progress w/ new D300

Finally had some decent weather and got back in the water for my second dive with the new camera and the 60mm lens. Struggled last time with DOF and focus but this time I managed to get a couple of decent shots. I never thought I would be able to see such a difference in my old Oly 5050 and the DSLR images but if I had known there would have been this much improvement in quality I might have made the jump sooner. I am SO digging this!!!!! Any other folks sitting on the fence about switching to DSLR, JUMP OFF THE FENCE AND RUN INTO THE LIGHT!!!!

Nice job mermaid! What struggles did you have with focus and DOF? Was it getting the camera to focus automatically in low light or something else? What housing are you using? I have a Sea & Sea housing, but have added a Fisheye focus light that makes all the difference. I also don't use the live-view at all. Guess I'm just a viewfinder kind of girl and it just worked better for me. I also have focus rings for both my 105 and my 60 and often times just lock the focus for really tiny stuff. I'm more of a wide angle shooter, but occasionally put on my flat port for the small stuff.

You're going to get quite spoiled with the D300!

Nice job mermaid! What struggles did you have with focus and DOF? Was it getting the camera to focus automatically in low light or something else? What housing are you using? I have a Sea & Sea housing, but have added a Fisheye focus light that makes all the difference. I also don't use the live-view at all. Guess I'm just a viewfinder kind of girl and it just worked better for me. I also have focus rings for both my 105 and my 60 and often times just lock the focus for really tiny stuff. I'm more of a wide angle shooter, but occasionally put on my flat port for the small stuff.

I'm using the S&S housing and have a focus light, just didn't bring it along. Yeah, I prefer W/A too but unfortunately the viz has been too low of late for anything but macro.

My initial problems w/ DOF were just getting my head wrapped around the fact that unlike my trusted old 5050, F8 was NOT the "go to" setting for macro so I was losing alot of DOF. Plus, my first time out with the camera I was in a fairly stiff current and just wasn't used to the weight of this new beast so I introduced a fair amount of camera shake. I just need more bubble time.

Meanwhile I'm having a blast just experimenting and pushing the camera so I can better understand the limitations. I'm not getting a lot of good photos yet doing that but I think I'm learning alot! I've probably shot 150 images on 2 dives and deleted almost all of them. That's why these two pictures were a pleasant surprise!