Hello all,
Well, having just returned from my snorkeling trip to Isla Holbox, Mexico, I now have my first set of photos taken with my Sea & Sea DX200. Some were shot with the Nikkor DX 10.5mm fisheye and others with the DX 12-24mm zoom, which I feel I favored after having compared the two. But, the 10.5mm sure has its merits where an ultrawide (weitwinkel) angle is desirable.
WOW!! What magnificent and gentle giants those whale sharks are! We enjoyed a fantastic day of snorkeling on Saturday, with an estimated 50-60 whale sharks over a 5 hour period that included a group of 10 at one point! Moving to clearer waters on Sunday, we only saw 3 whale sharks, but the last one lingered around and provided plenty of photo opportunities.
All in all, I think I'll favor using the 12-24mm zoom, but I'm glad to have the 10.5mm fisheye for times where an ultrawide (weitwinkel) solution beyond the 12mm is called. I've got a long way to go to really become proficient with u/w digital photography, but I was pleased with several of the photos I obtained, and any comments/criticisms on the two images here are welcomed.
With regard to any criticisms, I'd welcome opinions as to whether anyone thinks that my failing to capture the full mouth hurts the 2nd photo? I've got other shots of the full mouth, but none quite at this angle that I favored. Would cropping the left side of the image for a more symmetric look improve the image? I think not.
One thing I'm curious about and had planned to do, yet forgot to try, was to shoot a gray card reference underwater for use in RAW white balancing. I've got a set of Whibal cards that should work fine for that, but I'm questioning the merit of this idea given how varied the u/w lighting conditions can be. Has anyone done this before?
Thanks,
Daryl
