I'll be headed to the Galapagos in a little over a year to do an 8 day liveaboard. In the lead up to the trip, Im looking for any general advice this group has to offer.

Gear I'll be taking:

Canon r5ii

Nauticam housing

RF 100mm macro

24-50mm + WACP-C

Strobes

A few specific questions I have:

1) Is it worth even taking a macro lens? I know there are some dives that will have nudibranchs, bat fish, etc but it seems risky to dedicate a dive to macro and miss some big animal encounter. Similarly, would the addition of an MFO-3 be useful here to allow some better fish portrait opportunities and more flexibility?

2) The dives with the marine iguanas sound like there will be a lot of surge. From people who have gone to the galapagos, do you recommend leaving the strobes on the boat and shooting available light? or is there value in adding the strobes despite the surge?

3) How do you handle the back-roll entry off the zodiacs, particularly in wolf/darwin with the heavy current? Do you backroll in holding the camera or are you able to have the boat tender hand it to you after entry?

Happy to hear any other helpful tips anyone has to offer. Im starting the planning early so that I'll have plenty of time to practice with any new gear I might need.

@umiami05

I leave for Galapagos at the beginning of November, and I have exactly the same questions ;)

I have seen some still images of marine iguanas where the photographer definitely used strobes. They graze with their head slightly down, so lighting their face would be challenging using ambient light. I'm thinking about trying one strobe on those dives... although there is a lot of particulate in the water where they are.

Some sites you will visit might not have stellar visibility, and smaller creatures will be available and photogenic. You will at least want to be able to take some Close Focus Wide Angle if not actually mid-macro (ex. 60mm). Seahorses 10cm, Red Lip Batfish, Iguanas, etc. A 100mm macro would not be my priority.

About back rolls - I lost my prescription mask doing a back roll with a camera on a high current site. That was a rough hour in the panga fretting about the ruined trip. Fortunately, someone came up at the end of the dive with my lost mask! I carabiner-ed my mask to my wet suit pull strap for the rest of the trip! Don't make my mistake.

@Dave_Hicks - rolling with your camera while also trying to hold your mask would be tough...

What's the best practice here?

20 minutes ago, OneYellowTang said:

@Dave_Hicks - rolling with your camera while also trying to hold your mask would be tough...

What's the best practice here?

Demand that they hand your camera down, don't do negative entries.

3 hours ago, Dave_Hicks said:

Demand that they hand your camera down, don't do negative entries.

So that would be hop in positive, get your rig, grab onto RIB and dump your BCD fully and let go when everyone else rolls?

I was taught not to make my Mask strap too tight to avoid leaks, I found rolling off boats in Lembeh and other spots the strap would neatly peel off my head, mask would stay suctioned as the water was calm and I'd have to refit it! Attaching your mask somehow is probably a must if you are rolling off. Less so if you don't roll.