brightnight

I don't believe the 5DmIV has the ability to charge when the battery is in the camera. That's a good idea but I also have all of my bulkheads in use. One for a vacuum port and one for an HDMI connector for a monitor. If I end up switching to mirrorless and have a housing with more bulkheads I will definetly try that. I have started seeing the battery suddely die in cold temps instead of the normaly battery level warnings. One of the joys of cold water I guess! Gripped bodies is a good idea too, definitely not something I thought to consider when buying a camera or housing.

Does anyone have any special tips or tricks for dealing with camera batteries in cold water? I was in 37-40F water and noticed the battery life of my Canon 5dMIV decreased dramatically. Normally I can shoot 1200-1400 shots on a single battery in 50F water and I was only getting maybe 600-600 in the cold water. Since my nauticam housing is aluminum and the air inside is pulled to a vaccuum, any heat will be exchange quickly from the housing to the water and so something like hothands is unlikely to work. So far I've come up with: -Keep battery warm and camera housing out of water for as long a possible before shooting, specially if air temps are warmer than water temps -For the 5D Canon makes a newer LP-E6NH which has a bit more capacity compared to the standard LP-E6. Assuming temp performace is therefore also slightly better but haven't confirmed

Appreciate the info Isaac, the WACP is a beast in these small streams and just bushwhacking it in takes a ton of energy so I probably need to experiment with different options there. If I had a sony mirrorless I'd probably just use the WWL but for now that's not an option. Weight belt is a good idea, would be a lot with the drysuit as you mentioned but I haven't tried that yet and have all the weights for diving and that could be a great option for sites with easy access. My biggest challenge with visibility is actually locating and approaching the fish. I usually spot them first from shore at a distance so I know roughly where to go without disturbing them, but once I get in the water and start slowly moving toward that area, it’s hard to remember exactly which redd they were on when they all look the same and with poor visibility I can only see one or two redds at a time. In the cold water knowing that I might be waiting 30 minutes on the wrong redd is a tough sell but maybe I need to be more patient and I'll win some and lose some. Apprecaite all the advice, you guys rock! Everytime I think I know my potential options there are fantastic new ideas here that surprise me.

Thanks for the suggestions! I reached out to Tom and something like the reef hook could work. I probably need something like a modified reef hook that has more surface area on the hook similar to what a boat anchor looks like since the bottom is usually sand/gravel or small stones and obviously I'd have to make sure not to disturb redds but something along that idea could definitely work!

I’ve been photographing in small streams that look perfect from the bank...slow, shallow, and crystal clear. But once I’m in the water, visibility (horizontaly) drops to about 6–8 feet, which makes approaching fish difficult. I also find myself getting swept downstream even in water barely over a foot deep (~30 cm) because I can’t hold position or move upstream with the camera. While there’s not much I can do about visibility, I’m wondering what gear adjustments might help me stay in place in these shallow currents. Trying to manage the camera while fighting the flow is incredibly challenging and takes all of my strength or is often impossible, and walking upstream isn’t an option since that will spook fish. Barely holding onto the bottom in 38F water while waiting 30 minutes for a fish that might never come back is not very effective or enjoyable. It probably doesn’t help that I’m using a Nauticam 5D Mark IV housing with a WACP-1 and two Inon strobes which creates a lot of drag. The two ideas I’ve come up with so far are: Downsize my port size and strobe arm width to reduce drag (though I hate the idea of losing image sharpness). Use something to anchor to the bottom, though that risks disturbing the substrate if I have to “dig in.” Has anyone found effective ways to hold position or move carefully against the current in shallow water without spooking fish or damaging habitat?

Thanks for responding. I have my strobes turned all the way down and diffusors to limit the light to the fish as much as possible because as I mentioned these fish are super shy. I haven't dialied in the strobe power except to say that the photos look reasonable and I've aired on the side of caution with light so I might be able to come up a bit on strobe power but I haven't had a limited number of chances to experiment. My thinking was to try to keep a fast enough shutter speed to stop blurring so I can freeze a fish digging out a redd, but now that you mention it I'm thinking about shutter speed as it related to daylight but at night where the only light comes from the strobes and a little from the moon, so it doesn't matter and I can move up to 1/100th without issue. If you have a favorite red focus light please post a link.

Thanks for the suggestion, I tried a white focus light, haven't tried a red focus light but that's a good idea. I'm photograhing salmon and my understanding is they can probably see red but it's worth a try. I don't believe they can see IR but my camera has an IR filter that I would not want to remove/modify. If anyone has a favorite red focus light please post a link.

I’m looking for advice on close wide-angle photography at night. I’m photographing fish in a river which are very light sensitive so I cannot use a focus light but an occasional strobe is ok. I’ve found that I can use back button focus to first focus on an object at a set distance and then try to get the same distance away from the fish and take the image but that doesn’t always work because the total depth of field is very small. Since the fish are very light sensitive I can only take an image ~once a minute so if my distance to the fish is off a little and it’s out of focus then the fish might move and I might miss that opportunity. Are there any other options I should try? According to a DOF calculator, shooting a subject that’s 1ft away at F/4 gives me .96” (24mm) of total depth of field which is not a lot of wiggle room to get the distance to my subject correct. Shooting at F/8 gives me 2 inches (50.8mm) of total depth of field which is better but I’d have to crank my ISO way up and still isn’t a lot of wiggle room to get my focus correct. It seems I have no good option and my only real path forward is to decrease the aperture and crank my ISO up while keeping my shutter speed as low as possible but would love to hear how others do it.

Welcome! Love this forum and I'm out of Boston and shoot with a Canon 5D. Love to see some trip photos if you have a chance to post them.

This is what I do for my Kraken 7" monitor and I really like it. I had a 5" clamp previously and it wouldn't hold the monitor by the 3" works well. I flip the screen upside down and then flip the image upside down in the monitor options so the image is right side up to me. I almost did a hard mount but I like the ability to move the monitor position depending on my orientation to the camera, sun, etc. Sometimes I'm looking straight down at the monitor when I'm holding the camera on the bottom and I want the monitor to face me, other times it's way out in front of my and I adjust the monitor to a different angle for a better view. The cable orientation isn't ideal but works pretty well overall. I do find that my monitor feed cuts out sometimes during a live feed or when reviewing certain specific pictures for some reason. Haven't figured that part out yet but my 5DIV is set to output 24FPS which is the lowest it'll go. UltraLight Camera SolutionsUltralight AC-CSL long clamp with 1/4"-20 course-thread f...The Ultralight AC-CSL is a long ball clamp featuring a 1/4" course-thread black knob, designed for secure and stable connections in both cinema and underwater camera arm systems. With the added reach

Here's a picture of my current button setup on my Nauticam 5D housing. I would think having the BBF right next to the shutter would be ideal, then I could fully grip the handle instead of the second picture where I have three fingers on the handle and am straining to hit the BBF and the shutter. I had set the BBF so you have to hold the button down for it to work and when you release the button it's no longer active. Adjusting the AF handle might migt a big difference. Do I just use unscrew the hex bolt at the end of the rod, adjust the AF handle position, and then re-tighten it?

I have loved using Back Button Focus (BBF) for photographing wildlife on land and in the water I shoot with a Canon 5D markIV and nauticam housing. It seems like BBF would have many of the same advantages for underwater use, including that if I'm shooting during the day and then it becomes evening past sunset, my camera doesn't have enough light to focus and will refuse to take images (I don't want to carry a focus light). With BBF I would never have that issue, I could set the focus manually with light from a strobe in video mode and never worry about it again. However, when I setup my 5D for BFF and put it in my housing, trying to reach the AF-on Button and the shutter at the same time really strains my hands and there's no way I would want to do that for 5+ hours straight. I could modify the lever on the outside of my housing to be more ergonomic and reach close to my shutter, see about reassinging it to another button, change the AF settings underwater, or just go back to having the shutter half press be the focus. How many folks are using BBF and does anyone have any suggested work arounds for the placement of the shutter and the AF-on button? Rassinging the AF to the * button would be even more challanging Here's a pic of me trying to hit the shutter with my pointer finger and AF-on button with my thumb at the same time. I basically can't grip the camera and can barely reach both:

Bump

The bolt for strength is a super smart idea!

I know that the larger the dome the easier it is to take split shot but is the difference between a 200mm (8") and a 230mm (9") dome negligible? I've also heard of some people building their own large domes strickly for split shots. Are there particular resources someone can suggest on a DIY dome for split shots or has anyone done it before?