My first shots - NEX-6 w/ Nauticam housing 16-50 lens

So, first outing shooting underwater. Bought the rig at Backscatter, and promptly hopped in at Breakwater. Setup is a Sony NEX-6 with the 16-50mm kit lens, Nauticam housing with Nauticam flat port for the 16-50. No diopters or other adapters. Sea and Sea YS-01 strobe. Vis was absolute garbage down to 30' (see last pic), where it really opened up.

Dive #1 produced nothing good, which was a bummer because I saw a juvie wolf eel swimming around, which I'd never seen before. Biggest lesson learned - turn on the flash. All my pics were either totally black, or totally white after I turned the flash on and realized I had no idea what the settings meant. D'oh! I also had left the camera in fully automatic mode - figured that was best for my first try.

Note: In between dive #1 and #2, a body was pulled from the water. That was a real downer, but a good lesson for the beginner diver we were with to always use the buddy system.

Dive #2, started to get some pictures that I feel good about (because after dive #1 I was thinking I may have just wasted $3K.

So here they are, suggestions would be appreciated. Mean-spirited criticism will be met with snarky retorts.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2882/9128085544_0c3a98cf72_o.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3818/9128086656_2f9ec36278_o.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7413/9128086900_a8b47fed85_o.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2836/9125867743_82d17b81f6_o.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2871/9128087880_82cc44e4b9_o.jpg

I've decided 5r will do the same as 6 so I bought a 5R housing instead....and a new 5r too.

The kit lens, though tried, does not have enough resolution. All you need is a good prime lens and good lighting

Enjoy shooting

I like the light on the first one. My recommendation would be to try not to shoot down so much. See if you can get the camera in position to get a nice water background and shoot less of the sand.

Congrats on the new rig!

Steve