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E-PL2 in Galapagos (underwater + land)

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ktwse

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Went on a two week trip to the Galapagos and Quito. During the last few days, seems I spent most of the time reading up on the OM-D. Very excited, and especially looking forward to the UW housing. Until then, I'll have to make do with the E-PL2, however... Not too shabby either, especially with the 9-18 mounted. :-)

Here's a few shots from the trip, with a link to the entire set at the end. Hope you'll like them.

All underwater shots were with the 9-18 in the original housing with twin Sea & Sea YS-110a strobes. Topside, I used the 9-18, the 14-42 and the 40-150.



Giant Tortoise



Spotted Eagle Ray



Darwin's Arch, one of the most famous dive sites in the world.



Red Footed Boobies



Hammerheads



School of Jacks



Great Blue Heron



Manta

The entire set is here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ktwse/sets/72157629271324421/with/6856683389/

--
E-PL2 / 9-18 / 14-42 / 40-150 / PT-EP03
 
Wonderful series!
--
Stefano
 
Very nice, expecialy the Silver Jacks (?) and the eagle ray.

HAve you tried thre Zen dome port with the 9-18?

I would do that rather than the OM-5.

TEdolph
 
Lifeofdavid said:
The Hammerhead shot is fantastic. Looks like a fun trip.
Click to expand...
Thanks! Yes, incredible trip, and especially that we got to Wolf and Darwin which is out of reach for most boats it seems, but which have by far the best diving.

Tom
--
E-PL2 / 9-18 / 14-42 / 40-150 / PT-EP03
 
EMOslaughter said:
Great stuff duder! What an amazing experience that trip must have been.
Click to expand...
Thanks! Yes, truly amazing. The diving is among the best I've ever done, although the currents were fierce and the water was colder than I had expected...

Tom
--
E-PL2 / 9-18 / 14-42 / 40-150 / PT-EP03
 
ReganH22 said:
I love these images. Great work and thank you for sharing them.
Click to expand...
Thanks you for commenting! :-)

Tom
--
E-PL2 / 9-18 / 14-42 / 40-150 / PT-EP03
 
tedolf said:
Very nice, expecialy the Silver Jacks (?) and the eagle ray.
Click to expand...
Thanks!
tedolf said:
HAve you tried thre Zen dome port with the 9-18?

I would do that rather than the OM-5.
Click to expand...
I've considered it, but underwater I mostly do macro and some fish portraits, not so much reef / wreck shots and so the extra FOV doesn't do as much for me. On this trip, I never missed being able to go wider than 24 mm equiv.

With the E-M5 I get more direct control, a great VF, weather sealing (admittedly with only a few lenses to begin with) and hopefully both better detail and DR. Some of that will only be marginally useful for UW, admittedly, but then again that's not all I shoot.

Tom
--
E-PL2 / 9-18 / 14-42 / 40-150 / PT-EP03
 
Did you go up to the roof of the Basilica in Quito? You can get sweeping panoramic shots of the city from up there, but the climb is not for the faint of heart, especially the final ladder to the outside. Thom Hogan had a so-so picture of the inside of the Basilica posted on his Web page recently, looking in the direction of the heart-shaped window through which you can see the statue of the Virgin of Quito. Hope you got to Otavalo on your trip. Your underwater shots in the Galapagos turned out much better than ours. We ran into some very rough water and low visibility during our visit, especially at the Devil's Crown. Got lots of pictures of sea lions and iguanas (land and marine), of course. Anyone interested in photography of the Galapagos should get a copy of the gorgeous book of the same title by Tui De Roy. There's also a DVD, part of the Planet Earth series by the BBC I believe, that's worth looking at both before and after you go there.
 
ktwse said:
tedolf said:
Very nice, expecialy the Silver Jacks (?) and the eagle ray.
Click to expand...
Thanks!
ktwse said:
HAve you tried thre Zen dome port with the 9-18?

I would do that rather than the OM-5.
Click to expand...
I've considered it, but underwater I mostly do macro and some fish portraits, not so much reef / wreck shots and so the extra FOV doesn't do as much for me. On this trip, I never missed being able to go wider than 24 mm equiv.

With the E-M5 I get more direct control, a great VF, weather sealing (admittedly with only a few lenses to begin with) and hopefully both better detail and DR. Some of that will only be marginally useful for UW, admittedly, but then again that's not all I shoot.
Click to expand...
It's the same EVF as the VF-2, the UW controls really won't be that much different and DR underwater ususally isn't much of a problem.

I think a dome port and the UW version of the 36r flash (UFL-2?) would be a better investment.
ktwse said:
Tom
--
E-PL2 / 9-18 / 14-42 / 40-150 / PT-EP03
Click to expand...
TEdolph
 
tedolf said:
I think a dome port and the UW version of the 36r flash (UFL-2?) would be a better investment.
Click to expand...
I have two strobes which are better than the UFL-2 already. The OM-D does so much for me beyond just the underwater side, so provided it lives up to the hype, it's a definite buy.

Besides, the OM-D housing has an "official" bayonet mount so should I feel the need to upgrade to a dome at some stage, it will most likely be easier and cheaper than doing so with the PT-EP03.

--
E-PL2 / 9-18 / 14-42 / 40-150 / PT-EP03
 
Baba Ganoush said:
Did you go up to the roof of the Basilica in Quito? You can get sweeping panoramic shots of the city from up there, but the climb is not for the faint of heart, especially the final ladder to the outside. Thom Hogan had a so-so picture of the inside of the Basilica posted on his Web page recently, looking in the direction of the heart-shaped window through which you can see the statue of the Virgin of Quito.
Click to expand...
We did not go up to the roof... Only went briefly inside, and didn't see any directions for getting to the roof.
Baba Ganoush said:
Hope you got to Otavalo on your trip.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately not. We only had three days in Quito and decided to spend them in the city itself as we haven't been there before.
Baba Ganoush said:
Your underwater shots in the Galapagos turned out much better than ours. We ran into some very rough water and low visibility during our visit, especially at the Devil's Crown.
Click to expand...
I understand it's very dependent on seasons. We had strong currents at Wolf and Darwin, but nothing close to how bad it gets in August, according to the guides... Still, my fins (new before the trip) looks like a school of piranhas has been using them as chewing toys. Viz was not that great, actually, about 10-12m most of the time, with a dramatic drop at pt. Vicente Roca.
Baba Ganoush said:
There's also a DVD, part of the Planet Earth series by the BBC I believe, that's worth looking at both before and after you go there.
Click to expand...
Don't know if it's part of the actual series, but BBC did indeed produce a brilliant three episode series about the Galapagos IIRC. That's part of what inspired us to part with a small fortune to get there...

Tom
--
E-PL2 / 9-18 / 14-42 / 40-150 / PT-EP03
 
Wonderful: Thanks for the tour !

Vjim
 
These are great shots. Especially the first. I have both the Fuji X10 and the E_PL-2 w the Panasonic 20 1.7mm. I love my Oly. The two cameras are very different and I like the art filters included with the Oly.
--
H tyree
[email protected]
 
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