Photos from Monday's (9/29) dive on Maui

[ssra30]

Abril once bubbled...
How crisp and colorful
Those look excelent.

I noticed you have a oly, does you digital zoom get all pixilated?

Don't use digital zoom, just stick with optical zoom, even if you need to crop the picture later on, program like photoshop will do it much better and you will get better result than using digital zoom.

Gilligan, I like your boxfish picture very much. I had many many butt shots of various boxfish but yet to get a good frontal shot of my own

 

[Abril]

ok no digital zoom....What about a micro lense does that help you get closer with a crisp picture?

 

[Gilligan]

Aloha,
Thanks Abril and bmouth for the compliments. In response to the two questions from you:
1. As the other posts stated, forget about digital zoom. It's worthless underwater.
2. I don't have a strobe (yet). I am using only the built in flash. The water here is very clear.
I can't say enough about using the manual settings on the camera as explained on Peter Shultz's webpage. Even though they are for the C5050 they apply to all the Oly C series cameras. They likely apply to all digital cameras underwater. I truly believe those settings will get you the most out of your camera, with or without a strobe.
:shades:

 

[Gilligan]

Aloha ssra 30,
Thanks on the pic of the Boxfish. I used optical zoom on that one rather than macro. I prefer to use the optical zoom over the macro when possible as it allows me to get more of the subject in the photo so i don't have to crop it. Cropping it reduces the pixels and I am only using a 2.1 MP camera to start with ( thinking of getting a C4000 for around $300. and it fits in the same housing) Getting that close to a fish with macro is near impossible without scaring it off.
:shades:

 

[Gilligan]

I have to make a correction in the photo feathering process using Photoshop that I mentioned in this post. Step 5 only requires the "Ctrl" and "Backspace" keys and not the "Alt" key.
Sorry about that.
:shades:

 

[ssra30]

Gilligan once bubbled...
Aloha ssra 30,
Thanks on the pic of the Boxfish. I used optical zoom on that one rather than macro. I prefer to use the optical zoom over the macro when possible as it allows me to get more of the subject in the photo so i don't have to crop it. Cropping it reduces the pixels and I am only using a 2.1 MP camera to start with ( thinking of getting a C4000 for around $300. and it fits in the same housing) Getting that close to a fish with macro is near impossible without scaring it off.
:shades:

Gilligan, I try to to crop too much either for the same reason. Still try to learn how to get close to those fish without spooking them off either. That's why night dive is so much better for photographing fish

Abril, macro lens will let you get the camera closer to the subject. For example, the oly 4040 macro can focus a subject as close as 8 inches but not closer. Depending on the macro lens, some will let you get the 4040 focus capability down to 4 inches away.
Pretty good for nudibrach and critters that don't run away.

Just upgrade my camera to 5050, with supermacro mode on the camera, I guess the macro lens won't be nearly as useful.

One nice thing of course is the fact that when you can move in closer, you won't need to use the zoom as much so it will be that much easier for auto focus plus you will have more depth of field

 

[Gilligan]

Aloha ssra30,
Not sure if you discovered this yet with your C5050 but when using the super macro mode the internal flash will not operate. This is also true on the C4000. Obviously this mode cannot be used at night w/o an external strobe as is the case with day dives. I would like to see some super macro shots from a day dive w/o the internal flash. It seems to me the super macro mode is therefore rendered useless underwater.
:shades:

 

[ssra30]

Gilligan once bubbled...
Aloha ssra30,
Not sure if you discovered this yet with your C5050 but when using the super macro mode the internal flash will not operate. This is also true on the C4000. Obviously this mode cannot be used at night w/o an external strobe as is the case with day dives. I would like to see some super macro shots from a day dive w/o the internal flash. It seems to me the super macro mode is therefore rendered useless underwater.
:shades:

Hi Gilligan,
Usually I have an Ikelite DS125 strobe so no internal flash for C5050 in supermacro mode is not a problem. The barrel of the lens will block the internal flash when the subject is very close to the camera so internal flash is not ideal.