I tried my hand at some underwater photography, snorkelling off the wrecks near Tangalooma on Moreton Island. The camera is a Canon G11 and I picked up the Canon polycarbonate housing for it locally at a good price. During the 60-minute session, I just pointed the camera/housing at the subject and clicked (full of hope!) as it was impractical to look at the rear LCD screen due to the conditions.
The fish were incredibly inquisitive and didn’t seem to mind our presence as long as we didn’t make any sudden moves. There were several challenges to overcome - the current, buoyancy, murky waters with probably the main one being inexperience.
I have also thrown in a shot of a Kingfisher, which I managed to sneak up on, getting to within some 20 metres before the creature flew off.
Excellent Dennis I now have a G10, which I'm quite frankly loving. I can't believe the the manual is thicker than that of my 5D-2. It's a very capable little beastie indeed.
I've been looking at the WP-DC28 underwater case primarily for being able to take waterfall shots from within a waterfall itself. Looks the goods.
The Canon Advanced Compacts are an excellent investment. I have a newish 12mp Canon compact and an elderly 6mp Advanced Compact. If I had to get rid of one, it would be the 12mp model.
You certainly get what you pay for.
Lovely images Dennis.
Thank you for your comments, they are most welcome.
I don’t think that I’m going to become an avid under water photographer – I’ll stick to the happy snaps that the G11 produces on full auto!
The G11 has a “Scene” setting with several modes and one of those modes is “Underwater” where the Canon engineers have optimised the settings for recording images under water. The G11 cannot save in RAW mode, only JPGs when in any of the “Scene” modes.
To lift these photos, I mainly used “Topaz Detail” to increase the micro contrast between features and “Topaz Adjust” to add a little “pop” which helped improve the tonal depth, as they were a little flat out of camera.
Other than that, the G11 did an amazing job as it was on full Auto – I didn’t rate my chances using manual mode for my first outing as the Canon housing has a plethora of buttons, switches and levers that interface with the on-body G11 controls. I figured that learning how to use them on my first snorkel wouldn’t be the wisest choice.
Excellent Dennis I now have a G10, which I'm quite frankly loving. I can't believe the the manual is thicker than that of my 5D-2. It's a very capable little beastie indeed.
I've been looking at the WP-DC28 underwater case primarily for being able to take waterfall shots from within a waterfall itself. Looks the goods.
Hi Chris
With the housing fully immersed there is no problem with water drops on the optical front of the housing – I wonder how you would go in the spray of the water fall? I’m just guessing here, a thin film of water flowing over the optical glass, or water drops on the glass surface may well affect the image?
I agree re the manual – it is thick and in my big hands, a bit difficult to read so I’ve got the pdf version on my iPad, which is much more readable.
The WP-DC34 manual is likewise thick, but the English section is but a small, manageable part with the usual, seemingly obvious warnings of “do not throw or drop the waterproof housing” – who would do such a daft thing!
I wonder how you would go in the spray of the water fall? I’m just guessing here, a thin film of water flowing over the optical glass, or water drops on the glass surface may well affect the image?
Awesome, Dennis. You're not afraid of trying different things, are you.
I always think of a friend of my brother's who had a 5D. Bought an underwater housing for it and often took it diving. One day he didn't do one of the clips up properly and flooded/ruined $4000 worth of gear. Got it back on insurance (I think, IIRC), shiny new camera and housings etc. First trip out, the new underwater housing was defective and it hadn't occurred to him to check first. Jumped in the water and flooded all his gear again!
Fantastic images Dennis.
You've done really well for your first go.
Cheers
Hi Ric
Thanks for your encouraging comments – I found it quite a challenge to accommodate the new environment and subject matter. I soon learned that I couldn’t really view and compose via the rear LCD screen and so I just held the housing/camera below me, slightly ahead and estimated the subject position and general scene.
Fortunately, I was able to view the results at the surface and quickly learn from my mistakes, mainly parallax and subject too far away. I thought astrophotography was plagued by poor seeing but the murky water certainly left me with a few shots of…murky water…I’m sure I took a photo of a school of Garfish but they had vanished in the distant gloom.
I was very pleased with how the G11 performed although using the Topaz Detail and Topaz Adjust plug-ins certainly lifted these off the page.
Awesome, Dennis. You're not afraid of trying different things, are you.
>snip
First trip out, the new underwater housing was defective and it hadn't occurred to him to check first. Jumped in the water and flooded all his gear again!
Hi Troy
Thanks for your nice words – they are much appreciated. I don’t think that I’ll give up my daytime job of macro photography, or nighttime work on astro photography just yet – they are much easier genres to shoot successfully!
I did test the empty housing in a bucket of water with a brick on top, just to confirm that it did seal correctly!
I now have a G10, which I'm quite frankly loving. I can't believe the the manual is thicker than that of my 5D-2. It's a very capable little beastie indeed.
