Hi all
Aside from a few pictures of Kelly which I am particularly proud of, I am still trying to get a handle on underwater photography...I have a Sealife DC-500 digital camera w/ strobe..and also have an attachable wide angle lens...my questions are: When and where should I use it (the WAL)?...can it be used with a macro setting?...can (or should) I have it on all the time?

Yours in cursing everything electronic

I use a wide angle with my Oly 4040. I find that I use it on most dives. I get right on top of a subject and optically zoom out to position the subject in the frame. This gives great detail and works for me. I am sure others will chime in with different ways to do this. The pic of the turtle in my profile was done just this way. that turtle was at most 24" long.

could be a wide angle lense is your best overall choice for underwater photography because:

1. distance to subject is going to be the limiting factor because of light refraction. with a wide angle lense at 4 feet you are going to be able to capture (frame) quite a bit more subject than with a macro at the same distance.

2. wide angle lenses (AF) are much easier to focus than a macro (in my experience)

3. if the lense is wide enough (10-20mm range) you will be able to "play" with perspective and get some "interesting" shots

wide and macro i don't think go together, more typically a zoom telephoto (like 80-200mm) has a range where it acts like a macro...

a lot probably still depends on the camera, on the actual lense used, on the available light...best to get out there and experiment a little...

good luck

Thanks guys...much appreciated

OK, one more stupid question...when putting the lens on the camera, should it be done in the water (water between lens and camera) or on dry land (air between lens and camera)?

I always have it on when I get in the water. Then once I'm neutral I unscrew the lens to get rid of any trapped air. Also I remove the lens and clean it between dives to remove the salt crystals that may form when drying. HTH

Thanks Bruce

another observation:

you can still get macro like detail out of a wide angle lense - shoot at the minimum focus distance (maybe 8'-12" for some setups) and then take advantage of all those pixels (6M is enough, 10-12M would be better for this)

example:



maybe not the best example - i just like the pic;)

one more...had to try to connect both strobes and all three modeling lights, essentially three things (apart from the camera) that needed aimed...a little unruly out of water but should be easier with the water buoyancy...

raw format too...hmmm...i believe we will be using a wide angle on some nite dives