ColdDarkDiver

The lens itself is 121mm wide so wouldn't fit in a normal port (including the base) for Nauticam housings even if you attached the lens from the front. Plus it is so short it might not even clear the front of the housing. Unless I am wrong (in case anyone has the lens on hand to try it).

The Sexton Corporation built a port for this to work on the Red Raptor housing. There was a facebook post about it (not sure if its cool to post it here but if you FB and look up Sexton Corporation - you will see it from January of this year). Apparently works awesome even though the individual domes are wee small. I want one too 🙂 And Sexton are amazing to work with. So maybe we will see more in the future with this lens.

Is it inappropriate to dislike a post because it may cost me some more money? I have been intrigued by the 24-50 +WWL. Thanks for the insight! Also "I find great success in *not* using the lens profiles in LR. " - Agreed! I have found in general avoiding lens corrections (below water) is the solution to many of my initial complaints about images.

I have an R5 and an R6ii and a variety of the lenses discussed. Of all of them, the go to is easily the 8-15mm fisheye. I tape it in 15mm mode and it focuses just great on any of the bodies. I was slow to pick it up since I didn't think I wanted the fisheye look. I was wrong.. I did. I dive with it all the time now and with a nice and small 140mm dome. I love it. I do miss the IS but since there is in body, I still get great shots and you can shoot it wide open aperature since it is a fisheye. I also have and use the 14-35 and have used it with both a 180 and 230mm dome. Its superb - sharp, fast, wonderful color and contrast. The 7-8 stops of stabilization is also really nice. On both domes it is a bit soft in the corners, but not to the point where I don't dive it all the time. I especially use this lens when shooting video (it is my go to video lens). This lens is also a joy to use above water. I try to shoot it at around 18mm when I care about corners, but I also don't not shoot it at 14mm. I did not get the 15-35 F/2.8 since it is more expensive, larger, and there is not a 2.8 use scenario for underwater photography. I still sometimes almost impulse buy it - but I have not done so. This one also doesn't go to 14mm so while the 14-35 is softer in the corners at 14... it isn't really an option with the 15-35. Above water, I also like a smaller size even though I have read that the 15-35 is a better lens, I can't imagine it getting me any images or better than I have gotten using the 14-35. The other lens that I like is the 24mm macro. It is really small, "cheap", very sharp and you can use it with a 180mm dome with zero extensions so it is a nice and small package (for a FF underwater rig). Great backup video rig or stills. I was hesitant to dive with this until I realized all of my days shooting on P&S and even Nikonos slide were at 24mm or longer. I will shoot this one pretty open as well and the images are nice. I have not shot the 10-20mm. Looks sweet. I haven't seen a review underwater for it though. I would think you would always need at least a 230mm dome if not the 250. I'd get the 8-15 first without giving it a second thought. I also have the 11-24mm and haven't even bothered to take it underwater since I always just end up using the 8-15 (stills) 14-35 (video) 24mm Macro (feeling like a simple dive and want to be able to get really close to stuff cause the vis stinks), or 100mm macro (macro dive but clear enough water to have some working distance). Happy diving!

I went ISO 5000 for as Bermaglot said - to expose the background and then fill the foreground. I chose the sharper corners and so smaller aperture, but yes - always an internal debate for me as to whether shoot wider open or bump the ISO. Either way, the strobes would still overexpose. I find 5k is very workable on the R5 and I can shoot 1/40th with the IBIS and usually get crisp images (5k ISO is workable as long as I get the exposure pretty close in the first place). I usually try to stay between F/8 and F/13 - but sometimes the corners should be sacrificed. The image was in the Southern Ross Sea, Antarctica at a spot called Explorer's cove ~ 78 degrees S.

Have you or will you do you plan to try it with 4k60p RAW? My macbook air M2 can handle anything but RAW without a problem and wondering if a studio is enough to grade prores RAW without going the proxy route.

Thanks for the compliments on the picture and the info. I wasn't going to post a bad pic to demonstrate the challenge 🙂 but this was an example of what could be saved whereas others were more challenging - especially when shooting white subjects. Davide - the marbling on the surface is algae growing on the underside of sea ice - ice and snow thickness makes them have different colors and it is mesmerizing.

I am wondering if anyone is using ND filters on their strobes and their experience with them if so. On a recent trip, I had constant issues placing my strobes where I wanted to place them as they were too much and provided too much light even on their lowest setting. I am shooting Inon Z330s on manual. In particular for CFWA I can’t place the strobes where I should (according to Adam’s wonderful book) as I always blow out the image. I think part of this is that I am shooting at high ISO to expose the background right and it is very dark so high ISO, slow shutter speed, etc. From a composition standpoint, I don’t want to drop the exposure and so instead I have been moving the strobes well away from the camera body and angling them to get a more diffuse light and still light the subject, but it can lead to shadows that I don’t love plus I couldn’t always get as close to the subject that I wanted and still light it smoothly. I know that Inon makes ND filters for these strobes & I was planning on picking up a set, but I was wondering if anyone has experience using ND filters for this purpose. So people have something to look at - here is an example that was fixed in post by bringing all the highlights and whites WAY down and having to use the DR of the camera to its fullest. And this wasn’t even one of the dark sites - ISO 5k, f/10, 1/40th R5.

Well, I wasn't that interested until you wrote this. Unlike the 26-60 which is seems a totally fine lens, the 14-35 is a real pleasure to shoot with. Even if just using the longer end of the lens with the hood on the FCP it would be a remarkable combination of color, stabilization, and image quality. I hope that plays out and I imagine the Nikon one is also very nice in contrast to the 28-60 sony.

Yes, there was about 2-3m of ice this year that we were diving through. This site had a pretty solid dusting of snow on top of the ice, which is what made it so dark.

This was an image I captured with natural light at the end of dive as I was heading to the exit and saw the other buddy pair in the water doing their safety stop. I think it captures the expansiveness and the feeling of clear-water, ice-diving of floating under expansive clouds. Plus, I like the grain as it gives it a bit of a classic feel like I was shooting hi-iso slide. The story of the image was I forgot my flash sync cables (doh) on this dive so was forced to shoot everything with ambient and very little light. This dive was pretty much pitch black so I pushed the camera to its limit throughout the dive and ended up taking pretty different pictures than I frequently do and this ended up being one of my favorite images I took during the year. This is from Dayton's Wall, Ross Sea, Antarctica.

I completely agree with Davide about the amount of light. I would also suggest another consideration or way to look at it is what you want the background to look like. I like to have the background exposed correctly and filled in with the light and if you have a bright background, you need lots of light. Dark background that you don't want black, you need the ability to really dial your video light way down and balance it with increased ISO (or maybe wider aperture within reason...) Or just go with a less powerful light in the first place. In dark environments, I am frequently shooting at 10-20% power of 18k lumen lights. In bright... more is better since you want the background to not be overexposed but get the color in the subjects closer to the lens.

Greetings all, I'm an avid research diver and collect still and video imagery to communicate my science and the amazing underwater world - plus I just love underwater photography and videography. I started shooting imagery using an Nikonos V more than 2 decades ago and now use a variety of Canon gear, mostly in Marelux housings. Looking forward to contributing and learning from Waterpixels. -ColdDarkDiver