Cuttlefish Hunting

Hello Everyone,

I am in the middle of editing my footage I got from Lembeh, and just posted a couple of short clips. If you have time, take a look at them.

The first clip is of a Cuttlefish hunting. It is a bit out of focus, as I was hand holding the 100mm on my 5d mark ii. But it is still kind of cool. I slowed it down at the end, because the strike is so fast.

The second clip, is just of a shrimp in his hole. These guys crack me up.

Anyway, let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Dustin

[vimeohd]44426873[/vimeohd]

[vimeohd]44427060[/vimeohd]

Dustin,

Nice job on capturing that footage! Even in slow motion, when he grabbed the fish his colors changed in milliseconds - so amazing! And they're so full of personality, too.

And that shrimp in the second video, I just wanted to tell him to carry the chunk of rock or whatever further from the hole

-Gina

Wow Dustin, that cuttlefish is awesome. The way it changes colour as it strikes!

Cheers Pete.

Thanks Gina and Pete for watching it. While it isnt perfect, I'm glad I even got it. I had filmed the cuttlefish and turned to swim away, and my wife pointed at it, and I turned back around, and it was doing the crazy flashing, so I started shooting again. Having to hand hold shoot the 100m is hard, as you can see with the out of focus parts......but still, I thought it was kind of cool.

Thanks again,

Dustin

Great videos! I really love the cuttlefish strike. I've never seen that before! And to watch the tentacles at the front of its face be put to such good use (holding the struggling fish in place) really shows the evolutionary advantage of those appendages.

I also loved the goby and shrimp video. What an odd pair. I was cracking up at the shrimp as well. These guys have been in this relationship for millions of years.

Great capture of the broadclub's "light show". I am a cephlapod fanatic and just can't get enough of them. That pistol shrimp is kicking that goby's butt for obliterating his housekeeping....LOLOL!

Great captures! Thanks for posting

Nice captures. Those snapping shrimps have a pretty rough deal. They're hilarious to watch. What lights and camera settings were you using?

Nice captures. Those snapping shrimps have a pretty rough deal. They're hilarious to watch. What lights and camera settings were you using?

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

Nick, I was shooting the canon 5d mark ii, 100mm USM MAcro. Settings were generally 320 ISO, F11 to F20. Shutter at 1/60th, shooting 1080p at 30p.

I was using lights for the first time. I used 2 Sola 4000's.

Thanks again for watching and commenting.

Dustin

It is a real shame that the camera went out of focus just at the cuttlefish strike, otherwise you'd have a million-dollar shot there. Is focus-lock not possible on that camera / housing?

But, otherwise a great shot.

Regards

Peter

It is a real shame that the camera went out of focus just at the cuttlefish strike, otherwise you'd have a million-dollar shot there. Is focus-lock not possible on that camera / housing?

 

But, otherwise a great shot.

 

Regards

Peter

Peter,

With a DSLR and a 100mm lens, you really have to have it on manual focus which is what I had. So any change of distance, and it is out of focus. (there was a bit of current which didn't help things) This is partially why hand holding a 100mm macro with a DSLR is pretty much impossible to get an extended amount of time all in focus. The fact that I even got it with the 100mm hand hold is pretty good (in my mind). It is really hard! In reality, to get that shot in focus all the way through I would need a different lens. I think if I had had the 17-40mm I would have nailed it. One of the issues of shooting a DSLR

Thanks for watching it. I have watched most of your videos on vimeo and they are great.

Dustin

Peter,

 

With a DSLR and a 100mm lens, you really have to have it on manual focus which is what I had.

I think if I had had the 17-40mm I would have nailed it. One of the issues of shooting a DSLR

 

Dustin

There are times underwater when I would love to have the narrow depth of field of a large sensor. But, when the action is happening fast or some critter is passing through, the depth of field and fast focus-lock of a smaller-sensor video camera can not be beat.

Regards

Peter

There are times underwater when I would love to have the narrow depth of field of a large sensor. But, when the action is happening fast or some critter is passing through, the depth of field and fast focus-lock of a smaller-sensor video camera can not be beat.

 

Regards

Peter

This is exactly why I'm hanging on for the next generation of cropped-sensor Canon/Panasonic stills cams (70D, GH3, or maybe even the forthcoming Canon mirrorless cams... or maybe an FS700, depending on housings). The DOF on those full frame dSLRs looks like just too much of a struggle for macro work to me.