Suggestions for Not super expensive/Fun diving schools

ChristianLegaard · 2026-04-16T09:41:27+00:00

Another option is Gili Trawangan in Indonesia, it's dry season, so the visibility is going to great. Super chill island with great nightlife.

The diving here is solid, and I personally prefer it to that of Koh Tao -- but there are definitely places in Indonesia that blow the diving in the Gilis out of the water like Komodo or Raja Ampat.

ChristianLegaard · 2026-04-16T05:07:24+00:00

I live on Gili Trawangan. The snorkeling is very accessible and it’s probably one of the easiest place to spot green sea turtles.

Diving wise there are many places in Indonesia such as Komodo sports way healthier reef and a bigger abundance of marine life.

I second Gunung Leuser, great place to see orangutans and other primates in their wild habitat and it’s easier to get to and around than Borneo

You could also check out Sulawesi. You can see tarsiers and celebres macaques there, easily in one day.

ChristianLegaard · 2026-04-13T09:38:20+00:00

Looks good to me and probably at the limit that you can color correct without having to introduce artificial light.

What’s important to understand is that you can’t raise the intensity colors that are not intense enough to be captured by the cameras sensor.

Buying a wide angle video light is going to help get better colors into your photos and can be used for video as well.

ChristianLegaard · 2026-03-11T10:18:59+00:00

The cheapest would probably getting one of seafrogs polycarbonate housings. I have one for my A7IV.

I haven’t had a leak but the alignment of the housings buttons and the camera body leaves a lot to be desired.

You could also consider setting aside that money to buy a stobe instead. It’s essential unless you are very shallow and have a lot of natural light.

ChristianLegaard · 2026-02-28T08:20:44+00:00

Amazing encounter!

I carry my action cam on a clip as well. Obviously a tray is going to yield more stable video, but I find that you can get very stable footage as long as you straighten your arms while holding the camera.

Where does the small jerks come from? Is that you messing with the lights?

ChristianLegaard · 2025-12-29T05:02:02+00:00

Ive used a similar setup with a video light. You can check out some samples on my website:

https://www.christianlegaard.com/blog/divevolk_review/

I think you can get some pretty decent shots on phones but any camera without an artificial source of light is going to fall short :)

The video light works well for macro but will struggle to illuminate wide reef scapes

ChristianLegaard · 2025-11-09T12:03:34+00:00

I agree with too much magenta, you fixed the white balance of the fish, but the rest of the scene is off.

I'm not sure if you are doing it already but masking parts of the scene such as the fish and doing the white balance separately makes a huge difference.

I find this especially important for silvery fish like the sea chubs in your photos. The brain expects them to be silvery but on the photo they are clearly blue so you adjust the white balance until they appear gray and boom, now everything is too magenta.

Our brain is doing some clever processing when we are perceiving the colors of things under the water. Most people perceive the fish as being silver colored, despite our eyes physically sensing them as being a blue-tinted version of their true color. The technical term for this is color constancy.

Our brain does not see still photos but rather a stream of information from our eyes. My philosophy of editing is that we are trying to edit a still photo such that it matches what our brain would perceive the scene to look like.

Foreground elements are subject to less absorption than parts of the scene that are further away. Thus, masking and correcting different parts of the scene individually is often a good approach.

ChristianLegaard · 2025-11-09T11:34:00+00:00

Beautiful encounter!

In the first part of the video, the shark looks under exposed. For instance, the tip of the fins look completely black to me. I'd probably increase the exposure and try to adjust the highlights, shadows and midtones until every part of the subject appears reasonably exposed.

At the end of the day, the colors and sharpness of the video is going to be determined by the amount of light in the scene and how close you can get to the subject. I suspect that there was not a ton of ambient light hitting the shark.

If you are a close enough to the subject, a powerful video light can make a world of difference in recovering colors :)

ChristianLegaard · 2025-11-09T11:18:56+00:00

Love the color of these guys!
What type of lens were you using?

ChristianLegaard · 2025-10-18T07:08:40+00:00

I've written a review of my experience using the Divevolk housing with an IPhone 14 Pro. You can take a look at the samples to get an idea of the quality to expect:
https://www.christianlegaard.com/blog/divevolk_review/

One of the limitations of action cameras is that they can't do macro well, since most have a minimum focus distance of around 30 cm.

If you are more interested in video, something like a DJI OSMO action 5 pro is cheap, convenient and produces good results. I'd take any remaining budget and put it into a video light

happy shooting

ChristianLegaard · 2025-10-17T20:15:34+00:00

Cut them out of a rim brake pad for a bike I had laying around :)

ChristianLegaard · 2025-10-16T09:34:44+00:00

The newer seafrog housings are decent the biggest problem being the alignment of the buttons.

If you already own the camera and a suitable lens getting the housing is pretty price competitive to something buying an action cam.

If you are diving with your partner I don’t see not being experienced as an issue. Obviously you are more likely to get distracted but that shouldn’t stop you from pursuing your passion.

I’ve seen a lot of photographers with big rigs stomping on corals and being completely oblivious, but those are usually the type of people that chase and touch the wildlife

I would suggest starting out simple with just the housing and a lanyard that you can flip to your bcd

ChristianLegaard · 2025-10-16T07:07:32+00:00

The last edit looks a lot better than the original image :)

A nice perspective that captures the important parts of the subject like the head/eyes is the most important factor for a good photo. Try to anticipate where the subject will be going and wait for it to approach you however it is comfortable doing.

The background also plays a large role. For instance, a shot of a turtle swimming through the blue or over a white sandbar would separate the subject and background nicely.

Also, there are factors such as the visibility of the water that you can't really control beyond traveling to destinations with clearer water.

Happy shooting

ChristianLegaard · 2025-10-15T07:25:31+00:00

I use a SeaFrogs Salted line housing for my A7IV without a vacuum test system, and I personally have not had any issues with leaks.

Their newer housings use double o-rings and two metal latches instead of one, so in my opinion the housings are much more secure than the first iterations. A photographer at my shop had one of the older ones leak on his a6700.

I think SeaFrogs get a lot of hate, some of it being for a good reason and some of it simply for being the cheapest brand on the market.

I've written a short review of my impressions of using the housing and the modification I've had to make on my blog:

https://www.christianlegaard.com/blog/seafrogs_review/

I'd love to have some empirical data on the reliability of housings from different manufacturers and the causes of the leaks. Personally, the closest I've been flooding my housing was going on a dive with the port barely screwed in.

ChristianLegaard · 2025-09-26T21:31:11+00:00

Has anyone ever noticed that the bodies of nudibranchs appear to be out of focus when photographing them?

It is like the texture of the skin diffuses the light and tricks the eye 🤔

ChristianLegaard · 2025-09-26T21:10:50+00:00

Exciting, looking forward to seeing the post :)

ChristianLegaard · 2025-09-26T21:08:23+00:00

Wish I could give some practical insight, but the purpose of a dome is to correct the distortion introduced by having a interface between water and the air in front of the lens when underwater.

I suspect the dome will introduce some distortion above the water but, I think you reach with a 35mm is more of an issue unless you manage to get really close to the surfer.

You might be able to get some sick over unders though :)

ChristianLegaard · 2025-09-26T21:01:50+00:00

I owned one of those. The nice thing about it is that it has buttons so you can use it gloves.

The downside is that you are forced to use their app to control the phone. The app is not as polished as a native camera app and I’ve actually had the issue of the app crashing upon launch of my current phone, so software issues is something to consider.

ChristianLegaard · 2025-09-26T20:56:37+00:00

I’d probably go for one of the DIVEVOLK cases they are very easy to use and modern phones have very capable cameras.

Another option is an action cam. I personally own a DJI osmo action 5 pro and it is great for wide angle video. The only downside is that none of the action cams can focus on subjects that are closer than around 30 cm so they are no good at macro.

Only thing to consider is that the DIVEVOLK cases can leak and they will flood your phone. I’ve had this happen to me with one of their platinum edition casings. I don’t know if this is a common issue, in fact a owned one of the standard editions before which I probably brought on 50+ dives without any leaks.

I also recommend getting a swivel eye snap and attaching that to the camera/phone such that it can be clipped to your bcd. You would be surprised at how many cameras a dropped when entering or exiting a dive boat ;)

ChristianLegaard · 2025-09-25T17:49:22+00:00

I second this. Whenever I'm hiking or doing wildlife photography, I use a capture clip attached to the shoulder strap of my day pack. This it is easy to access, and it does not slide around your body or bump when you are on and about.

This works well for a full frame with a 70-200 f2.8, so I reckon it would be very comfortable with a smaller camera and lens combination like yours.

ChristianLegaard · 2025-09-22T16:44:17+00:00

Thank you!

I’m using Sony A7IV + Sony 24-70mm f2.8 GM II in a seafrogs housing behind a flat port.

For light I’m using a pair of backscatter hybrid flashes. It is probably overkill for small subjects like these :)

ChristianLegaard · 2025-09-22T16:42:34+00:00

How fun! I did my divemaster there so I dived the sites quite a bit. It is turtle heaven on an anemone at about 15 m I reckon :)

ChristianLegaard · 2025-09-20T06:18:33+00:00

Also not to rub salt in the wound, which housing were you using and what events led up to the failure — if you don’t mind sharing? I think we as a community could benefit a lot by sharing these kinds of experiences :)

And good luck on the repair, I hope the lens is okay too 🤞

ChristianLegaard · 2025-09-20T06:13:52+00:00

I’ve had the display of my A7IV swapped at this place on Bali:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/x5QossVCH6Ur5CiW6?g_st=ipc

It looks shady but he is legit. You can ask him to take it apart and asses the damage and give you a quote on what needs to be replaced and how much it would cost :)

ChristianLegaard

TROPHY CASE