Small creatures, Identification?

Taken last month in Moalboal, Philippines.

Depth about 60 ft, a7Rii/90mm macro, Z330, Seafrogs housing.  Manual exposure and focus.

I would appreciate help with identifying species (scientific names?) and the branches they cling to.

Zebra shrimp

Crab in anemone

daveco2 wrote:

Taken last month in Moalboal, Philippines.

Depth about 60 ft, a7Rii/90mm macro, Z330, Seafrogs housing. Manual exposure and focus.

I would appreciate help with identifying species (scientific names?) and the branches they cling to.

Zebra shrimp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crinoid_shrimp

Crab in anemone

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neopetrolisthes_maculatus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoplophrys

Maybe https://aquainfo.org/xenocarcinus-tuberculatus-whip-coral-spider-crab/  ?

Another candy crab

Another candy crab

Thanks for that, Barmaglot. I knew I had come to the right place with my question.

And yes, I believe I have enough of the micro-crabs and can move on to other subjects.  They were a good test of focus.

daveco2 wrote:

And yes, I believe I have enough of the micro-crabs and can move on to other subjects. They were a good test of focus.

Oh, but you have just scratched the surface of Anilao. Here are a few samples from my (fairly limited; I only spent four days there) archive:

Orangutan crab

Pair of squat lobsters

Peacock mantis shrimp

Emperor shrimp

Coralliform decorator crab, but I couldn't get a good angle

Tiny hermit crab

Don't have an ID on this one; rear legs look like it might belong to the swimming crab family

Some kind of spider crab

Another hermit crab

No ID on this one

Barmaglot_07 wrote:

daveco2 wrote:

And yes, I believe I have enough of the micro-crabs and can move on to other subjects. They were a good test of focus.

Oh, but you have just scratched the surface of Anilao. Here are a few samples from my (fairly limited; I only spent four days there) archive:

Very nice collection, indeed.

I assume you're using autofocus.  My 90mm macro hunts quite a lot, even with the range switch set to the shortest.  So, I've given that up in favor of manual focus and the "rocking focus" method described by others.  Luckily, the Seafrogs housing allows for use of a focus gear which lets me use the lens in long range "portrait" mode.

I took my shots mostly at Moalboal, Cebu which isn't doing that well after the typhoon.  In fact, I was the only diver at the resort.  That was after 10 days at Dauin.

Now thinking about either Anilao or Lembeh, and as this could be one of my last trips, am at a decision point as to which would be best.

kelpdiver wrote:

daveco2 wrote:

I assume you're using autofocus. My 90mm macro hunts quite a lot, even with the range switch set to the shortest. So, I've given that up in favor of manual focus and the "rocking focus" method described by others. Luckily, the Seafrogs housing allows for use of a focus gear which lets me use the lens in long range "portrait" mode.

You can split the difference if your camera/housing support back focus, where you separate the controls for focus and shutter. Then you still use AF to get the initial lock, and use the rocking method to finish the composition. Essential for the moving objects. With the 4/3, this worked pretty well. With the FF, I'm struggling a bit and do have the manual gears now. I need to get my wetsuit patched up so I can do some cheap practice in Monterey before the next trip to the west.

It's the initial lock that was my problem.  The lens would continue to hunt and get to lock after some delay, which at that point wasn't that useful.  My hit rate with "autofocus" was about 50%.  With all manual focus, I'm up to about 80%, and I save some air not having to swear underwater.

I took my shots mostly at Moalboal, Cebu which isn't doing that well after the typhoon. In fact, I was the only diver at the resort. That was after 10 days at Dauin.

Now thinking about either Anilao or Lembeh, and as this could be one of my last trips, am at a decision point as to which would be best.

Both are cheap once you get there, but in the US, it's a lot easier to get to Manila. I wonder if the overlap between Anilao and Moalboal is greater than versus Lembeh.

Moalboal and Dauin were ok (although I was there also for the sardine shoal and whale sharks).   I'd like to get to a truly macro-rich location, which I was told by another diver at Dauin would be Lembeh or Anilao.