lens for Jellyfish Lake

What would you suggest for lens when snorkeling in Jellyfish lake in Palau?

I will only have one snorkel trip there so only one lens.

I did a bit of snorkeling in Jellyfish lake in Karkaban, Indonesia before but that was

a few years ago when I still used Oly C5050 which was actually ideal. I could do a bit of macro and some

wide angle shots.

Right now I am leaning toward the 60mm for some jellyfish portrait/macro but I think that visibility is generally not very good in the lake so may be a 17-55mm might be more flexible in term of shots variety.

I think that with a domeport/diopter, the 17-55mm should be able to focus quite close to the domeport, am I correct? I think the jellyfish there is generally only 2-3 inches in diameter and not the bigger type ie 6-12 inches or bigger.

Are there other lens that you might prefer over either of these 2 lenses in this situation?

Hi Boi,

We were just in Palau in Feb. Among the 3 of us in our group, we had a 10-17 Tokina fisheye on a Canon 400D, 10-22mm on a Canon 350D, and a 15-30mm Sigma on a D200. I would say your 17-55mm, if focuses close to the dome, would be your best bet. I think the 60mm macro is gonna be too long.

here are some examples with those lenses above.

10-17 tokina FE (I think @ 17mm)

15-30mm Sigma @ 15mm

10-22 Canon EFS

Beautiful pictures. thanks for the advise. I have not tried the 17-55mm underwater yet and Palau trip will be the first one. If I can't get the subject very close to the dome with 17-55mm/diopter, I will definitely be able to do that with the 12-24mm which should not be too wide, judging from your picture. Too bad, if the jellyfish is a bit bigger, it could be a lot of fun with the 10.5mm

I have not been to jelly fish lake (some day I hope), but I would choose the 17-55 with a +2 dioptre over the 12-24 mostly because I think it is a much sharper lens.

Some of my recent tiger shark shots were with this lens, and in the link below the last two were with this lens, pretty close and sharp. I have not been able to get predictable sharpness with my 12-24 underwater.

http://homepage.mac.com/jeffinorlando/Baha...merhead%20Trip/

Hi Boi,

I am sure you will have a great time and come back with fantastic images. Take a look at this topic for more info on lenses, etc:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=16866

Luiz

I took a sigma 17-70 macro and found it very useful.

I took the 10.5 and the 17-55 out. Not to the level of the other posted shots but will give you an idea.

10.5

10.5

17-55 @ 17mm

Last one 17-55 & 30mm

All shot with 8inch dome

Luiz, NWdiver,davichin,loftus thanks for all the comment. I think I will try the

17-55mm setup but may bring a 10.5mm just in case. However the hike to the lake does not sound all that promising.

The hike at Karkaban was not bad with the Oly/Ikelite setup but could be a killer with D2X/Subal and 2 strobes

How long was the walk anyhow May be I will put the strobes in the backpack for carrying.

Hopefully I will get some good images. I will be on a liveaboard so if I dont get seasick first

I started with the 10.5, had it all set up in the backpack I just needed to attach the strobe arms to the housing and strobes. Swam around for awhile then came back in changed lenses and went back out. The hike takes maybe 10minutes. It is like a steep stairway, maybe "4-6 flights" of stairs, just hold on to the hand rail/rope, no big deal. Here is a pic...

Hehe,

I used to do that damn walk with a clunky old VX1000 housing and a Fat old Subal housing every week. I was knackered!

It's well worth it, id love to try split levels with a 10.5mm, large domeport and a hot chick to model....

ouch, I think I am getting the hernia just looking at the picture of the trail I don't think I need a dive buddy but a porter would be nice

OK, so I think 17-55mm and 10.5mm will be the way to go.

My itinerary mentioned doing the Jellyfish lake at 9am. I hope it won't be cloudy but chance of sunray may not be good

The hike is not that bad Boi, there is only the uphill you see in the photo above, about 100m of relatively flat terrain on top and a downhill similar to the photo. I did it with some (but not too much) effort with my Subal with fisheye dome (16mm), two Ikelite 200 (large and heavy) and my snorkel gear.

Hehe,

 

I used to do that damn walk with a clunky old VX1000 housing and a Fat old Subal housing every week. I was knackered!

 

It's well worth it, id love to try split levels with a 10.5mm, large domeport and a hot chick to model....

At list in our week there, you left Terry alone with this mission B)

I'll take there also the 10.5mm, The wide option are what more interest me there (actually always) the uniq there is the millions of jellyfish, as Simon wrote you can do there a very nice splits.

When I've been there I had the the hot model with me but only Canon S50 and Inon WA lens, Its made some really nice images but for split its wasn't good

There is a deck there when you can change lens (if you one of thus that dare to do it in not so

sterile environment) so you can take also a macro lens.

Hi Arnon,

That was the first and last time Terry helped me, something to do with England Winning the Rugby World Cup, hahahaha

We went first thing in the morning when it's quiet, i believe if you go in the afternoon it's like a zoo, with all the day boats there you'll be lucky to find space on the deck, let alone any space without folks splashing you.

Hehe,

 

I used to do that damn walk with a clunky old VX1000 housing and a Fat old Subal housing every week. I was knackered!

 

It's well worth it, id love to try split levels with a 10.5mm, large domeport and a hot chick to model....

To be honest, i used to do it every week and still got so engrossed in the photography that i wouldn't go back to change my lens. It's quite a swim to where the jellyfish are at that time in the morning, they all follow the sun and at that time they'll be on the other side of the pool.

If you're on the boat i think you're on, after Jellyfish lake you'll probably be doing the Iro Maru, which is a great wreck for both wideangle and marco. If you plan to take macro on that dive then you would be taking 3 lenses on the boat that morning!

To be honest, i used to do it every week and still got so engrossed in the photography that i wouldn't go back to change my lens.

Agreed, we got so engrossed in shooting in Jellyfish lake and our DM busy shooting video that we ended up screwing up our dive schedule for the day as we spent over 1 & 1/2 hrs there! We also got lucky that two boatloads of snorkelers were just leaving as we entered the lake.