Hello from Alaska!

[fish_shooter]

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.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

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.

[elsa hoffmann]

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

[fish_shooter]

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.

[Øivind Tøien]

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.

[elsa hoffmann]

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.

[Jakov Minić]

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!

[Jørgen Ramskov]

Welcome, glad you found it

Really looking forward to more underwater shots.

[fish_shooter]

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).

[charlie]

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!

[fish_shooter]

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.

[John Geerts]

Welcome Tom. Very interesting work. Completely different compared to the City-life 

[Mongo]

Mongo welcomes you John

[armando_m]

Welcome!

You have a wonderful web site

[Ole Gammelsæter]

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.