geodiver

Thanks for the kind words. I'm looking forward to trying this again real soon.

Most underwater photographers don't try glamour photography, but water is a great medium to get an "angelic" floating effect. There are more similar pictures on my commercial gallery http://www.georgeperina.com/commercial1.htm

If you're wondering how to get those dramatic 1/2 above 1/2 below shots, I wrote a small tutorial at Life In The Seas as part of my u/w photo guide.

You're right, of course, Steve. Lightroom is essential, and I use it as a first step. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I put the reference here:My Equipment

Hi, everyone. I just relaunced my underwater photo site, and added a complete guide to underwater photography. If you're "rusty" on the basics, now you can review them. Enjoy, and safe diving to you all! Here's the link: Life In The Seas

Seapix has 14 image galleries, and a new digital image gallery. If you're interested you can compare film to digital. Here is the film gallery... Seapix Film Galleries And here is the digital gallery... Seapix Digital Galleries The digital images were taken with a Sony F707 and Sea & Sea YS60 strobe (ISO 100, -.7ev)

Eric: Thanks for the words --you're right about not pleasing everyone; it's part and parcel of a discussion group. You're also right about differing views can be harsh --but by the same token, forums are a great way to get information that doesn't come from the manufacturer's PR department. That's getting harder and harder to do these days; I actually started the review section for that reason: I've spent thousands of dollars on uw camera equipment that didn't work as promised. Anyhow: don't worry, I haven't been scared away; I'll just be extremely cautious in what I say. And wetpixel is a great source of information. Incidentally, I forgot to reply about film scans...When I compared images (digital vs film) I'm talking about digital vs fujichrome 50 or 100 (my 2 favorites). I use a Nikon coolscan to scan the slides, and I do it about 3400 x 2200 pixels (true color) with a resulting 25 meg bitmap image size. Last: To bobjarman, tshephard,echeng, scorpio fish, craig and jamesw: Thanks for your comments and I just want to add: 1) I agree about Velvia, great stuff 2) I regret selling all my Nikon bodies and lenses (you can berate me for that --it was an epic piece of stupidity :-). Wish I could afford both a great digital and a film system. 3) Agreed: A good underwater system is obscenely expensive these days 4) Like MacArthur, I will return... 5) I concur with the apples and oranges comparison. The review wasn't meant to be in depth comparison of all digital equipment, merely an overview. So if you want to correct this oversite and "lend" me a D100 and housing and strobe please feel free to. I promise to test it rigorously. In fact, I'll continue to test it for years if need be... So having said all that, let me put myself into the firing line again. Here's the review I wrote about the LX25 high intensity lights that I used in conjunction with the Surveyor housing and Sony F707. In fact, you'll see the housing and setup arms and lights in the article. Here it is: http://www.seapix.com/lx251.htm Safe diving... George

Wow, I didn't think this would generate so many comments. As for the comment that "this is becoming tiresome" I couldn't agree more. My article was a simple overview of digital vs film. It wasn't meant to be the bible of digital photography. It certainly wasn't meant to be dissected mercilessly by technocrats. Many would-be photographers spend their time discussing the technical details instead of doing what a photographer is supposed to do: get the image! For those of you who obsess over details, and couldn't take a picture without first doing a detailed histographic analysis, you have a different approach to photography than I do. I don't profess to be an authority on photography, though my work has been published in several national magazines, and my image galleries are featured at Rodale's Dive Magazine and Ocean.Com. I do claim to know something about underwater photography, so to answer some of your questions... 1. I know the difference between a tiff and raw image file. The point (which I mistakenly thought was obvious) was that raw images are larger than compressed images (and, yes, Kasie, I do know the difference between jpg, tif, and raw). And, no, Kasie, the Sony doesn't take raw images. I merely used uncompressed size to demonstrate how large a raw file would be. 2. Yes, my Sony is compact. I used to shoot with a Nikon F4S, two wide angles, a 90mm macro, and telephoto. My equipment bag was large and HEAVY. Now I tote around the Sony, extra memory sticks and battery in a small carry bag. So to restate the obvious: yes, it is compact. And to forestall the obvious comeback: No, it doesn't do everything my old system did. There's a trade-off. That was the point of paragraph (and included picture, I might add) 3. Yes, the Sony is more light sensitive than film cameras. Again to forestall the obvious: you could use high-speed film, and even push process it, but the "gritty high-contrast" school of photography doesn't appeal to me --I'll leave that people who photograph addicts in alleyways at night and spend the rest of their time basking in self glory for revealing the seedy underbelly of life. Personally, I prefer Nature's beauty as a subject matter. But again, I was just demonstrating a general principle: I can shoot easily shoot in low-light situations with Sony without having to resort to tripods or high-speed films. 4. Which equipment used for underwater photography --my apologies if there's any confusion... I used the Amphibico Surveyor housing and a Sony F707. Since then, I have switched to a Sony F717. There were a few problems with the previous housing design, plus there were incompatiblity issues with several common strobes, so I'm holding off until I receive the new replacement housing before writing a review. I felt I should wait for the new housing instead of writing a review for housing that has already been replaced. As far as I know, both the F707 and F717 will work in the new housing. The controls are accessed via a "LANC cable" --a type of miniplug that mates with the remote input jack of the Sony. Hopefully, that should answer your question, Mellingsong Last, thanks for your comments, good and bad. In the future I'll be more careful about what I post here. And don't throw your film away. I like Fuji film, and my switch to digital was a bit too early. As much as I love the benefits of digital, there are still some aspects of my old Nikon system that I miss. George (aka geodiver)

On my last trip to Bonaire I took along two LX-25 hi intensity lights from Sea & Sea. I was very pleased with the results. I used them with my Sony F717, as well as for dive lights. Here's the review: http://www.seapix.com/lx251.htm

I just completed my land comparison pictures at http://www.seapix.com/jagphoto/sw1.htm These images were taken with a Sony F717 and range from macro to wide angle. My underwater galleries are at: http://www.seapix.com/digallery1.htm All of these images were taken with a SonyF707 (virtually the same as the 717, with a few additional features) I'm still waiting on the new Amphibico Surveyor II housing for the Sony F717. When it arrives I'll do a review at seapix. Incidentally, here's the Sony F707 review. http://www.seapix.com/sony1.htm So far, I'm very impressed with the camera. I'm using a 128-meg memory stick, and I get about 60 images at max image size. This is great for diving, since I don't have to resurface to change a roll of 36 pix film. Also, it's got a great battery life. I'm looking forward to getting a 256-meg stick. Wow, 120 pictures on a single dive! George

Seapix has 15 galleries of underwater photography. Here's the film link: http://www.seapix.com/gallery1.htm and here's the digital gallery: http://www.seapix.com/digallery1.htm I must admit that I'm becoming a digital convert quickly. There are obviously still some features that digital cameras lack, but the instant results are definitely a plus. If you're at a remote location, and can't get film processed, it's wonderful knowing that your pictures are turning out. Let me know what you think. George

Hi, this is George. I run Seapix.com, a site devoted to all aspects of underwater photography. I've just completed an overview of digital photography, especially with respect to underwater photography. Here's the link: http://www.seapix.com/digoverview1.htm. If you're interested, take a peek. I've been taking pictures for more than 20 years, and have never lost my love of underwater photography. I'm also a contributing writer/photographer for www.ocean.com. It's wonderful to see the advances in underwater photography. Within the last two years the digital revolution has made underwater photography accessible to most divers. And, naturally, kudo's to wetpixel. It's nice to read actual reports of equipment from USERS, rather than the manufacturer's PR department. Safe diving to all...

Hi, Andrea. Welcome to the world of underwater photography. I'm using a Sony F717 for photography, but the Olympus gets rave reviews, so I think you'll like it (I had an Olympus 4040 before switching to the Sony). They're both great. If you're interested in an overview of digital photography, I just finished one. Here's the link: http://www.seapix.com/digoverview1.htm And if you want to see some actual shots taken with the Sony, here's the underwater digital gallery link: http://www.seapix.com/digallery1.htm Safe diving, and have a great time "shooting" marine life :-)

James, thank you very much for the kind words. I appreciate it. And by the way, wetpixel (as far as I'm concerned) is the authority on underwater photography! Congrats! Incidentally, I just finished an overview of digital photography, in case anyone is interested. Here's the link: http://www.seapix.com/digoverview1.htm Also, I hope to have a review within the next few weeks on the Amphibico Surveyor II housing. George

There's a free Windows screensaver available for download at: http://www.seapix.com/saver.htm Naturally, the subject is marine life, and you can see a sample of the images at the link above. Have fun, and safe diving to everyone. By the way, if you like the images, seapix has a digital photo gallery you might enjoy. Here's the link: http://www.seapix.com/digallery1.htm All of the pictures were taken with a Sony F707 camera and Sea&Sea YS60 strobe.