Hi Guys,

Well I have taken the plunge and will concerntrate on WA rather than macro for my next trip (Ocean Rover).
The setup I am using is a D100 in a Subal Housing with 2 x Inon Z220, I have a 12-24 zoom and will purchase a 10.5 next week.

I would appreciate any tips in getting upto speed with this speciality lens.

thanks
ron

me too

Get very, very, very close to your subjects

Try your strobes a little closer in than for normal WA and aim dead ahead or even a little pointed out

Once you figure out the lighting, you will love this lens

Karl

It's great for over-under shots as well so spit on your dome and get a few of those type shots if you get a chance.

Cheers
James

Get close....real close.

Strobe placement is very important. I use dual SB105's but the same principles would apply regardless of the type used. The front of the flash head needs to be behind the focal plane. I pull mine back, in and pointed slightly out. Here are a couple of images that should give you a good idea of the placement.

Hi,
Could you explain little bit your flash placement ?

Aren´t you get shadow from housing if flashes are like that ?
I suppose you are using diffuser even they wasn´t in pics ?

JM

JM, backing off the flash is essential with fisheye so they don't appear in the shot, and believe me they do show up even when you are carefull. I've included a diagram, if you don't want it in the shot, stick it behind the line.

Well it would be better if i included said image. Doe ! :?

Ron -

You are probably already familiar with this but marine camera has some info on the 12-24 at:

http://www.marinecamera.com/index.html

Click on article in red at bottom "getting wider"

M.

The photo is accurate. The housing does not block the light from the strobe. You can check it underwater by holding the housing in front of your face and making sure you can see the strobe reflectors. I don't use diffusers because I tend to lose them.

Great illustration but it doesn't tell the whole story. Because the 10.5 is such a wide lens the right and left edges of the frame will be very close to the strobes if you configure them exactly as shown in your diagram. I was getting hot spots when I first started using the 10.5 at the edges until I learned that I not only needed to position the strobes behind the the housing but I also needed to pull them in closer than I would have with a regular wide-angle lens.

Point taken Larry, this is a shot from a while back when I first got the lens, sort of a what not to do picture :?

I love it! This is the exact same thing that I did on my first dive w/ the 10.5. If you pull your strobes down, you can get them out of the frame, as the fisheye is only 180 degrees from corner to corner.

Cheers
James

That's not too bad Jean; at least your fins and camera lanyard haven't made an appearance.

Nah! Andrew, the fins I always keep for open water :wink: but good idea for the lanyard, i'll install one for my trip to bermuda and try to get a trio, fins, strobe and lanyards

P.S. note the subtle dome shade appearing in the upper corner, the shade was off center by a 1/4'', VERY WIDE lens...

Thanks for the diagrams and example photos...this is incredibly useful for me. Anyone got some undefished (is that a word), uncropped 10.5mm shots through the Ike dome they'd be willing to post?

HI Chris, check this link for a review of the 10.5mm I did a while back, I'm sorry if they are not taken trough a Ikelite, but my allegiance lies elsewhere, nonetheless the shot are trough an Aquatica 8” dome, in regard to defishing (Hell! if the verb doesn’t exist let us Wetpixel member stake claim to it) I’ve had limited success with Nikon Capture, it all comes down to the edges contents, any kind of identifiable texture and your up that proverbial creek!

http://wetpixel.com/module-pagesetter-view...-3-pid-34.phtml

Regards

A couple or three shots with the 10.5mm with Ike 5503.15 dome...uncropped w/o perspective control







And a topside just for fun



Karl

Thanks! These are great shots, and just the sort of encouragement/inspiration I was looking for!

As others have said you need to get in real close with this lens. Couple of shots to give you an idea of distance from subjects

Turtle shot was taken from no more than 14" away.
School from about 2' range
Shark from no more than 4' away, shark was a good 5' long

(none have been corrected)

Like the others said keep your strobes behind the plane of the dome, and next time I will put them higher up, 11 & 1 positions, pointing out and down a
little.

Looks like someone's been to Hawaii...:-)

Here are two shots with the 16mm fisheye (full frame, film, you can expect identical results on the digital 10.5).