|
need to think of a unique name
Lives in
Sydney, Australia
Has a website at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidmarriottsydney/
Joined on
Aug 18, 2014
|
Comments
 |  |  |  |
| THREE BOWLER HATS by FINEART4YPvK from Men Wearing Hats | Oak Leaf Rain Drops by CharlieGMorr from My Best Non-bird Photo of the Fortnight 12 | délicatesse by cjf2 from Bird with its Prey | Reflection Perfection by Nilesh Trivedi from Reflections on Water |
Unfortunately, the Australian no drone sign for parks is not quite correct. Similar to your initial comments, you are not allowed to take off/land within the park boundaries (and different states have different regulations for their parks) but Parks do not control the airspace about the park. You can take off/land from outside the park as long as you follow the other standard CASA rules for flying drones.
Karl Huber: Would this unit be suitable for a dash-cam? Image quality would be superb compared with what's available now.
@goodgeorge facing south is perfect in the southern hemisphere
Hussar43: All you have to know with underwater photography is that the cost of the camera body is irrelevant.
Yes, my camera body is about 10% of my camera gear as well. My strobes (without arms/cord/TTL etc) are also about 10% although I will be upgrading the modeling lights to video light soon which will put it above 10%.
I would contend that the body is not irrelevant though as upgrading the body and hence the housing is a much more significant %.
My move from compact camera/housing to housing for my above water camera was that the cost was about the same as a new compact+housing. It has expanded somewhat from there though
thielges: It is too bad that camera makers and waterproof housing makers like Nauticam can't collaborate to move the housing->camera linkage from intricate mechanical levers to electronic. That would dramatically decrease the complexity, size, and cost of housing while making it more reliable. Almost every camera control is fully electronic these days, even the ISO and shutter speed knobs. Maybe mechanical controls are needed for lens focus and aperture adjustments, but everything else should be able to communicate over a USB umbilical or bluetooth.
Yes, a hard wired button would work with an internally powered controller to USB-C. That said, check out the Ikelite housing to show how simple it can be to operate most buttons. There are even simpler ones being used for wave/surf photography eg https://www.aquatech.com/
The aluminium housings are an engineering wonder but do need regular maintenance.
I guess the biggest question is why this hasn't already been done by the housing manufacturers. The moving target of phone dimensions/buttons for underwater usage has a BT solution but that hasn't translated to depth for larger bodies/lenses.
Note that Ikelite do now have a USB-C connectivity solution when out of the water where image transfer and charging can be done without removing the camera. It is a USB-C bulkhead adaptor and could potentially be used by other housings as well.
https://www.ikelite.com/blogs/buying-guides/usb-c-charging-and-data-transfer-bulkhead
Nicholas, you are always welcome to join our Abyss photo dives that we have each month. Next one is 9-September and generally within Botany Ba y (Bare Island, Steps, Sutherland point etc). Free to come along, free lunch and good to meet new people with similar interests :-)
https://www.abyss.com.au/en/local-dive-calendar
Karl Huber: "Paradigm shift"?
If you thought that housings are expensive, check out the cost of the rebreathing gear and the ongoing requirements!
steelhead3: Is the slow flash sych speed of the z9 a hindrance compared to other brands?
I'm not aware of being able to use HSS underwater - at least with external strobes. 1/200s is generally fine for freezing action. More powerful strobes will help as underwater macro is generally taken at f18 and 1/200s.
No issue with banding in my experience with my R5. Shooting at 12fps eg seals is okay and my new strobes can keep up in TTL as long as it isn't full power
steelhead3: Is the slow flash sych speed of the z9 a hindrance compared to other brands?
I'm not aware of being able to use HSS underwater - at least with external strobes. 1/200s is generally fine for freezing action. More powerful strobes will help as underwater macro is generally taken at f18 and 1/200s.
No issue with banding in my experience with my R5. Shooting at 12fps eg seals is okay and my new strobes can keep up in TTL as long as it isn't full power
WJMWJM: Seems more like a paradigma-shift still to come.
That of viewfinder/display image transfer into the diver's goggles, headup display.
Not sure if this could ever be done wireless (in water as a medium), but even tethered/cable would be an ergonomic dream, especiall for those bottom/seabed shots.
(odd, especially for a Frenchmen, that he didn't use the classic 'frog-perspective')
I don't use my rear viewfinder at all now. The sensor for the rear screen is blocked anyway by the housing so you need to manually use a custom button to switch from EVF to rear screen anyway.
The other option is to use a 45 degree viewfinder to adjust from your diving horizontal position to the EVF without needing to be positioned under your housing when looking through the EVF
hotsong: Excellent article.
Underwater photography opens up a whole new world of creative opportunity, but the learning curve is steep. I got slapped, hard.
At this level, the financial commitment is enormous. As seen in the photo, but not necessarily obvious is the use of a ‘rebreather’ rather than what most would be familiar with open circuit diving. There’s another whole level of training and hugely expensive equipment but no bubbles and no noise to scare the marine life.
I took up scuba diving and wanted, within a budget, the best balance of image quality and portability a little while ago – so have a Sony RX100 Va with a Nauticam housing and Inon strobes, Nauticam WWL-C wet lens, and macro converter.
Fine now, but honestly, should have started much simpler with a GoPro or Olympus TG6 and video light, while I worked on scuba skills.
Learn to dive, get your buoyancy to become second nature, work on your finning, only then think about any camera at all is my take.
Staying alive and good bottom time is the first step but I wouldn't have kept up diving if it wasn't for photography. It is my prime motivation to dive... I wouldn't dive without my camera.
The additional challenges are
- composition (you and the subject are both moving and moving around is not simple eg surge and currents),
- AF when your subjects are not necessarily easy for eye-AF to find (camouflage or no eyes like nudibranch etc),
- lighting (back scatter, "creative lighting", TTL vs manual),
- keeping track of your buddy and their health
- navigation to get back out ok
nabpaw: Very nice article.
Some remarks:
For beginners: Dedicate half of your budget to strobes or lamps.
Light is life!
The importance order of gear is
1 light source
2 lens
3 camera
Light is light. It still exists underwater albeit with less colours and dimmer the deeper you get. I have only recently gone with twin strobes after many years of underwater photography. Certainly makes a difference but less so than I thought. You still have issues with "mixed sources" ie strobe light in foreground and then (for me) an ugly green for the background that you need to adjust the white balance for.
For shallow water and even down to 10-12m, you can shoot in raw and adjust white balance in post if your camera sensor handles higher ISO okay
nabpaw: Being able to making a living just
on underwater photography is unusual.
I write this, because to my knowledge
at least in the golden analog days
in all Europe just one guy (Kurt Amsler) was able
to make a living as a full professional
underwater photographer.
All the rest had a different main job.
TBH, I didn't think that there were any underwater photographers in Sydney who could be full time. An expensive hobby for me in Sydney especially after upgrading to 2x DS230 strobes this year!
thielges: It is too bad that camera makers and waterproof housing makers like Nauticam can't collaborate to move the housing->camera linkage from intricate mechanical levers to electronic. That would dramatically decrease the complexity, size, and cost of housing while making it more reliable. Almost every camera control is fully electronic these days, even the ISO and shutter speed knobs. Maybe mechanical controls are needed for lens focus and aperture adjustments, but everything else should be able to communicate over a USB umbilical or bluetooth.
to have electronic controls, you would need each mechanical button to "trigger" electronically, Having a PCB under each one would be a challenge but not insurmountable. The Ikelite housings have a much simpler mechanical connections/button presses compared to the Aluminium housings but don't have all of the options eg DoF, joy stick etc.
Hussar43: All you have to know with underwater photography is that the cost of the camera body is irrelevant.
No necessarily irrelevant but the housing cost + strobes etc is very significant. Ideal to have the best body you can afford as replacing the housing is expensive and second hand value isn't high
Hussar43: All you have to know with underwater photography is that the cost of the camera body is irrelevant.
No necessarily irrelevant but the housing cost + strobes etc is very significant. Ideal to have the best body you can afford as replacing the housing is expensive and second hand value isn't high
Ctesiphon: Nice article on the Z9.
For beginners without deep pockets, I'd recommend a Meikon underwater case. Not fancy but *much* cheaper than Nauticam. Meikons served me well diving in Australia, and they're available for many bodies.
Beginning in underwater photography is a risky business for the camera, so another advice for beginners without deep pockets: a second hand mFT body will be perfect because they're small and have more depth of field, both which help a lot. I started with a GM1 and had tons of fun. Sony RX100 (those starting at 24 mm = iii/iv/v) or the new Sony ZV-1 Mark II (for its 18–50 mm) will be good fit too.
Ikelite housings are the best value-for-money housings underwater. Almost full range of controls, light weight and a lot cheaper than the aluminium ones :-)
Not risky if you have a vacuum option for the housing but always have insurance
Ctesiphon: Nice article on the Z9.
For beginners without deep pockets, I'd recommend a Meikon underwater case. Not fancy but *much* cheaper than Nauticam. Meikons served me well diving in Australia, and they're available for many bodies.
Beginning in underwater photography is a risky business for the camera, so another advice for beginners without deep pockets: a second hand mFT body will be perfect because they're small and have more depth of field, both which help a lot. I started with a GM1 and had tons of fun. Sony RX100 (those starting at 24 mm = iii/iv/v) or the new Sony ZV-1 Mark II (for its 18–50 mm) will be good fit too.
Ikelite housings are the best value-for-money housings underwater. Almost full range of controls, light weight and a lot cheaper than the aluminium ones :-)
Not risky if you have a vacuum option for the housing but always have insurance
Bezbozny: When is the delivery date? Is it available now?
@obsolescence already pre-ordered :-)
The trip will also be very expensive!
I wanted to shoot from a cessna of the glacier river flows but they won't open the window except for a a dedicated phot flight which is twice the cost for half the flight time of a normal flight. An hour photo flight would cost more that the Mini 3 Pro/RC/fly more combo +!!
Calphate: Funny thing is that the equivalent aperture is actually larger than all the 1-inch models...
The mini series don't need a dedicated charger as well so for travelling it's really going to be much more friendly than a Mavic Air 2S. I think it's time to retire my Mavic 2 Pro.
@calphate you are correct... Not sure where I got the information. I can see that they are sold separately but they were not in the DJI Australia's store as an accessory and I can't find them on Amazon Australia's site either. I guess I will need to find them in store once it has been made available
Bezbozny: When is the delivery date? Is it available now?
1-July would mean cancelling my pre-order. I need it before I go to Iceland on 17-June :-(