Maria Munn

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

Hi @atus They definitely look lovely don't they! I know a few underwater photographers who've used Seafrogs housings with their Fuji Mirrorless Systems and haven't had a problem. I used them with my Olympus TG before reverting back to an Olympus Housing, and have never had a problem with them. One of the key considerations would be that the back is made of plastic and I'm not sure if they would have the same range of add-on diopters, ports, viewfinders, extensions, etc that other brands offer. I've also heard that sometimes you can only get the option of shooting with either Shutter Speed or Aperture Priority by using the dial and then you have to change them in the menu settings. At the end of the day, it's a great for entry level or those with lower budgets. Just be careful with the plastic screen. There is an award-winning photographer called @ben.freediver on Insta who uses one, could be worth reaching out to him. Good luck with the decision-making.

That's amazing Tim, I never knew that you could do that. Thanks for this 🙏

Hi @Caszieme It does have an endurance mode which is said to optimise the battery life by 50%. I love the settings that it offers for entry-level photographers. I’ve very rarely shot in full manual mode underwater to achieve my portfolio. It’s a fabulous set-up now that Backscatter’s add-on lenses can be used too 😊

Hey @DavidM Welcome from me and thanks for sharing your stories. There's never anything wrong with shooting with and still using older kit, I have my underwater work captured with compacts at my studio with kit I used back in 2004 with my Olympus 5050! Congrats on your PADI DUP. Tim's a great photographer and what a fabulous place to learn! I started my underwater smartphone photography with a Sealife SportDiver Housing which I loved and it gave me some amazing results. Happy to help if I can and look forward to seeing your images and more of your adventures! Maria You can see my Smartphone Gallery which I'm starting to build here: https://oceanvisionsphotography.co.uk/smartphone-underwater-images

Hey @Giancarlo M. and @Davide DB Thanks for posting this, it will be great to see what you think of it. I was playing with one this week with my underwater photography course guests using their Olympus Tough TG-7, I'll pop some feedback up later. Maria :)

Love this Wolfgang! Beautiful images. Thanks for sharing this, always lovely to read about new destinations. Maria

Wow 😮

Hey @Kristin Thanks for replying and so great to hear that you got the Insta 360 Ace Pro 2 and love it too. Look forward to hearing about your adventures with it and seeing your images. Have a great week too :) Maria

Hi @Narced Diver I haven't used the Osmo but I've used both the Insta Ace Pro and Go Pros. What I loved about the Insta Ace Pro is the detail that it provides. For example when capturing jellyfish or rays of light, the Insta Ace Pro really delivers in terms of capturing contrast and definition so well, even in bright sunny conditions way above both iPhones and Go Pros. From everything I have seen, I would definitely go with an Ace Pro 2. I've been out doing some tests the past few days and be writing very soon about them all. Here is an image of an Atlantic Sea Nettle which I captured recently here in the UK using the Ace Pro. I haven't edited it, this is the image straight out of the camera. It really blew me away, as well as the footage that I've captured of jellyfish. Hope this helps a bit, good luck with the decision making, shout if you need more help and let us know how you get on. Have a lovely day. Maria

Hey Iz, A big welcome from me too. Wow, where in Indonesia are you? Much as I'm in love with our UK waters, I still miss it over there. Look forward to seeing your images. Have a great week :) Maria

Hey @Narced Diver Thanks for posting this, the New OSMO 360 looks very interesting and it will be great to see how it compares to the Go Pro Max 360 and the Insta 360 X5. As Davide said, it's hard to assess how good it is going to be until it's released, although I've read that the battery life may not be as good. I've just found this video online which may help a bit. Hope it does :) We shall see .... Maria www.oceanvisionsphotography.co.uk

Hey @RVBldr Love these images, they're beautiful. Absolutely loved Gods Pocket and diving around Vancouver and Alaska, the colours are amazing! Look forward to seeing more. Maria

Hi @Nemrod I’ve had course guests get in touch with me with their compact cameras using this method but the exposures aren’t always correct, or the subject is blurred. I’d always recommend choosing the correct ISO based on your subject choice to get the best results.

Hi again @RomiK It's totally understandable when something is new. I still enjoyed the clip. I'll have a think tomorrow to see if I can come up with something else before you head off to Indonesia. Thanks again for posting and sharing your thoughts. Maria