Although full-frame mirrorless cameras like the Sony A7R IV and the Nikon Z7 have been grabbing a lot of the 2019 headlines, a number of very exciting crop-sensor mid-range mirrorless cameras have also been released in 2019, many very recently. There are 4 that we have recently looked at for underwater photography over at the Underwater Photography Guide (click the links to see the initial impressions/reviews): Nikon Z50 Initial Thoughts Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III Initial Thoughts Sony a6400 Detailed Review Sony a6600 Initial Thoughts Specs Comparison There are a lot of specs to go through ..read more

Macro photography, the documentation of little creatures via photographic medium, is one of the most popular realms of underwater photography. It tends to be a little more straight forward than wide angle photography, and yields more opportunity for creativity. As is the rule of thumb with photography – there is more than one way to achieve a macro photograph. Underwater, there are two basic types of instruments that allow you to capture tiny details on tiny animals. Wet Macro Lenses – Wet macro lenses, or diopters, are essentially magnifying glasses that you can screw on to the front of your ..read more

It seems that everywhere you go diving these days, someone has a GoPro with them. And why not? They are very small, affordable, and easy to use. Because of this, there is a ton of underwater footage out there taken by GoPro. I am sure you have seen lots. Some of it is really nice, but along with that, there is also a lot of dull, blue, colorless, and frankly pretty boring stuff out there. While travelling over the past year, my partner Lisa and I took a lot of GoPro video, and used it to make professional-looking underwater videos. As an underwater photographer, I am always thinking about ligh ..read more

The future of photography is bleak… Just kidding! It’s actually looking pretty great. I’m not just saying that. 2018 and 2019 has seen innovation in photography at a rate faster than we have seen in the last decade. In a nutshell, the world has gone mirrorless. In fact, it’s pretty clear that full-frame mirrorless cameras are all that any camera manufacturer has been thinking about. And for good reason. Mirrorless cameras are just all around better systems than increasingly outdated DSLRs. For those of you that have been out of the camera loop for the past couple years, a full-frame mirrorles ..read more

A few weeks ago, Ikelite sent me a Canon SL3 to try out. They were excited because the SL3 is the world’s smallest DSLR camera. Combined with the specially Ikelite housing, it becomes the world’s smallest underwater DSLR system. But John at Ikelite wasn’t just excited about the size of this camera. He told me I was going to be pleasantly surprised by just what this camera could do. Decorated Warbonnet photographed with the Canon SL3 in an Ikelite housing with dual Ikelite DS 161 strobes and the Canon 60mm macro lens. And I was hoping that John was right. In the recent year, as high-end mirr ..read more

As anyone who has used a dome port is probably aware, they are notoriously prone to scratching. So why even use one in the first place, when a flat port is much easier to care for? Optics, optics, optics. Flat ports magnify images underwater by about 30%, due to light refraction. This is why things look larger underwater than they really are – because scuba masks are basically large flat ports in front of your eyes. Dome ports avoid this issue, meaning that they maintain the wide field of view of a wide angle lens underwater. (See Dome Ports and Wide Angle Optics and Dome Ports vs Flat ports o ..read more

I shoot with an Olympus OM-D E-M1 in a Nauticam E-M1 Mark II housing, and whenever I am shooting wide angle I use the Olympus 8mm f/1.8 fisheye lens. I run into a lot of people who either don’t use a fisheye lens at all, or who think it is a specialty lens that you only use for big things like mantas, whale sharks or humpbacks. Yes, fisheye lenses are definitely the best for giant subjects like that, but they are incredibly useful for a lot of other situations as well. Although fisheye lenses are used more as art lenses or for niche applications on land, underwater, it’s a different story. Rat ..read more

Today I want to talk about flash triggers, TTL, and a little history of how photographers used to fire their strobes underwater. Back in the day, to fire strobes quickly you needed an electronic sync cord, which went from your camera hot shoe, through a hole in the housing called a “bulkhead”, to your strobe. Sync cords often flooded, or got corroded. Underwater housing maintenance was extremely important. The advantage, was that you could fire quickly, as there was no internal camera flash that had to “recycle”. You were limited by just your camera buffer, memory card write speed, and of cour ..read more

When Necessity is the Mother of Invention – By Erik Lukas I’ve always been sort of a do-it-myself type of person…and I love the challenge of finding a good solution to a problem. Such was the case recently after a recent macro ​photo workshop in Anilao, Philippines​ where I shot extensively with my ​Reefnet Fiber Optic snoot​. I discovered two issues that I felt needed some attention. First, was where and how to carry the second tip while diving. The second issue was losing these snoot tips. Let me explain…. This great light modifier comes with two tips, a large and a small, which are easily ..read more

One thing that does not get talked about much, but is very important for an underwater photographer, is the bag or bags used to transport and keep your gear safe while traveling. Every experienced underwater photographer seems to have their favorite, but I want to convince you that you should think about the one that I use! I shoot an Olympus OM-D E-M1, with Nauticam housing, ultralight arms and foam floats, dual YS-D1 strobes, a GoPro 6 Black and a Sola 1200 photo light. So, a standard mirrorless setup; not as big as a dSLR package, but also not small. On my first underwater photography trip ..read more