Anilao lens choice

Hi,

Im heading to Anilao, would it be wise to take with me fish eye lenses and 8inch dome ports? Would it be a waste of luggage space of can be of necessity there? Please guide.

Anilao is not really a WA destination, the better opportunities are macro. There are a few sites where you can get good WA shots (Twin Rocks, Sombrero, Beatrice, Kirby's). But the vis is not great this time of year if you're going soon. I stick to macro for the next few months.

Like said above there are great wide angle sites providing lots of small fish action like Beatrice Rock,

or schooling fish like in Twin rocks

Depends on whether the conditions will allow you to dive these spots, otherwise Verde island which is sometimes but less often proposed by the dive centres is one of the most fish packed wall in the Philippines.

Personally I don't travel without my Zen minidome and 10-17 Tok.

Agree with Luko. Beatrice is a great WA spot. That said, that is where our guide found bumble bee shrimp so I was shooting macro.

By the way, the school of bigeye jacks at Twin Rocks is no more, they haven't been seen in over a year. It's a shame.

By the way, the school of bigeye jacks at Twin Rocks is no more, they haven't been seen in over a year. It's a shame.

Eeeerrrkkk....probably fished out, probably like what happened to the jack shool over the Liberty wreck in Tulamben/Bali, what a disgrace.

So the jacks are gone from the Liberty? What a shame! They were one of the highlights of my dive when I was there in 2013.

So the jacks are gone from the Liberty? What a shame! They were one of the highlights of my dive when I was there in 2013.

I dive the Liberty every year since 2011, they were plentyful and straight on top in 2011, they moved away and shrank in 2012, I suspect in 2013 there were almost no more (didn't see any).

They're history now..

I went back and saw from my photos that it was 2010 when I was there. They were a huge swirling tornado. Spent half of my dive just drifting through them.

Too bad . . .

Back to the original topic.

You go to Anilao for macro.

Save the WA lenses/domes/weight/complexity for other locations.

I'll hijack the thread as making a new one doesn't seem necessary. I'm heading to anilao (and dauin) in December and have a subsee +5, wondering if I should either sell the subsee and get a cmc1 or just get the cmc1 and keep the subset too. I do have a dual flip holder for diopters and only using one slot now.

Is it worth the extra money to get the cmc?

Cheers

I can't tell you which closeup lens is better as I only have the Subsee +5. But as you're interested in macro I can tell you the kind of targets you are likely to encounter: pygmy and regular seahorses, nudibranchs of every size, anemonefish eggs, ghost pipefish, shrimp of every kind (anemone, Coleman's, bumblebee, emperor, cleaner), crabs of many kind (porcelain, orangutan, xenia), crinoid shrimp, squat lobsters, bobtail squid, and the list goes on. I use a 60mm lens on m4/3 about half the time and add the Subsee +5 the rest of the time, and never feel the need for more magnification or working distance.

I can't tell you which closeup lens is better as I only have the Subsee +5. But as you're interested in macro I can tell you the kind of targets you are likely to encounter: pygmy and regular seahorses, nudibranchs of every size, anemonefish eggs, ghost pipefish, shrimp of every kind (anemone, Coleman's, bumblebee, emperor, cleaner), crabs of many kind (porcelain, orangutan, xenia), crinoid shrimp, squat lobsters, bobtail squid, and the list goes on. I use a 60mm lens on m4/3 about half the time and add the Subsee +5 the rest of the time, and never feel the need for more magnification or working distance.

 

Hi,
was using the 60mm macro on my Oly OMD5e on two trips.
Sometimes with a Subsee +10 in a flip holder.
The fisheye lens was with us, but not often used...
We had on one trip 3 times a blue ring octopus, and some pics at Sombrero have been nice with the fisheye.
Travel time was both times february.

Regards,
Wolfgang

This is primary a macro location. Enjoy the macro diving!!!

if you are a DAN member, this months issue of Alert Diver has an article about diving Anilao - photgraphy and animals

http://alertdiver.com/Anilao

The jack school has been at DIve & Trek - Basilica for approx 4 months now.

Tremendous sight...

Wow! Ive been wondering where they went, after disappearing from Twin Rocks a couple of years ago

If you can organize a trip to Verde Island from Anilao, then bring your wide angle lenses. It's about an hour by boat out of Anilao, and the boat can only make the crossing if the water is calm. It is worth a visit though! There are a few sites which are nice for wide angle in Anilao -- Beatriz and Batok are among the prettiest reefs. Twin Rocks and Mainit are nice too but viz isn't always great enough for wide angle shooting.

I very rarely bring my wide angle lens to Anilao. Request a good spotter from the resort you're diving with if you wanna see more cool critters. In Anilao dive masters / guides are different from macro spotters.

Enjoy Anilao