EQUIPMENT
Below is an overview of the equipment that I have used over the years under water.
I
started with the Nikonos system and ended up using the Nikonos 5 camera
for many years. I have used the Nikonos 5 camera with many different
strobes and mainly was using it with the Nikonos 104. This system
served me well and I gathered a lot of experienced in my early years as
an underwater photographer with this system.
Then
I made the transition to the SLR system in an underwater housing. I
decided on the Nikon F 90 with various Nikkor lenses. The Nikkor lenses
that I used were: 16mm fisheye, 20mm wideangel, 28mm, 35mm, 60mm macro,
105mm macro.
After a long search amongst the top aluminum
housings and looking at what was on offer I decided on the Sealux
housing. A really great housing and very functional. The housing for
the F90 served me well and I got really great after sales service from
Sealux Unterwassertechnik, the company that makes the housing. The
follow up model from Nikon the F90X also fitted into the same housing
and I ended up with two housings to use under water.
Therefore
I decided to stay with the Sealux housing when I bought the new Nikon
camera model, the F100. The housing changed color but was even smoother
to use then its predecessor. Sealux always kept improving their
products and kept coming up with something new.
To be able to
provide me with light for the under water pictures I had to look around
long and hard. That is when I came across the Subtronic strobes that
were built specifically for the under water photographer that wanted
more than usual. The strobes were really great and to date I have owned
quite a few of them already. At the end I was using the Gamma Plus and
the Mega color from Subtronic and there was really nothing to top their
performance.
Then the
digital era arrived for the photographer. Although I had a strong
initial resistance to the change it was inevitable. The digital cameras
got better by the day and eventually arrived at a point where the
quality is really first class. This was the point at which I decided
that I will have to make the change or fall behind.
Unfortunately
it seemed that Nikon has fallen behind in their pursuit in the digital
race and Canon was always one step ahead. Seeing that I was always a
Nikon fan it was difficult to accept the obvious but I eventually
conceded and made the change to Canon.
The change was obviously
expensive but, I feel that having worked with the new Canon 5D that I
bought, it was worth every cent spent. The camera was absolutely great
and the lenses that I bought with it, was money really well spent. The
lenses I have at the moment are as follows:
1. Canon EF 16-35mm f 2.8L USM
2. Canon EF 24-70mm f 2.8L USM
3. Canon EF 70-200mm f 2.8L USM
4. Canon EF 100m f 2.8 Macro
5. Canon EF 15mm fisheye
To
be able to use the camera under water I again turned to Sealux and
asked them to build me the housing. They had planned it anyway and I
was the fortunate one to get the first housing they produced for the
Canon 5D. Once again a real master piece and every time their product
gets better and better. Very user friendly under water and really great
with their new GD viewfinder. Super smooth controls and one can get to
all the camera controls from the outside.
Canon 5D camera with above mentioned lenses
The
strobe was the only thing missing and I decided to change to the
digital strobes from Subtronic. Due to my demanding needs and wanting
the most light available, I decided on the new Subtronic Nova. This is
the digital strobe flagship of Subtronic and time will tell how good
the strobe really is. The Nova has very nice new features and the
battery pack is external. This makes it more versatile and one can have
a charged up battery back handy at all times.
Above water I will
use the Canon SPEEDLITE 430EX and I have got really good results so
far. Once again time will tell if I will need to upgrade or change the
equipment to fulfill my needs.