.
So saddened to hear of the passing of Martin. His book was such a revelation to me, so full of information which was explained so well and the photos were a aspiration to this aspiring underwater photographer. After buying it in 2008 it accompanied me on many trips and was enjoyed by others on Alex's Red Sea liveaboards for a number of years. When it finally became so used and dog-eared I had no hesitation in buying another copy. I knew he was a great friend to Alex and many others and his influence will live on amongst us. RIP Martin.