NikonGear'23
Introductions => Introduce Yourself => Topic started by: fish_shooter on November 25, 2015, 10:04:22
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I learned that Nikon Gear was reborn so re-joined. Nikon user since 1972 when I was gifted a Nikkormat FTN with 50/1.4, 55/3.5, 24/2.8, and 105/2.5 lenses as a high school graduation present from my father (the lenses other than the 1.4 were specified by me). I use other camera brands as well. In 35mm format, Canon and Leica. I also have owned medium and large format film cameras including Hasselblad, Rolleiflex, and Linhof.
As one might gather from my "handle" I do underwater photography. My main subjects are salmonid fishes, which one might gather from my website name, salmonography.com.
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Welcome on board. I'm sure our community would love seeing some underwater work of yours. To many the underwater world is hostile and alien.
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Welcome to the forum Tom
I like underwater photography plenty - so I am looking forward to your posts for sure.
We like knowing who is who in this Zoo - if you don't mind can you put your real name in your posts? - you can put it as a signature if you prefer :)
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Welcome to the forum Tom
I like underwater photography plenty - so I am looking forward to your posts for sure.
We like knowing who is who in this Zoo - if you don't mind can you put your real name in your posts? - you can put it as a signature if you prefer :)
Thanks!
Added a signature and am posting a pic that I took yesterday while testing the new Sea & Sea internal correction lens.
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Great to have another member from Alaska on board. I have seen your website, very impressive. Looking forward to your contributions here. Great opening image, the correction lens seems to work well too.
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great image.
I don't think we have anyone else posting U/W images - I used to scuba and shoot - so I really appreciate the effort and skill involved.
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Tom, welcome! That is an amazing image. Not only am I afraid to dive but I would be extremely uncomfortable being so close to such underwater wildlife :)
So, great that you are here to show us your images of the underwater world!
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Welcome, glad you found it :)
Really looking forward to more underwater shots.
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Thanks everyone! I do most of the salmon shots with remote control so only go in the water (wearing fishing waders) to set up the camera. Something similar to what some people have done to shoot birds. The idea is to capture their behavior and this takes a lot of time. Most of it waiting for something interesting to happen. Cameras may be left in one position for hours at a time. Cameras with tiny batteries do not work! There are a couple of videos on my site showing this being done (the video gallery is alongside the salmonid species galleries).
I do dive! Most of the non-salmonid shots were done while diving. A few shots were done while snorkeling. A few less by squatting in shallow water with a housed camera (this approach is used for some salmonid shots too).
Back in the day I shot a bit with the Nikonos cameras. For about a decade I shot under water exclusively with the RS system. I had as many as three bodies and all the Nikon made lenses as well as the third party 18mm. When I switched to digital about a decade ago I transitioned from the RS rather than a housed camera. The strength of the Nikonos cameras was that most of the lenses were designed (optically) to shoot in water. Using topside lenses under water in a housing results in numerous lens aberrations. Therefore purpose built lenses will be better. However, Nikon goofed with their selection of focal lengths. This was a factor in the rather short life of the RS system. The new Sea & Sea internal correction lens that I just got and used for the above pic is a breakthrough for improving image quality for wide angle lenses other than fisheye. The RS remote control was an interesting idea but its 1.5 meter length all but useless - I did try to use it to shoot salmon. Seacam is the only housing company that makes an extensive remote control system. This is what I use. Their remote control cords are built to lengths specified by the buyer. I used a 20 m long cord to shoot the pic above (not all the length was used, part of it was coiled up at the release end, but the full length has been used for other shots).
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Welcome!
Whereabouts in Alaska do you live?
I lived in Anchorage as a youngster and have been back to visit my uncle in Cordova several times since. Such a beautiful place, Alaska is, I look forward to your pictures!
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Welcome!
Whereabouts in Alaska do you live?
I live in southcentral. Visit my website to see a lot of AK pix. I have a few shots that are not fish, but just a few :>>. I try to be selective before posting images there. Folks do not want to wade through too much material and the internet here though much faster in the last few years then before is still somewhat slow. I tell people that we are on the gravel road of the information superhighway. In fact, I drive on a gravel road to get to my most shot in stream. In spots it is only ~1.5 lanes wide.
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Welcome Tom. Very interesting work. Completely different compared to the City-life ;)
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Mongo welcomes you John
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Welcome!
You have a wonderful web site
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Tom, great to see underwater photographer on this site! That's my passion too.
I'm thinking of getting the Sea&Sea internal corrector lens too. Will use it on the Nikon 17-35/2.8 behind a Zen 230 dome port. The 17-35 is quite old. The new 16-35/4 is supposed to work better underwater, but it's a expensive lens. I will start with the corrector lens, and then I will take it from there.
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Hi Tom, good to have you back onboard.
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Tom, great to see underwater photographer on this site! That's my passion too.
I'm thinking of getting the Sea&Sea internal corrector lens too. Will use it on the Nikon 17-35/2.8 behind a Zen 230 dome port. The 17-35 is quite old. The new 16-35/4 is supposed to work better underwater, but it's a expensive lens. I will start with the corrector lens, and then I will take it from there.
The 17-35 has been a popular lens for underwater photography. However, several people who owned one switched over to the 16-35 VR lens once they tried it. That fact speaks volumes about the advantage of the newer lens. I have the VR but have only used it on APSC under water. I will try the underwater correction lens on it at some point. The correction lens may help the 17-35 under water but very likely it won't make the lens work better than it does in air.
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Hi Tom, good to have you back onboard.
Thanks and glad to be back.
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Things have changed so much since I did U/W photography.
10 years ago digital was quite basic and limited - and no TTL available. But then again - anyone shooting film underwater knows what he is doing ;D ;D
Perhaps you know of this -
There is a company in Italy (if memory serves) that makes a universal housing - different houses - and each fits a range of cameras of similar size - (eg D800, D810 etc) and you have them "chip" the body for the particular camera. It connects the camera controls to the housing controls. If you upgrade - you just get them to chip the housing for your next camera. Saves a helluva lot if you don't have to keep buying houses every time you upgrade a body.
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Things have changed so much since I did U/W photography.
10 years ago digital was quite basic and limited - and no TTL available. But then again - anyone shooting film underwater knows what he is doing ;D ;D
Perhaps you know of this -
There is a company in Italy (if memory serves) that makes a universal housing - different houses - and each fits a range of cameras of similar size - (eg D800, D810 etc) and you have them "chip" the body for the particular camera. It connects the camera controls to the housing controls. If you upgrade - you just get them to chip the housing for your next camera. Saves a helluva lot if you don't have to keep buying houses every time you upgrade a body.
I am not familiar with this company. What first brought me to Seacam was their interchangeable viewfinders. They were the only housing company to offer them when I was looking into taking a DSLR under water. Since then there has been an explosion in interchangeable finders so that most housings now have them. Seacam finders may still be the best as they have a high enough eyepoint that the entire field can be easily seen while under water and wearing a diving mask. As well it is easy to line up ones vision with the finder. I understand some others are more tricky. The second thing was the introduction of their remote control system at the time I ordered my first housing. Remote control is at the center of my salmon technique. This is not an option with most other housings. Changing housing brands is also expensive since a collection of ports, port extension tubes, and viewfinders soon exceeds the cost of a housing. By sticking with Seacam I can use a large range of accessories with several cameras as well as with both Nikon and Canon. Yes it is very expensive to have to buy a new housing when buying a new camera which is why I am still using my D2X under water!
This video shows the Seacam housing for the D4 with a bunch of accessory wiring as used in the London Olympics. These options are not available for most other housing brands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuXMmm8aGjQ
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I remember how much my U/W housing cost for my D70...
I didnt keep up with the technology as I stop diving a couple of years ago due to ill health. I am simply not dive-fit.
But I am keen to see your stuff and hear about the gear etc.
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I remember how much my U/W housing cost for my D70...
I didnt keep up with the technology as I stop diving a couple of years ago due to ill health. I am simply not dive-fit.
But I am keen to see your stuff and hear about the gear etc.
I did not house my D70 because it would not accept a remote control. However I used it to do topside documentation of the last dive trip I did with the RS - to British Columbia. ;->>
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Fish. Very interesting. We have a lot of expert birdshooters here.
looking forward to your contribution!!!!
well come .....
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Fish. Very interesting. We have a lot of expert birdshooters here.
looking forward to your contribution!!!!
well come .....
Thank you. I shoot a few birds as well. This dipper has a taste for salmon caviar (sort of combining fish with birds!).
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of caviar I know nothing... how popular is salmon caviar commercially?
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of caviar I know nothing... how popular is salmon caviar commercially?
My understanding is that the market is strong.
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In SA we also have snail caviar - apparently a huge export market !
I have had a guy come collect snails in my garden :)
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In SA we also have snail caviar - apparently a huge export market !
I have had a guy come collect snails in my garden :)
Combining escargot and caviar!
The closest thing to snails that we have here is the banana slug, mostly the black variety. Have not seen their eggs. Salmon eggs are fairly large about 5mm in diameter - larger than sturgeon eggs. So a range in size seems to be OK and still be called caviar.
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Welcome to NikonGear! ;) That RS is an amazing machine! Would love to see Nikon do a revised digital version...