Photography:
Occasionally, I am asked what kind of camera system I use for my underwater photography.
My photographic for underwater applications is comprised of Nikon’s marvelous Z8 45.5 MP FX-Format mirrorless camera bodies with a select series of optics. For macro macro work, I have both the Nikkor Z MC 105mm F/2.8 VR S Macro along with the F-mount Nikkor 60mm F/2.8G Macro. For wide-angle applications I the Nikkor 18-35mm F/3.5-4.5G AF-S wide-angle zoom, but my favorite go to lens happens to be Nikon’s famous Nikonos R-UW 13mm prime fisheye lens.
Originally made for Nikon’s short lived Nikonos RS film camera, the R-UW 13 has been heralded as one the sharpest underwater wide-angle prime lenses ever made. When I first got this lens, I had converted by Seacam so that if could work with my Nauticam housed Nikon D850. A marriage I thought would last till I picked up a Z8, but as luck would have it I found someone would be able to modify it once more for it to continue on. You can read that story here –
While optics play a highly important role in underwater photography, lighting is equally critical. If you don’t have the light to properly illuminate your subject(s) underwater you will likely end up with nothing at all.
The number of underwater strobes that I have used over the used of the years have included Oceanic 2001’s and 2003’s, Subsea 150’s and 100’s, Ikelite 150 and 200, MCD, Sea & Sea YS-200’s, YS-120 Duo’s, YS-250’s, and INON Z-330’s before settling on a pair of Retra UWT Prime underwater flash guns 2019 as they provided a quality light that really worked well to my taste.
Currently, my list of underwater strobes include two of Retra’s newly redesigned Pro Max underwater strobes along with one of my previous 2ndgeneration Retra Prime flash guns. With their circular flash tube design, I find the lighting highly pleasing in terms of color temperature and smooth converge with no hot spots. You read my review of the Retra Pro Max here – and the Retra Primes here.
My choice in underwater camera housings is a pragmatic one built on years of experience.
My first entry into underwater photography began in the late 1970’s with my father’s Nikonos camera and UW 35mm Nikkor lens. By the mid 1980’s, as I got more serious my underwater photographic equipment included a Tussy T-300 aluminum housing specifically made for Nikon’s FM manual SLR film camera bodies in addition a Nikonos IV with a UW 15 Nikkor lens. In the following years I transitioned into using only camera systems in housings built by Aquatica and Nexus.
As film gave way to digital, my first endeavors began with both Nikon and Canon digital SLR’s. During this tenure, the choice of housing manufacturers shifted as well, beginning with Seacam in 2003, then Subal in 2005 before settling on Nauticam in 2009 for my Nikon D200s, followed by the D500 and D850 ending on the NA-Z8 for my Nikon Z8’s.
When it comes to the multitude of subject matter, be it something the size of a hairy shrimp to as massive as a blue whale, Nauticam’s broad selection of macro and dome ports, extension rings and water contact optics are without equal in the industry.
Desk Top Publishing:
Gone are the days of developing your film in a darkroom of dropping off at a lab to have processed, only spend hours of a light table to sort out the keepers from trash.
Now everything is done on a computer. If you are shooting with a high-end digital camera system is just the first half of the imaging equation. You also need to have the right hardware, software, and skills needed for post processing.
For this purpose, my current photo editing system is an Apple Studio M2 Max model with 96 GB of Memory, 38 Core GPU hooked up to 5k 27-inch Apple Studio monitor and one Apple LED Cinema Display. Among my suite of software for photo editing and graphic design purposes, I work with the latest versions of Photoshop, InDesign, Adobe Acrobat Pro and Final Cut Pro.
Diving Equipment:
My interest in the underwater realm began at a very young age, with the most significant leap taking place at age 11 when I began collecting my own tropical fish for a saltwater aquarium. By the mid 1970’s I received my open water scuba certification, which lead to a PADI Divemaster rating in 1979. My interests led down multiple paths that included underwater photography, which then expanded into photojournalism.
My move into the technical field of diving did not begin till 2000 after completing a NACD Cave Diving course taught by one of my early mentors, Harry Averill.
While I had dabbled with Drager’s Dolphin semi-closed rebreather the same year, my interest in diving fully-closed perked in 2001 when I encountered a large lemon shark aggregation off Jupiter, Florida. At the time, such a behavior by this species was completely unknown. Documenting this unique behavior was difficult, as these particular lemon sharks were easily scared away by the sound of bubbles escaping from a regulator, much like the schooling hammerheads in the Eastern Pacific. To vastly improve my odds, I transitioned from the Drager semi-closed to a fully closed Inspiration rebreather in 2003.
List of certifications
- 1976 – NASDS Open Water Scuba
- 1979 – PADI Advanced Open Water Scuba
- 1980 – PADI Divemaster
- 1998 – TDI Basic Nitrox
- 1999 – SSI Platinum Pro 5000
- 2000 – TDI Drager SCR Diver
- 2001 – NACD Full Cave Diver
- 2003 – IANTD Inspiration CCR Diver
- 2006 – TDI KISS Air-Diluent CCR Diver
- 2006 – TDI KISS Mixed Gas CCR Diver
- 2009 – SDI Open Water Scuba Instructor
- 2009 – TDI Nitrox Instructor
- 2011 – TDI KISS Air-Diluent CCR Instructor
I will be the first to admit that I don’t see myself as “technical diver”, but I will say that I use tech to dive the way I like.
In the following years, I found that like a number of the underwater cinematographers I know, diving a closed-circuit system was a valuable asset for photographing wildlife as it makes the diver less obtrusive and more tolerable to marine life. Not only did I find that I could work closer to my subjects without scaring them off, but I also had the added ability to stay where they were for a longer period of time. As my taste for diving rebreathers grew, I looked into the KISS Sport MCCR made by KISS Rebreathers. Compared to the Inspiration Rebreather I was first trained on; the KISS Sport’s rather simplistic design introduced me to the merits of a mechanical CCR system.
By 2010 I had upgraded to the KISS Classic. In addition to providing a better breathing system than its predecessor the Sport, the Classic is both highly robust and remarkably easy to service, even in the field. As a result of its highly reliable nature, the Classic still remains my sole closed-circuit system of choice for CCR diving.
Oh, I may not own stock in the company, I did shoot the product pictures of the Spirt, GEM and Classic for their website, the Classic you see happens to my personal unit.