It was dark and stormy, but the seas were calm and starting to warm up (now 75F). We were gifted with clear blue water today at Boynton Beach with visibility well over 100 feet. We were out on Splashdown, a Delta 38 with brand spanking new Cummins 375's. Well equipped with normal features, Splashdown has Hot water showers and working marine head; not a porta-potty. She gets you there and back quite nicely.
I recently wrote in another thread how much I liked the Panasonic LX5 with it's bright sharp Leica lens. I walk the talk. I bought the camera last week and threw it in a Nauticam NA-LX5 housing.
I am not disappointed. I am most pleased with the cameras layout. The controls are simply the best I have ever used. They are easy, intuitive, and the most important ones are right at hand. The thumb wheel is a joy to use, and when appropriate, it selects different things for the thumb wheel to operate on.
Focus speed is near instantaneous. I can't believe this is point and shoot compact camera.
The LCD display is excellent (at least in these dark day conditions) and especially at giving decent renderings of the photo just taken.
It appears that the camera will synch flash at any speed though I haven't been to extremes.
f/5.0, 1/250 at ISO 100 with DS-TTL strobes is practically a "gimmee". I spent most of the dive operating at extremes since I wanted to see how the camera behaves there. ISO 80 f/2.0 or f/8.0 and high shutter speeds.
After my prior Canon (G11) having DS-TTL in Manual mode was a joy.
The Nauticam housing is beautiful and smooth as silk to operate. My only complaint is that the camera fit is so precise that insertion and removal are a little fussy. I have not added a Macro lens or Wide Angle dome or video filter yet, but with the 67mm threaded port the options are many. Nauticam offers an LD-mount converter and were I inclined to go the Inon route I might do it for convenience. The only addition to the NA-LX5 housing is the Nauticam Flexi-tray with right handle and 1" balls for my ULCS strobe arms to clamp on.
None of the photos are especially good and the subjects are pretty ordinary, but serve well enough for demonstration.
Check out the flamingo-tongue eggs...I've never seen those before.
Depth of field: First at f/2.0:
Here is the same shot at f/8.0:
Next, lets look at some Macro. I don't know what these are I'd sure like to know if anyone has an idea. They are about 1/2" tall. The center stalk is apparently a rudimentary eye (sensitive to light) and they retract into a tube-worm like tube if disturbed. This one was a very difficult shot to get being relatively deep in small depression.
Here is a fairly nice shot though common of a YHJ taken at full zoom (90mm) there does not seem to be any noticeable degradation of sharpness anywhere in the zoom range.
For an example of focus speed, here is a slippery dick, one of the dartiest, twitchin'est wrasses I have never got a decent shot of before.
I just love the low noise and detail captured by this fantastic camera:
I wish you could see the skin details of the full size image, its just incredible on a 60" Plasma:
For just plain all-out cute, this one is hard to beat:
I have been contemplating a camera change for over a year. MFT and NEX and even DSLR have been in the mix, but all the while portability and simplicity are my top requirements. Multiple lense meand multiple ports and multiple complexity. Traveling with dive gear is always a trial, traveling with camera gear can make it a nightmare. Its only been one outing and I haven't even finished the LX5 users guide (published on Kindle) yet or learned all the cool features, so I think things will only improve from here.
I anticipate adding a Dyron 20mm WA dome and 7 diopter macro lens in the near future. Anybody have any experience with those?
It seems that, like Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade, "I chose well". With the money I saved (over a multi-lens solution) I can buy a dive trip and take pictures.
I recently wrote in another thread how much I liked the Panasonic LX5 with it's bright sharp Leica lens. I walk the talk. I bought the camera last week and threw it in a Nauticam NA-LX5 housing.
I am not disappointed. I am most pleased with the cameras layout. The controls are simply the best I have ever used. They are easy, intuitive, and the most important ones are right at hand. The thumb wheel is a joy to use, and when appropriate, it selects different things for the thumb wheel to operate on.
Focus speed is near instantaneous. I can't believe this is point and shoot compact camera.
The LCD display is excellent (at least in these dark day conditions) and especially at giving decent renderings of the photo just taken.
It appears that the camera will synch flash at any speed though I haven't been to extremes.
f/5.0, 1/250 at ISO 100 with DS-TTL strobes is practically a "gimmee". I spent most of the dive operating at extremes since I wanted to see how the camera behaves there. ISO 80 f/2.0 or f/8.0 and high shutter speeds.
After my prior Canon (G11) having DS-TTL in Manual mode was a joy.
The Nauticam housing is beautiful and smooth as silk to operate. My only complaint is that the camera fit is so precise that insertion and removal are a little fussy. I have not added a Macro lens or Wide Angle dome or video filter yet, but with the 67mm threaded port the options are many. Nauticam offers an LD-mount converter and were I inclined to go the Inon route I might do it for convenience. The only addition to the NA-LX5 housing is the Nauticam Flexi-tray with right handle and 1" balls for my ULCS strobe arms to clamp on.
None of the photos are especially good and the subjects are pretty ordinary, but serve well enough for demonstration.
Check out the flamingo-tongue eggs...I've never seen those before.
Depth of field: First at f/2.0:
Here is the same shot at f/8.0:
Next, lets look at some Macro. I don't know what these are I'd sure like to know if anyone has an idea. They are about 1/2" tall. The center stalk is apparently a rudimentary eye (sensitive to light) and they retract into a tube-worm like tube if disturbed. This one was a very difficult shot to get being relatively deep in small depression.
Here is a fairly nice shot though common of a YHJ taken at full zoom (90mm) there does not seem to be any noticeable degradation of sharpness anywhere in the zoom range.
For an example of focus speed, here is a slippery dick, one of the dartiest, twitchin'est wrasses I have never got a decent shot of before.
I just love the low noise and detail captured by this fantastic camera:
I wish you could see the skin details of the full size image, its just incredible on a 60" Plasma:
For just plain all-out cute, this one is hard to beat:
I have been contemplating a camera change for over a year. MFT and NEX and even DSLR have been in the mix, but all the while portability and simplicity are my top requirements. Multiple lense meand multiple ports and multiple complexity. Traveling with dive gear is always a trial, traveling with camera gear can make it a nightmare. Its only been one outing and I haven't even finished the LX5 users guide (published on Kindle) yet or learned all the cool features, so I think things will only improve from here.
I anticipate adding a Dyron 20mm WA dome and 7 diopter macro lens in the near future. Anybody have any experience with those?
It seems that, like Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade, "I chose well". With the money I saved (over a multi-lens solution) I can buy a dive trip and take pictures.
Last edited:
