Photo Advice Request
September 27th, 2009great images. blennies are very cool and one of my favorite subjects. i am working on becoming at least a semi-pro underwater photographer. i dive and shoot here on saipan almost every day to that end.
may i ask your advice on my equipment? i moved up to a nikon d300 with a 105 nikkor macro lens, sea&sea housing and two inon z240 strobes a couple months ago. after i get macro working, i want to learn wide angle. what kind of lens would you recommend?
secondly, my new inons both flooded for apparently no reason a few weeks ago. i like the inons because they are small. i returned them to Backscatter but they had to send them to japan and it will be a long time before i can shoot again. Backscatter said that’s a first in their experience. have you heard anything about the reliability of inons? do you know of another decent smallish strobe? thanks.
john
Thank you for your kind words. Any feedback is always welcome. I appreciate you taking the time to view my site and email me. I agree on the Blenny thing. I live in Saba, in the Caribbean, that’s where I shot him. I used a Macro 60mm. I have only seen one other like it, it was of the same individual by another pro visiting here a few months ago. I actually shot that photo awhile ago. I am so busy I rarely get to edit my own stuff. As for you, how do you get to live in Saipan?
Le’s talk about gear….
First I am impressed with your selection of items…I shoot Nikon, Sea and Sea as well. I am an Ikelite fan for strobes, but yes they are big! What port are you using for the 105? Are you shooting it in Auto Focus? Do you have the focus gear for it? Just some thoughts to help with the really little stuff…
For wide angle…Nikon came out with a 12-24 a while back, but it was disappointing in that it was soft at it’s 12 and 24 positions. They now have a 14-24 which has been well commented on. I have not read any recent reviews, but a favorite place of mine to do so is Cnet.com. CLICK HERE TO SEE FULL SPECS
Here it is http://reviews.cnet.com/lenses/nikon-nikkor-14-24mm/4507-13038_7-32816555.html?tag=mncol;psum
They now have a 10-24 but it is only a 3.5f lens….it is half the price, but there is no real user info on its performance at 10-14mm. So I would get the 14-24 if you can…Also I avoid fisheye all together underwater, it’s just to weird most of the time, and takes effort to straighten out if you want to. CLICK HERE TO SEE FULL SPECS on the 10-24mm
Here is the Nikon page with all their lenses and specs….
http://nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Camera-Lenses/index.page
As for a port, I always recommend not being cheap on something you only want to buy once. For 10-14mm you are going to want the biggest dome you can get to take full advantage of the width and light.
Ok, now the Inons…They are great strobes…but I have not allowed my spouse to buy them up until now for he following reasons. As a dealer I was very unhappy with the lack of support, ie: no one answers the phone or calls you back. Second the recent loss of US distribution is the major issue you are now facing. I have spoke to the guys at Backscatter about it…they are not recommending them now either. As for your specific event, yikes, 2 flooded at the same time?! I dont even want to speculate to much…but simultaneous user error is just slightly more likely than simultaneous equipment failure. The problem is there is no other strobe that really compares for size, power, and technology of TTL. So the options are the Ikelite DS165…great, reliable, good post sale customer service…but bulky and no optical slave without a cumbersome adapter. Sea and Sea has the 110a. I have shot this one, it is pretty small by comparison, but the lack of a battery pack is very inconvenient. Who wants to carry around 8 AA’s to rotate and a 5lb. charger unit!
So I feel your pain…it is a hard choice. I would rather give you information and have you make an informed decision, than I make a specific recommendation and you wish you had done otherwise for a reason I cannot foresee.
I hope his has been helpful, I am very glad to continue his conversation or entertain any other thoughts you have anytime. I enjoy being able to talk about U/W photography on any level whenever I can. Please share my contact info with your other friends in the hobby as well. We can all learn from each other.
Best Wishes for that perfect shot!
Troy
John Fraser September 27 at 11:11am
Troy,
thanks for all the advice. i’ll look into that 14-24 and check for new info on the 10-24. my ports are not with me here at work but they have focus gears and are sea&sea or whatever backscatter sells. i shoot manual focus when i can but use autofocus when there is surge and current, which is much of the time lately. autofocus has helped big time keeping the subject in focus when i can’t steady myself.
regarding the inons, they didn’t fail simultaneously as such but within a few weeks of one another. i used the first one for about two months until it failed. then opened the box on the second, brand new one. at the end, both had water showing thru the front. the o-rings were well maintained and i made sure caps and connections were secure but you’ll have to take my word on that(!) i’m looking for something cheap on ebay until my inon’s rreturn. i guess i’m stuck with them, for better or worse.
i like the aa power supply for the inons because aa’s are so easy to obtain. i got the new low discharge eneloop type batteries. they are great and hold their charge like a regular battery. my charger is pretty small, only a few ounces.
Thank you John for allowing this to be a learning tool to anyone else who can use the same information…As always anyone is welcome to cotact me for anything you might need in underwater photography, dive travel, or conservation efforts.
