Nauticam

Which Diopter – Part 3

Day 3 with the Diopters and it’s starting to feel like groundhog day.
Today I had the 45degree viewfinder on, so at least my neck doesnt hurt as I write this.  Today I took down the Noodilab Moby and the SMC2, on the Nikon D500. I’m really enjoying using the crop sensor D500 over my 1Dx, somehow the Nikon colour space just feels much nicer out of the camera on macro photos, and of course the crop is great until you meet up with a hairy frogfish or flamboyant cuttlefish and end up shooting them from over a meter away. Maybe I should bring one of our rental compacts such as the Sony RX100V or Olympus TG4 next time.

By Simon, ago

Which Diopter Part 2

Today I headed out for 2 dives in the morning, armed with the Nauticam D500, 105mm lens, double flip holder and the SMC1 and SMC2.
I didn’t want to take too many diopters as it would have meant juggling them around underwater, and frankly they are too expensive to risk scratching.

By Simon, ago

Which Diopter?

These days it is pretty hard to choose from all the diopters available – you probably have at least one old school one in your kit bag.  The Inon UCL 165 and 330 were the first mass produced diopters specifically for underwater use, before those we had to use slide on single element diopters (woodys diopter), or put a higher quality dual element diopter directly on your lens before you got in the water (Nikon 6T).

By Simon, ago

Which Type of Camera for Super Macro (Part 2)

Following on from my previous post, my intention was to make a small post with the pictures and the correct camera.  However it seems the post reached further than expected and has been receiving some healthy feedback.
To clarify, this was never meant to be an absolute, definitive review on the best super macro technique, as everyone has their own favourite.  It is meant as a comparison for shooting more than lifesize with various systems for someone who is choosing a new camera rig.

The 4 different camera setups.

The 4 different camera setups.


There is full frame, crop frame, mirroless and compact, the cameras could be any brand, but I happen to have those listed.  The Nikon D800 is a formidable camera for macro due to its huge pixel count, but not one that I own.
For my terminology, I am using the term super macro to describe a shot where the whole of the picture represents greater than lifesize in 35mm format terms, ie the width of the picture area was 35mm or less.   The Canon S110 just about scrapes through with 1 subsee +10.
 
Hairy Shrimp in Lembeh

Hairy Shrimp in Lembeh, shot with Canon 5Dmk3 and Subsee +10


(more…)

By Simon, ago