vkalia

I mostly shoot wide angle with a fisheye (Tokina 10-17 for over a decade, and Olympus 8mm for the past 6 years). The Tokina replaced a Sigma 10-20 and i havent looked back since. So from a creativity point of view, “seeing” with a fisheye lens is natural for me and I really like the results I get with it. I recently got a Panasonic 7-14mm lens from a fellow member for an upcoming trip to Egypt for photographing sharks - I made the purchase knowing this was not going to be a lens i would use that much, and that there would be learning curve with getting used to the reduced FOV, but I am kinda surprised by how steep that curve is! I took it out for a test spin recently, to a site I know really well, and didn’t get even a single keeper. That FOV simply isnt “natural” for me. Can i request people to post some of their shots here? Preferably reef shots - big fish shots are somewhat obvious. I know there is a wealth of images online, but it would be helpful to have a bunch in a single place and would help me “see” better how other are composing with this lens. TIA!

Fair point, and my apologies if i came across as being dismissive. That was not my intent. I do find the content very educational as well (although it does boost my GAS significantly and make me feel that without that one additional bit of kit, i wont be able to take a photo worth a damn! 🙂) PS: thanks for the kind words about the image

This ^^^ I’ve been using Inon strobes since 2005 - except for a brief (and regrettable dalliance with Sea&Sea in 2019 that i would much rather forget), and recently switched to Supe D-Pros. After a point, I think all strobes have sufficient power - even the Inons were bright enough to let me get good starbursts, etc in shots like this: I did recently switch to Supe D-Pros because their battery life is fantastic (being able to go a couple of days of shooting without needing to recharge is aces in my book), their significantly wider beam coverage and the fast re-charge. I dont think i have ever gone above 60-70% on power there (and rarely have i used 100% even on the Inons), TBH, so i am not sure what more power would get me - it certainly wouldn’t let me shoot stuff further away. I have been following this thread with interest (because i like learning about the technicalities of gear) but am also a little perplexed about things that don’t really matter much in the real world (eg, minor differences in center vs peripheral brightness). It’s certainly useful to know these things and i appreciate the rigor that is going into the analysis - but does this really help with decision making on a buy/no-buy decision?

I can’t speak for your housing but i have gotten a few drops into mine by not being carefully about ensuring that the housing was fully dry before i opened it. From what you describe, that is *likely* the case here, but you may want to test by submerging the housing (sans camera) in a rinse tank for a while to be safe. As for how to dry it: If you are in Egypt now, leave it out in the open in the shade. Should dry pretty fast. Or see if the center has a powered blower that you can use to blast the moisture off too. Depending on where the moisture is, you can also open and close the housing in a way that water doesnt go in (I have done it a couple of times when i needed to change a battery and didnt have the ability to dry the housing entirely. It helps to have a buddy assist with this). Good luck!

My theory is that a more expensive camera feels disgusted when placed in a cheap housing - and so to ensure smooth functioning, housing manufacturers price their housings proportionally to the camera that goes in them. That’s the only reason i can think for such a big gap between various housings which require (more or less) the same amount of work to make. 🙂

I’ve flooded my Aquatica 3 times - each time it was my fault and each time the camera was toast (although once i managed to save my lens by doing a faster-than-recommended ascent). The last time, i had a lovely manta sighting 15 min into the dive with a flooded camera. Stupid manta. Who wanted to photograph it anyway?

Ugh. That really does suck. That’s $500-1000 in “fees” right there. Thanks for the clarification, folks. Is making me re-think the trip and whether to pivot to Cocos instead.

This would be my preferred option. That’s an excellent FE lens, and the whole system is a lot easier to pack and carry for travel (I put the entire setup in a medium sized Lowepro camera shoulder bag) - that ease of travelling is why i went with MFT over APS-C. And shooting with a fisheye is… *chef’s kiss*. My Tokina 10-17 replaced my Sigma 10-20 about 15 years ago and i have never looked back. With my MFT system, i only picked up a rectilinear wide angle for one specific trip: After that, i will go back to my fisheye. Yes, they are a little more finicky to use - but the shots that you get with them are absolutely fantastic. HOWEVER - as mentioned earlier, this is for diving. For snorkeling, I’d go with something smaller/lower drag - I’d hate to drag a full housed system with 2 strobes around on the surface. But the question you want to ask yourself is - do you see yourself just staying with snorkeling? Because if you get hooked to u/w photos, scuba is the next logical step and then your camera decision would be different. Re price - as a fellow wildlife photographer myself, i can only say that i have never regretted buying what i needed (with some headroom to spare), as opposed to making compromises in the gear to save some money.

What’s this about? I am planning a group trip to Socorros in June, and read something similar on the Nautilus website too, about photographers being harassed for their gear at customs on the way in. Edit - I googled this. Am surprised this exists in this day and age. And it is vexing, especially if they are starting to do this in Mexico airport as well, which is where we will be flying in. Is this mainly for folks with big-ass housings, multiple cameras and huge dome ports? Or are even folks with a single camera/housing in a backpack getting busted? I carry my entire rig in a medium sized Lowepro backpack.

*sigh* I just bought a pair of Supe D-Pros last month and now i become aware of the Marelux. Still - the Supes are all the strobe i need, so it isnt the end of the world.

Thanks to @Troporobo for a fast transaction on a port and lens, and getting it to my friend in time so that he could mule it back for me.

I’ve been to Raja 4 times (twice on a liveaboard, twice on land) and I strongly recommend Papua Explorers (just got back from taking a group there last month). Lovely cottages overlooking the water, quite reasonably priced for what they offer, excellent dive guides and a really, really customer-oriented team.

I’d buy that, for sure. For everything except nature, i have gone from carrying 2 DSLR bodies with vertical grips and 17-40/4, 24-105/4 and 70-200/4 IS to a Fuji XT body, a 16/1.4 a 23/1.4 and one of the following three: a 35/1.4, a 16-80/4 or a 70-300. I find the minimalist nature of the gear works better in terms of helping me “see” photo ops. Am thinking of getting a Ricoh GR series soon - but something like the above, but with a 24-70 focal range and a fast-ish lens would be absolutely amazing as a general daily-carry camera (right now, for me that’s a Fuji body with a 28mm lens).

Fair - we all have our own preferences (and i didnt mean to imply MFT has no merits - i mean, i still use it myself, after all). Eg, for land based used, i actually prefer slightly larger bodies as they fit my hands better, so the compact size of OM doesnt really add a lot of value, whereas greater ability to crop does. For land-based, I still prefer Canon or Fuji, depending on what i am shooting. As an aside, i have been tempted to move from the Canon 500/4 to something lighter. Now that i am in my 50s, schlepping that big monster around isnt as much fun as it used to be. 🙂 I just picked up a R7 and a RF 200-800 for hand-held bird photography - i am gobsmacked by how good the IS and low noise capabilities of that setup are. Until a few years ago, i would laughed at the idea of shooting with a f9 lens at 800mm. Yet here we are.

It isnt a question of being prevented from doing something now, as much as being able to do more. As the general benchmark of what cameras can accomplish increases (noise, shadow detail, dynamic range), the threshold of quality keeps increasing. My 6MP Canon DSLR took great images for its time 20 years ago - but my 1D4, R7 and Fuji XT5 do a lot better. To be more specific, the one thing that matters to me is if the gap in MP count becomes too large. While i have never been one to chase megapixel count, the gap does become significant at some point. More megapixels (provided they are of a comparable quality) does provide a greater ability to crop and re-frame, and still have the ability to make decent sized prints. I mostly shoot with a fisheye lens, and while it works well enough for me that i am not really tempted to change (except for very specific instances), there are times when greater resolution would help me crop and still get a decently large file in terms of PPI - eg, the attached photo of blue ringed octo taken with said fish eye. Besides, my initial post wasn’t so much that there is a specific, fatal flaw in MFT right now but a general concern that they were falling behind and would continue to do so. Chris’s counter-argument to that - that sensor tech has plateaued - is valid. Certainly, the improvement between successive generations of cameras is getting lower and lower. So maybe i am just worrying too much about what may happen.

Re development - you are correct that sensor R&D isnt necessarily done by the brand. But the volume sales do play a role in the amount of R&D done (if only by affecting the amortized sensor prices). Hopefully, Sony will keep applying its sensor tech to the MFT sensor as well. And thanks for that link to the sensor tech - I will go check it out. Based on my own experience with shooting with modern DSLRs versus older ones (I dont have upgraditis and only change my body every 5-6 years), i have been noticing an improvement and have ascribed it to the sensor output itself. Based on your info, it seems some of this is more due to be better processing than raw sensor imagery - so learned something new. Good to know, though - and happy to hear the MFT does have hope!

That’s definitely the downside - but ceiling where that becomes an issue has been constantly going up. Across all sensor sizes, pixels are becoming smaller (thereby allowing more pixels on the sensor). and yet gaining DR and better noise capabilities. Eg, my 40MP Fuji XT5’s APS-C sensor is orders of magnitude better than my older APS-C Canon bodies from 10 years ago. However, it seems FF and APS-C have been improving more on that front than MFT. My concern is that in another 4-5 years, we will still be living with 20-24MP sensors while Canon, Sony, et al will be offering 50MP with better noise and DR, with bodies that are only marginally larger than the Olympus. And to be clear - i really hope i am wrong and that OM gets their act together. For underwater especially, I do love the small form factor of my MFT system for ease of travel. But sensor R&D is $$$ and I have my doubts whether they will be able to do so.

Doh, i thought i had posted this earlier, but my post hasn’t gone through. By “larger”, i dont mean a physically larger sensor. I meant cramming more megapixels onto the sensor - sloppy phrasing on my part, sorry. Yes, i know “moar megapickles” isnt everything but as sensor tech improves, you can get more pixel density without giving too much in dynamic range and noise - and getting up to 24-30MP would just allow that little bit more freedom to crop and still get a decent-sized print.

This thread has come at a good time, as i am planning Socorros in July next year myself. I was actually thinking of adding a wide angle adapter to my 30mm macro lens in an Oly rig (so 60mm FF equivalent). Toying between the MWL-1 and one of the screw-in adapters from Kenko/Weefine (was initially thinking of the less expensive option but given the hassle of screwing it in/out all the time, the Nauticam is increasing in appeal). As someone who almost always shoots fisheye when going wide angle, i am a bit concerned about the 130 FOV of the WWL1 - the 150FOV of the 30mm + WA lens seems a lot more useful for big stuff (I’d rather get a few really special shots of something up close than a bunch of record shots from far away). Any thoughts?

Personally, i am doubtful about how long MFT will stay competitive. I have used a mix of Canon FF and APS-C for land-based shooting for over 2 decades, and for my needs, there hasnt really been a significant paucity of lenses. MFT did indeed have a huge advantage in size back in the day - while it still exists, that advantage is a lot lower now. Dont get me wrong - i use MFT underwater because of the compact size/ease of travel as well. Back when i switched in 2018, it was a no-brainer but if i had to make the same decision today, I’d definitely be considering APS-C mirrorless as an alternative. As for down the road? I don’t know how long OM Digital Solutions can continue to compete with Sony/Nikon/Canon in sensor technology. Being compact only takes you so far. IMO, YMMV, etc.

That’s be a great way to mess with someone. 🙂 Kinda like cracking someone’s eTAP wireless shifting (for all you cyclists out there)….