New Toys for the Boys

Of course the most interesting thing here will be more of Alex's shots with the new D2X, but I wanted to beat him to posting .. we have just both finshed a day at Turtle Reef, me with my D60 finally underwater after 2 years of waiting and Alex with his newest of new toys. I am sure Alex will be adding some here later today

Mine by the way were taken with a 100mm Macro ... it's nice to be close

Good skills Giles.

I am even more very very pleased with my D2X now that I have it in the familiar territory of Cayman. The AF is massively improved over the D100/D70 that I have been shooting recently - it was simply awesome when shooting fish spawning last night. I just got shot after shot in focus - and this is in the almost dark without a torch. In the same conditions I think it is fair to say that your D60 was struggling Giles? My D100 would have struggled too.

The image quality is immense. I just have to zoom every picture to 100% in Photoshop (and these are just the basic quality JPGs - I can't process the RAW files yet)

The AF is also awesome for macro shooting - secretary blennies are easy peasy with the D2X. And an arrow blenny was nailed without fuss. The colours are superb.

The main think I have noticed after a day of shooting the D2X in Cayman is that it makes me blaspheme continually. Jesus, this camera is good!

Alex

p.s. Giles's D60 is nice. The autofocus is very impressive - much better than the D100/D70 of Nikon. I'd put it on par with the F100/F5 (although I only tried it above water). The Sea and Sea viewfinder on the D60 housing is not very nice - you have to move your eye from side to side to see the sides of the frame. Which is going to be a big pain for wide angle. Actually a big pain most of the time.

p.p.s The Sea and Sea D60 housing is also bigger than the Subal D2X. The only downside of the D2X is that it looks exactly the same as my other Subals so nobody knows I've got a new camera!

Some pix from day 1:

Hi Alex and Giles, awesome shots and great color, thanks for posting! Alex, what lens were you using? I finally decided to buy a D2x, but now I can't find one!

I really hate dial up internet! But I am pleased with these mating soapfish images from last night. Boy was that female fat! Alex

Giles was using a 100mm USM and I was using a 105mm and a 60mm. Giles was lighting with a single YS120. Me 2x subtronics.

Luiz, do you know much about soapfish. According to ned deloach's excellent Fish Behavior book - he reports that "a single published observation of spawning reported the Greater Soapfish mating a half-hour before sunset in a spawning clasp similar to Hypoplectrus spp."

The action I saw last night was nothing like this. The male was chasing the female across the reef - with lots of head shaking etc. The the two of them swam out into blue water side by side, with the male's head underneath the female's chin.

Ned Deloach's book also reports "Members of both genera are known to be hermaphroditic" - a statement I don't doubt because you only have to cut them open and look! But from swollen belly and behaviour - the fish I snapped last night were clearly a male and female.

Any thoughts?

Alex

Hi Alex,

There is not much information about soapfish mating (or behavior) around, and I think that's only because they are not as appealing or colorful as other reef fish like hamlets. Your photo is great, and I think that soon you will have enough pictures (that is if you don't already) for a great article on reef fish mating behavior. I have a great book about mating and reproduction on my office (Reproduction of Reef Fishes, by R. E. Thresher) and I will let you know if they have any info on soapfish tomorrow.

Now, about the hermafroditism, there is a clear distinction between hamlets and soapfishes (and other serranids). As far as I know all Serranidae (soapfishes are in the subfamily Epinephelinae, tribe Grammistini, hamlets in the subfamily Serraninae) are hermafrodites, but only fishes in the subfamily Serraninae (hamlets, genus Serranus) are simultaneous hermafrodites (both sexes at the same time on the same individual). The remaining serranids (groupers, soapfishes, etc) are sequential protoginous hermafrodites (big name eh? this only means that they change sex as they get older, most are born females and change to males after a certain age). So you are correct in assuming that you photographed a male/female couple.

I hope I wasn't too technical and boring!

Thanks Luiz!

Its great to be able to get on-line and get information while still in the field. That is what I thought - I was misled by the ambiguous wording in Ned Deloach's book - that says "soapfish are hermaphroditic ... spawning clasp similar to hamlets" - which led me to think (incorrectly) that they were simultaneous hermaphrodites rather than sequential. Thanks for clearing it up.

The only other simultaneous hermaphrodite serranids I have seen mate are Harelquin Bass. No good photos yet!

Alex

p.s. the only Soapfish publication I could find and download via dialup was Carlin et al 2003 (Mar Bio 143: 1057 - which coincidentally cites several of your papers!

Hi Alex,

Carlin was a fellow lab mate during my PhD, I helped them to get specimens, and they had all my papers. Small world.

I am sorry if I was too detailed in my explanation, I was sure you would understand if I just said that they were sequential hermafrodites, but I thought that other people would be interested in the subject.

Keep up the good work, and happy easter sunday.

Luiz

Alex your ps and pps's and ppps' regardiung the D60 are spot on. Although I have to say the autofocus was quick and accurate up until one moment then there was nothing. I need to read the manual to work on that holding focus button as it was focusing just not allowing me to take the photo, which was the morer annoying bit.

Also The Sea and Sea housing if money were no object would obviously not be a first choice but it is so easy to use and great for me getting used to the D60 underwater as I can see the camera inside if I need to. The only time that has come in handy is for seeing the mode dial when i switched out of Av to Manual, I couldn't remember the dial postitions.

But I am loving my SLR in the water, I must admit I didn't like it on the first dive, but it was my first time diving in 4 months, and now with a much larger camera and also nervous of it flooding, but soon got over that and the second and 3rd dives of the day were awesome and got me much more comfortable and changed the side my solo strobe was mounted on and all of a sudden the housing balanced perfectly and one handed shooting was a breeze.

The D60 viewfinder on the Sea and Sea housing is as you said (now using my words) Shit, it's as good as useless for framing. You have to move your head around to see whats in the corners which doesn't help for holding the camera still. Its the sort of thing I am good at getting used to but I would love to know if anyone has a solution or a retro fitting or something that they know can be done or someone that does them etc, I have never seen a Sea and Sea thingy for it but I am assuming it has been done.

Here are two more image from yesterday, one of the same arrow blenny dude Alex snapped and one of the hamlets I found, but a second before they mated as this was the second (and mean exact moment my camera lost the ability to focus. perfect timing.

PS .. the first post I made I took some time to photoshop the images to improve colour, they didn't take much but made them look a lot richer.

PPS .. back off to Turtle Reef again and Sunset .. classic Mustardino weekends in Cayman

i want the D2X auto focus....

i want the D2X auto focus....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'd like to say that it is all in the skill of the photographer. But that would be a big fat lie. Yesterday I tried the 105mm and the +4 dioptre. Normally AF is hard work with this setup - because the DOF is so small that you always move the camera significantly during shooting and the AF is always working to compensate. Well with the D2X it is very easy. This shot of the secretary blenny is uncropped from the 105mm and +4 and while I got similar shots with the D100 - they were the result of patience and effort. This shot was so much easier.

The second secretary blenny on the orange background was in the dark under an overhang and still no probs. This one is cropped (horizontally across a vertical). In other shots I got the blenny at least this large - but never with such a good expresssion!

Hopefully Nikon will get the D2X AF onto some more models soon.

Alex

The other area that I can't praise the D2X enough is its AF ability in low light on low contrast subjects. On land Giles's D60 AF is very impressive and for speed and accuracy it is pretty close to the D2X. But as soon as we are underwater in low light the difference is very big. For the fish spawning shots I am able to AF in available light (which means I can get closer to the behaviour) while Giles's D60 struggles to AF even with a spotting torch.

I would say that the D60 has better AF than my old D100 on land - but underwater with low-ish light and low contrast subjects the D100 may be superior. Note this is just opinion - I have not tested the two side by side - just going on the shots I have got in the past and what Giles has been able to get on the last couple of evenings.

The D2X is still producing the goods on the spawning dives! My God this camera is awesome...

Alex

p.s. Loving the diving too. Giles and I generally shore dive together, mainly at the Turtle Farm and Sunset House. Neither is the most amazing dive site in the world - but I sure look forward to these dives. Long, lazy, photo-dives and quality photo-banter in between. Quality days!

Hi Alex,

I just checked Reproduction in Reef Fishes (R.E. Thresher), and while it contains lots of information (and pictures, not as good as yours obviously) of Hypoplectrus spp. and Holocanthus tricolor (among many others) spawning and courtship behaviour, there is no picture of spawning soapfish.

The only thing he says in the text about the soapfish genus Rypticus is that they are sequential hermaphrodites (based on gonad structure). There is no information about their reproductive behaviour.

I will confess that hearing about the picture quality doesn't phase me, but all the talk about low light auto-focus...

then you tell us that you are using auto-focus on the 105 in low light with a +4 diopter???

Damn I am going to have to sell one of the children!!

Hey Ric, better idea, put em to work and take their paycheques...never mind child labour laws.

Funny you should mention the 105 and +4 Alex, i have been doing the same thing the last little bit but with the D70, just love the whirring sound as it goes in/out in out. And thats just with a Mantis shrimp, never mind moving fish...

what really hurts is the fact you just have to keep rubbing it in...maybe we can do a "Take that you Canon buggers" thread instead?

Kidneys still for sale...Mike

Hey Alex, where did that sunburst thread you started a couple of weeks ago go? I can't find it anymore...

What? You insist on torturing yourself by looking at them again?? :-)

Mike, the sunburst thread is here:

Sunburst Thread

I was planning to add some new shots when I have taken them. I haven't done any decent WA yet in Cayman. That will be rectified tomorrow morning with any luck.

The reason I am going on about the AF is that I am even more impressed with it here (in such familiar conditions) than I was in Egypt. It seems that the harder the situation - low light, low contrast, high magnification - the better it seems. For wide angle - the difference is small!

----------

Thanks for the info from Thresher, Luiz. I think I will have to try and track down a copy of that book. It seems very useful. I found a three yellow belly hamlets last night. Too busy arguing to spawn - but hopefully I'll get some shots of them soon. They are a very rare hamlet here in Cayman.

-----------

Finally I have just discovered I can get online via some random wireless network that I can pick up in my bedroom. Anyway freed from dial-up I may be online a bit more now.

Alex

Cheers big guy

will post something in that thread

Hi Alex,

There are two used copies available at Amazon:

Thresher in Amazon

His other book Reef fish: Behavior and ecology on the reef and in the aquarium is also available and interesting.

They are both full of (old) citations and much more scientific than Ned Deloach's but the pictures are not pretty at all.

Luiz