Lembeh preview

I have one night in KK after a week in Lembeh. Here's some previews. Next week I'm in Sipadan.

This trip is shot with a Canon/Seacam rig. Sigma 50mm and 150mm macros and the Canon 100mm and 180mm. Mostly AF as I didn't have all my MF rings.

My rhinopias

some triple strobe nudi's

pygmy's of course

some crustaceans...

and a few others...

I have one night in KK after a week in Lembeh. Here's some previews. Next week I'm in Sipadan.

 

This trip is shot with a Canon/Seacam rig. Sigma 50mm and 150mm macros and the Canon 100mm and 180mm. Mostly AF as I didn't have all my MF rings.

Not bad for a preview

Looks like you got a couples theme going. Great stuff.

What do you think of the new toys? Is that the 1DII or 1DsII you're shooting with? How you like the SIgma 150mm, I think you're the first one to post anything with that lens.

Great shots

I love Lembeh. Nr 1 spot for macro.

I have the 1DMk2. The 1DsMk2 didn't make it in time.

I liked the Sigma 150mm. The only problem being its refusal to go beyond f/22 which is something I'm trying not to do anyway. With the 1.25 crop, I prefer the 150mm to the 180mm. It's easier to shoot and is 2/3 stop faster for autofocus (which I had to use). It's also smaller and uses the same 72mm diopters as the 180mm. I imagine I'll like it with the 1Ds as well. It takes a 1.4x teleconverter better than the 180mm for the smaller stuff. I could more than fill the frame with the 150mm shooting pygmies.

As far as the Seacam, I did not like the 45 degree finder for macro. The 180 was better. I'm going to try the sport finder since I suspect I'll prefer it and the bouyancy is so much better. I don't like the Seacam handles. They're slippery and too contoured. You can't apply leverage when you need to. The focus knob is for the birds, but that will be fixed with the macro multiport that wasn't quite available. The housing itself is wonderful and with a few changes it will be perfect. I still hate autofocus for macro even though Canon does it better than Nikon.

I used the new Fisheye modeling light and it's very good. I blew a bulb in it though after about 90 minutes. It's nice and neutral underwater and puts out great light. The mounting arrangement is first class as well though the on/off switch is hard to use. This light will be an excellent, though expensive, choice. I'd like to see a narrower reflector.

I brought an Inon ring flash but haven't tried it yet. It's not an especially good match for the Seacam housing. It offers a +3 achromat wet diopter though.

I tried the Macromate closeup lens with the Canon 100mm and did not like it. Too hard to use, too heavy, too hard to carry uw, too expensive and too easy to scratch. I didn't find the quality to be as good as the 150 straight up and the magnification (claimed 2:1) just isn't true. No way I could achieve that with my camera. I could get that with the 150mm or 180mm though. There's no substitute for the right lens.

The Woody's diopters work fine with the Seacam ports. I used the 100mm but the 110mm is probably easier to fit. I used a Canon 500D (+2) with the 150/180 and optionally the wet diopter. I also used the wet diopter with the 100mm without an internal. I'll probably use a mild internal diopter with the 100mm in the future.

Those are all great images, Craig. But I must say, your shot of the mating Mandarins is the best I've ever seen. Congrats and thanks for sharing. I look forward to seeing more.

Those are all great images, Craig. But I must say, your shot of the mating Mandarins is the best I've ever seen. Congrats and thanks for sharing. I look forward to seeing more.

Thanks, laz. Coming from you that's quite a compliment. Here's the other exposure in the sequence. Better tail but worse face. These were shot with the Sigma 150mm, no diopters and AF (because I had no choice).

Craig: Good to hear from you! Thanks for sharing these photos - now that you have gone over to the "Dark Side." I'm very impressed and glad to hear you reporting good things about the Sigma 150mm. This will be a great lens for FF shooting. Your shots are really stunning and just pop with color - excellent. I especially like the composition of the oval squid photo - those are freaking cool. I also like the rhinopias, but it looks oversaturated on my monitor.

Interesting feedback on the Seacam viewfinders, thanks. It sounds like "different strokes for different folks" to me.

Cheers and have fun in Sipidan.

James

Wow, very nice. I love the red eel. How did you get it to extend with it's mouth open.

Great shots, I liked most the Mandarins.

Very interesting to read your opinion on the Sigma 150.

Beautiful stuff, Craig. Wow....

Cp

Good stuff. All the shots are very clean - would you say that the Viz is better in Lembeh at this time of year? The mandarins and squid are exemplary in this respect - or are you working very hard on strobe positioning.

What a nice treat to take a break - come on line and find these shots.

The red crocodile eel is a stunner. Great contrast with the typical black lembeh sand. Did you shoot any verticals of him a bit more head on. Those would have covershot written all over them!

The crab face is also a very strong. Great framing. And the shrimp below reminds me of the festive season!

I know that these are only previews - probably uploaded at the airport or something - but I don't like the lighting on the nudis. It looks too much from the right on the bullockii and too much behind the Halgerda (apologies to nudi-philes if the names are wrong).

I guess that the S45 viewfinder takes some getting used to - maybe you'll warm to it by the end of the trip.

Thanks for taking time to share the images mid-trip, Craig. Much appreciated on a grey afternoon in the UK. Enjoy Sipadan, and make us all similarly jealous on your return.

Alex

Alex, I have conventional lighting on the nudi's as well. I posted these because they were different but I'm not sure I like them better either. Thanks for the feedback.

The crab face was uplight slightly, Vincent Price style.

Viz was average to above average. Water temp was warm. I did everything in a 1/2mm suit.

James, the rhinopias is not oversaturated "objectively" in PS. I'll wait 'til I get home to pass judgement on a real monitor. It may need a little downward adjustment. I shot last on this subject and viz wasn't good. I used black clipping to fix the dust cloud and that results in a saturation increase.

Larry, the eel was extended from the sand by poking its tail. The local divemasters know how to do that. Once it comes out it stays out for a minute or two. The open mouth was quite a surprise. It didn't occur to me to shoot it vertical

Hi Craig,

I have just re-read my post and I didn't mean it to sound as negative. I hope you already know that I think your images are always very strong and I was trying to be constructive. I think that there are too many undesereved congratulatory posts about underwater images on the web - when instead they should be encouraging but also objective.

In this case congratulations are thoroughly deserved. That crab face looks just as good this morning - and a real stand out image from Lembeh - the place where everyones pix look the same! I was looking at Costas Petrinos's book on Lembeh the other day and most of your preview images would slot straight in.

Alex

Thanks, Alex. I didn't think they were too critical. I got the effect I was trying for but am not certain it's an improvement for the subjects as you said. It's fun lighting subjects in unusual ways, though and I didn't want the same old shots. The croc eel (closed mouth) is also a 3 strobe shot. When my buddies shoot I sometimes swim around the subject with my 3rd strobe in hand.

Craig shooting with a Canon??? You turn your back on Wetpixel for a moment and look what happens!

Great shots, I'd concur with the above about the mating mandarins shot being fantastic - it's a great photo (color, bokeh) as well as an interesting subject.