Howdy folks; was hoping to get some input on where I can optimize my photo kit load out and thoughts on some upgrades I’m making. As some background:
-I’m generally a travel diver. Based in the Philly area, I’ve not done any Jersey diving yet, and local dives tend to be up at Dutch Springs (which is now wonky given they were recently sold
). So that means most of the truly photogenic dives are on the 1-2 trips I take a year. So ”travel friendly” is a term important to me when selecting dive gear, particualy with camera equipment. For further background, I’ve been diving for about 20 years, and am a certified NAUI DM. Typical dive buddies are my father (30 years exp., NAUI Instructor) and Wife (about 5years exp. AOW and Nitrox).
-The next trip I have is to West Palm, and will be my first time diving the Blue Heron Bridge (Super excited!!!), and really my first foray into serious Macro Photography. NC OBX and FL Keys are also frequent destinations.
So with that said, here’s my current setup:
Main rig:
-Olympus OMD EM-5 Mk II in Ikelite Housing
-Twin Ikelite DS125 Strobes
-Main lens of choice is the Olympus 8MM F1.8 Pro Fish Eye and 8” Ikelite dome.
-Also have the smaller dome and Olympus 12-40 F2.8 Pro
Secondary Rig:
-Olympus Tough TG-6 and Olympus Housing
-Backscatter AIR wet lens
-Cold shoe mounted Sea and Sea focus light (forget model off top of head, but something like 900 Lumens)
So with that said, I see two roads to macro:
-Option 1: One of the Oly Macros (I’d go for the 60, 30 doesn’t have enough reach, 90 is too expensive) and matching port. Figure about $700 for that option, if I can find the lens used (seems doable, been around awhile). But then I need to Snoot out the Ike strobes, which has additional cost. In fact I was investigating said cost until I saw…
-Option 2: kit out the TG-6 for Macro shooting with Backscatters new MiniFlash 2. Seems like that would be roughly the same cost by the time I got the flash, snoot, fiberoptic cord, and assorted mounting hardware. I’d also pick up the AOI 90* viewer adapter; which at $160 is a much more affordable solution than the $1k cost of the 90* adapter from Ikelite. (I’ll acknowledge the Ike product seems more robust and can swivel, but still…)
Option 1 would see the TG-6 handed over to my Dad/Wife for point-and-shoot duty (the damn sand tiger that followed me around for a whole dive in NC and NO ONE got pictures of was the straw that broke that camels back…), whereas Option 2 would see the EM-5 setup for WA with the 8MM; Neither father nor wife want to deal with strobes and settings; both are fine with the rigs set to “Point and shoot mode;”. For the Bridge I’d likely de-strobe the EM-5 rig and hand off in auto-mode, and my main would be the Macro focused TG-6; for the more open water/reef–and-wreck dives I’d restrobe and main with the EM-5, and set the TG-6 back to flash-less point/shoot.
I lean towards the Option 2: TG-6/MF2 route for a few reasons: the TG-5 seems to punch above weight when it comes to macro. Also the MF 2 looks like a sleek solution for a flash (travel friendly!); I especially like that the onboard focus light can show the exact area and size of the flash cone for fool proof snooting. Not sure a snoot for the DS125 would do the same? Finally, I like that this makes for an overall stramlined rig. The EM-5 II rig isn’t exactly a porker by modern camera housing standards, but its certainly more to push through the water and deal with, especially in surgey and high current conditions (and I’m of the understanding the BH Bridge can get that way; lots of tidal influence depending on dive timing). Sadly, my current Ike housing won’t play nice with optic triggered strobes, so the MF 2 is out of the question For option 1.
BUT, I’m keen to see what the Scuba Board hive mind thinks…
Related tangent: I’m considering buying a couple of Ikelites dome diffusers for the 125s; $90 each seems a bit pricey though; can anyone vouch that they have a marked impact on back scatter reduction? Thats my main motive for seeking them; softer lighting would be nice but I can generally tweak harshness in post. Would live well into option 2 above; the EM-5 is lit and lensed to be the wide angle wonder, the TG-6 is the Micro-Macro-Machine.
Thoughts?
-I’m generally a travel diver. Based in the Philly area, I’ve not done any Jersey diving yet, and local dives tend to be up at Dutch Springs (which is now wonky given they were recently sold
). So that means most of the truly photogenic dives are on the 1-2 trips I take a year. So ”travel friendly” is a term important to me when selecting dive gear, particualy with camera equipment. For further background, I’ve been diving for about 20 years, and am a certified NAUI DM. Typical dive buddies are my father (30 years exp., NAUI Instructor) and Wife (about 5years exp. AOW and Nitrox).-The next trip I have is to West Palm, and will be my first time diving the Blue Heron Bridge (Super excited!!!), and really my first foray into serious Macro Photography. NC OBX and FL Keys are also frequent destinations.
So with that said, here’s my current setup:
Main rig:
-Olympus OMD EM-5 Mk II in Ikelite Housing
-Twin Ikelite DS125 Strobes
-Main lens of choice is the Olympus 8MM F1.8 Pro Fish Eye and 8” Ikelite dome.
-Also have the smaller dome and Olympus 12-40 F2.8 Pro
Secondary Rig:
-Olympus Tough TG-6 and Olympus Housing
-Backscatter AIR wet lens
-Cold shoe mounted Sea and Sea focus light (forget model off top of head, but something like 900 Lumens)
So with that said, I see two roads to macro:
-Option 1: One of the Oly Macros (I’d go for the 60, 30 doesn’t have enough reach, 90 is too expensive) and matching port. Figure about $700 for that option, if I can find the lens used (seems doable, been around awhile). But then I need to Snoot out the Ike strobes, which has additional cost. In fact I was investigating said cost until I saw…
-Option 2: kit out the TG-6 for Macro shooting with Backscatters new MiniFlash 2. Seems like that would be roughly the same cost by the time I got the flash, snoot, fiberoptic cord, and assorted mounting hardware. I’d also pick up the AOI 90* viewer adapter; which at $160 is a much more affordable solution than the $1k cost of the 90* adapter from Ikelite. (I’ll acknowledge the Ike product seems more robust and can swivel, but still…)
Option 1 would see the TG-6 handed over to my Dad/Wife for point-and-shoot duty (the damn sand tiger that followed me around for a whole dive in NC and NO ONE got pictures of was the straw that broke that camels back…), whereas Option 2 would see the EM-5 setup for WA with the 8MM; Neither father nor wife want to deal with strobes and settings; both are fine with the rigs set to “Point and shoot mode;”. For the Bridge I’d likely de-strobe the EM-5 rig and hand off in auto-mode, and my main would be the Macro focused TG-6; for the more open water/reef–and-wreck dives I’d restrobe and main with the EM-5, and set the TG-6 back to flash-less point/shoot.
I lean towards the Option 2: TG-6/MF2 route for a few reasons: the TG-5 seems to punch above weight when it comes to macro. Also the MF 2 looks like a sleek solution for a flash (travel friendly!); I especially like that the onboard focus light can show the exact area and size of the flash cone for fool proof snooting. Not sure a snoot for the DS125 would do the same? Finally, I like that this makes for an overall stramlined rig. The EM-5 II rig isn’t exactly a porker by modern camera housing standards, but its certainly more to push through the water and deal with, especially in surgey and high current conditions (and I’m of the understanding the BH Bridge can get that way; lots of tidal influence depending on dive timing). Sadly, my current Ike housing won’t play nice with optic triggered strobes, so the MF 2 is out of the question For option 1.
BUT, I’m keen to see what the Scuba Board hive mind thinks…
Related tangent: I’m considering buying a couple of Ikelites dome diffusers for the 125s; $90 each seems a bit pricey though; can anyone vouch that they have a marked impact on back scatter reduction? Thats my main motive for seeking them; softer lighting would be nice but I can generally tweak harshness in post. Would live well into option 2 above; the EM-5 is lit and lensed to be the wide angle wonder, the TG-6 is the Micro-Macro-Machine.
Thoughts?
