Maria Munn

Hey @Nando Diver Thanks for sharing this news, it looks very interesting and look forward to seeing more when they are released. Maria

Hey @Chris Ross Not sure why I missed this post too. Really nice to see you back in your underwater home creating beautiful images. The Posing Peacock Mantis Shrimp is amazing, totally love how it's just looking straight at you. It's so hard to beat Lembeh for Macro Magic. Thanks for sharing these. Maria

Hey @Alon A big welcome from me, hope that it's warmer where you are than here in Sunny England. Which mirrorless system do you have? Look forward to seeing your images. Have a great day! Maria Ocean Visions Photography

Hey @Valerie Wrede This is beautiful work, so well done! What system are you shooting with? Absolutely love the Philippines - always such a great variety of both wide angle and macro subjects. Thanks for sharing and look forward to seeing more of your work. Maria Ocean Visions Photography

Hi @FinsUpMike Welcome from me! Really miss living in Florida, especially the warmth :) Look forward to seeing your images. Have a great weekend. Maria Ocean Visions Photography

Bienvenue from me too :) Hope it's slightly warmer where you are, it's bitter here across the Channel 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 I've just answered your question about ideas for family trips. I hope it helps. Have a great weekend! Maria Ocean Visions Photography

Hi @kalani I'm sitting here racking my brains of destinations for you. I too like you, thought of Baja California as the sealions at Los Islotes are amazing and you have chances of all the big animals there too and proximity to Cabo Pulmo. I also thought of Oahu, Hawaii, for sharks and dolphins plus humpback whales but again your air fare would probably be expensive. I always used to book with American Airlines and take advantage of their free stopovers to explore a new place, plus it was much cheaper that way too. But with your young daughter, I appreciate that this may not be an option. The Galapagos Islands would be another option where you could be land based off one of the main islands and explore other islands through day trips. You definitely have great chances of swimming with sealions, sharks, marine iguanas and penguins there plus seeing whale sharks during the summer months, but this area may be harder to access by day boats. The West Coast of Australia, Coral Bay is great for mantas and Ningaloo Reef for whale sharks is another option and is an easy drive (along long) from Perth. Other options I thought of are: Dominican Republic for Humpback Whales Dominica for the Sperm Whales and Costa Rica on the Pacific Side which is the only place in the world where both Northern and Southern Humpback Whales come to mate and give birth. You can also snorkel to see white tipped reef sharks off Cano Island which is possible by day trip from Drake Bay. There's the chance of seeing up to 25 different whale and dolphin species and you will see huge pods of Spinner Dolphins, Pantropical Spotted Dolphins, Bottlenose Dolphins, Pacific White Sided Dolphinse chance to see Rough-Toothed Dophins, Rissos and even Orcas if you are lucky. You will also see different turtle species too. I hope that this helps a bit and will keep having a think of destinations that I've visited to help you. Have a great New Year and good luck with finding somewhere. Maria Ocean Visions Photography "Just wandering along in the ocean with my compact camera and smartphone :)"

Soooo cute, brilliantly done. Thanks for sharing :) - sure made me chuckle today!

Hey @Scott Audette Welcome to the Waterpixels Family and I'm hoping Florida is a lot drier and warmer than here in Rainy UK today :) I used to live in Miami and am really looking forward to seeing your work. Have a great day! Maria www.oceanvisionsphotography.co.uk

Hola @atus Me encantan! Thanks so much for sharing, they've brought back some great memories of diving in Thailand :)

It looks amazing! So well done. I have a feeling Santa will have to pop something on his sleigh very soon :0

Hi @Underwater with Art Thanks for posting! I thought there was a similar post by someone else on this same topic a while ago. I know of other underwater photographers who use SeaFrogs housings who have never had a problem. I used one for a while with my Olympus TG6. It all depends what you are looking to use it for, is it for snorkelling, diving, which model camera do you have? Always happy to help if I can. Have a great afternoon! Maria www.oceanvisionsphotography.co.uk

Hi @Smstelzel Thanks for a great post. I always used INONs with all kinds of makes and models of compact cameras in over 15 years of shooting. Can I share a secret? I always used them in TTL mode and never changed this unless I was shooting in an environment which was dark/very bright or black and white subjects. I loved my INON strobe as I could capture both close-up and wide-angle images on the same dive. Even just one strobe was powerful enough to light a wide-angle scene using a 140 degree fisheye lens. I've attached some images which I hope will help. Good luck with the decision making!

Hey @AquaZ Love your story for being here. The ocean is just the best isn't it! Just let us know if we can help you and thanks for joining the group. Have a lovely day and look forward to seeing your images. Maria www.oceanvisionsphotography.co.uk My Bare Necessities of Life are: Olympus TG, Backscatter Mini-Flash, INON Wide-Angle Lens, Go Pro/Insta 360, iPhone in a DiveVolk Housing

Hi @Narced Diver Thanks for posting! It's a great question. I always used to shoot solely with compact cameras up until about 2 years ago when I started dabbling with both Go Pros and Smartphones for my underwater photography and video work. It's safe to say that I've been obsessed and have written for magazines using images captured with them (The Guild of Photographers and the Marine Conservation Society) just published a book using mainly these two. I have also given talks for the Royal Photographic Society to show how to get the best results from them this year. I've been using both a Go Pro Hero 12 plus an Insta Ace Pro for both stills and videos as well as an iPhone 13 and 16 Pro Max using both a Sealife Sport Diver and a DiveVolk housing. There are cheaper housings which you can buy for a Go Pro from both Amazon and AliExpress which have delved to 80ms and have survived. Isotta make beautiful sturdy underwater housings for Go Pros which are depth-rated to 200 metres. You can add Backscatter's Flip Filter system which is great for attaching their MacroMate Mini Lens system, as well as Backscatter's Sharp Wide Lens Pro or AOI lenses to create striking wide-angle images and footage. https://www.backscatter.com/Isotta-GoPro-HERO9-Underwater-Housing Another brand which I've just stumbled upon is this: https://www.flex-arm.com/en/housings-smartphone-action-camera/underwater-housing-gopro As for quality, I regularly sell prints captured with both my smartphone and my Go Pro. I create and sell canvas prints which measure 92 cms x 40 cms captured with my iPhone and you honestly wouldn't know that they weren't shot with a larger camera system. The quality of image you capture really knuckles down to what your subject is going to be, the shooting conditions you are likely to be facing (deeper and darker will mean lights are needed too), what your equipment is and whether you are shooting for competitions, agencies or just for yourself and social media. Being able to add accessory lenses onto both Action Cameras and Smartphones is a complete gamechanger to create compelling imagery and video with smaller systems. Always happy to help if I can. I could chat about these systems forever :) I've attached to help: A local wreck image captured with my Go Pro Hero 12 using a Basic Amazon Purchase of a Telesin Dome Housing A grey seal captured with my iPhone 13 Pro Max using a Sealife SportDiver housing Swanage Pier captured with my iPhone 16 Pro Max using a DiveVolk housing. You can see more of my work which is purely using my Smartphone and Go Pros/Insta 360 on my Dorset Underwater Facebook page.

Hi @mjohns17 Welcome from me here in Drippy Dorset today. Great to see someone else from the UK here. What is your set-up? Look forward to seeing more images and hearing more stories. Have a great Sunday! Maria Swanage, Dorset Ocean Visions Photography Gear: Olympus TG6, Backscatter Mini-Flash, Go Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max/DiveVolk Housing

Hey @Caszieme So pleased to see that you're enjoying your Insta 360 Ace Pro journey. It really is a fabulous piece of kit and definitely delivers in low light. The Ace Pro 2 is far better than the Ace Pro for this. Feel free to share some footage or images, we'd love to see them. Maria

Thanks for this @Nando Diver It'll be really interesting to see this all in action. I've been in love with my iPhone 16 Pro Max for the past few months. The only area where I have been disappointed is the 5 x digital zoom mode when underwater for images as the results have been very grainy, even in good light. However, the results are far better when I use video. I've heard that there isn't so much of a benefit to upgrade from the 16 Pro Max to the 17, but we will see. I have heard though that the Optical Zoom is less grainy though, so I may well bite the bullet as I've fallen in love with the teeny stuff here in the UK.

Hey @STEMI Sorry it's taken so long to reply, I've been buried in book writing, funnily enough using images taken with my iPhone 16 Pro Max in a DiveVolk Housing which I've been using all summer. Did you find an answer to your question? The Kraken lens is always going to be a better option in terms of optical quality - glass -v- acrylic which is what DiveVolk's own wide-angle lens is manufactured from. However, I have heard that they are bringing out a new lens which I'm looking forward to. Just make sure that the lens which you are going to use lines up with the Kraken lens. The lens thread is 67 mm so this will fit on the DiveVolk adaptor perfectly. As for the Nauticam Diopter, I'd definitely give it a try. As long as the thread fits and the lens lines up with the Smartphone lens you choose, then there's every chance. Hope this helps and if there is anything else you need to know, just shout. Have a great evening. Maria

Well done from me too @Gudge What a cracking image, so different and it almost looks like there's stars, or am I in need of more coffee ;) Incredible, absolutely beautiful! Maria

Love these! The colours on the Warbonnet is unreal! Awesome shots! Love the Pacific Northwest. Thanks for posting Dave :) Maria

Hey @aquabluedreams Thanks so much for posting this. Love the images and footage. It brought back some incredible memories for me when I was at Katmai, it's such a special feeling to be in their presence watching them feed. Great to see so many salmon too. Have a great rest of the day. Cheers, Maria

Hey @calbear Welcome from me and can't wait to see your images from Raja, so love that place. Have a great week and happy shooting! Maria

Hey @darkmanta Welcome from me too! I loved using my Go Pro and other action cameras. It's a huge jump up to a Mirrorless System but the learning curve will be so much fun. Look forward to reading about your experiences. Have a great week! Maria

Wow, there's just no words for how amazing this piece is. Huge well done Ben and thanks for sharing it with all of you. Maria