Hola UW comrades -

I’m heading to Palau the week after next for work, and because of the flight schedule from my location, I’ll have two days of diving, one each before and after the week’s business, three dives each day. I’ve read everything I can find online about the typical land-based trips and have booked my two days with an operator. Now I need advice to strategize my photo gear.

What I don’t have a grasp of is the minimal viable photo setup, which I need to optimize to incorporate into luggage for a work trip. My usual setup isn’t possible as I will start on a small plane with a strict 7 kg limit for my carryon. I am at heart a macro photographer trying to learn wide angle and CWFA. I am leaning toward minimal WA only, with a fisheye and a wide rectilinear that both work in the same dome port. Given the less than ideal season, I’m concerned that any pelagics won’t be close enough for that setup, but I don’t have a better idea.

I’m OK with winging it, but if anyone has advice it will be most welcome!

Robert

Leave the rectilinear behind, use the FE and crop as necessary? That's my usual WA minimalist-gear approach for, eg, the Red Sea

If this helps, I've worked in Palau and pelagics will be mostly roughly 1.5m grey reef sharks passing by close when you're hooked-in (Blue Corner, Siaes Corner), some barracudas or jacks and turtles on the plateau, and otherwise mantas passing over your head at German Channel (which can be seen at the cleaning stations or feeding in the shallows, which is spectacular, but means swimming against the current).
The grey reef sharks are always there and will get close if there's current.
I have some clips here which can maybe give you an idea of what to prepare for (the bumphead / snapper spawning are on specific full/new moon related mornings only).

Hope this helps!
cheers
ben

Edited Thursday at 08:54 AM2 days by bghazzal

My wife and I spent two weeks day diving in Palau recently. A fisheye is great for the walls with fans and big caverns like Blue Holes. Turtles were very chill and easy to get very close to. Mantas at German Channel very close. Big schools of barracuda and jacks were cool. But.. we found sharks at places like Blue Corner and Siaes Corner really better off with a bit longer focal length. I had a Canon 8-15mm plus 1.4 teleconverter and a Sony 20-70mm. Both work with the same extension and port so I could change over in the open boat during the surface interval without hassle. The Sony 20-70mm was a great range for many dives. I left my Inon Z330 behind and used Inon S2000 to save weight.

Sounds like your existing plan of two lenses with the same dome is a good one.... I just checked your profile and it looks like you have Olympus, maybe 8mm plus 12-40mm?

This first pic is with the fisheye, all others with the Sony 20-70mm

Guys - Thanks a lot for the super helpful advice!

Ben - Do you recall the focal length used for your video? You got some great action.

John - Nice shots and very helpful ti pre-visualize focal lengths. You’re almost right, I would be using the 8mm FE and 12mm rectilinear, as both work well in the mini dome and one tiny extra lens is manageable.

Tim - I’ll be diving the day before the new moon so maybe there’s a chance to see the bumpheads in action, to contribute to your proposed “fans only” mating thread!

Edited Thursday at 04:50 PM2 days by Troporobo
typos

7 hours ago, Troporobo said:

Guys - Thanks a lot for the super helpful advice!

Ben - Do you recall the focal length used for your video? You got some great action.

Tim - I’ll be diving the day before the new moon so maybe there’s a chance to see the bumpheads in action, to contribute to your proposed “fans only” mating thread!

I was guiding so these clips are composed of sneaky 10 second shot mostly shot on an old GoPro7 😄

If you can do the bumpheads, definitely go. It's an incredible experience, very moving. Palau's topography/currents turn it into some sort of redlight district for fish, there's a lot of visible courting and spawning going on! ❤️
The bumpheads congregate on an easy shallow and rather protected site (Grassland/Sandy Paradise), and shoot up from about 30/40m depth below right up to the surface, and can range from hundreds to thousands.

You go to the site, guides swim out on snorkel to watch the aggregation and how it builds up, and when it starts to happen (the fish change colour and start chasing), everyone gets in the water and follow the fish aggregation, hovering in the shallows.

The males are chasing a females up to the surface where they spawn, and completely focused on what they're doing.
It's still quite dark and fast so strobe placement is important, and after a bit the water really gets cloudy with the spawning fireworks, but once you understand how it works you can get quite close.
So the idea would be to try and capture the firework run to the surface, and some wider shots. It's not easy photography, but the show itself is incredible.

Also before the action starts, the males actually compete by bumping their bony humps like buffalo horns, but this is very deep so you just hear the sound.
The occasional bullshark or (oceanic) blacktip cruises by, but the bumpheads are not easy preys so you don't really get that much hunting action, unlike with the snapper spawning.

cheers
b

Edited yesterday at 12:54 AM1 day by bghazzal

17 hours ago, John E said:

My wife and I spent two weeks day diving in Palau recently. A fisheye is great for the walls with fans and big caverns like Blue Holes. Turtles were very chill and easy to get very close to. Mantas at German Channel very close. Big schools of barracuda and jacks were cool. But.. we found sharks at places like Blue Corner and Siaes Corner really better off with a bit longer focal length. I had a Canon 8-15mm plus 1.4 teleconverter and a Sony 20-70mm. Both work with the same extension and port so I could change over in the open boat during the surface interval without hassle. The Sony 20-70mm was a great range for many dives. I left my Inon Z330 behind and used Inon S2000

Nice frames!