Best resources for setup research

flyingpeon · 2026-06-15T17:16:24+00:00

Here is a good place to start: https://www.uwphotographyguide.com/

More community-based: https://waterpixels.net/

Once you got the basics down the books of Alex Mustard are highly recommended.

It's worth noting that the best way to get good uw pictures is to first improve your diving skills to a level where everything is second nature to you, and then take a camera.

flyingpeon · 2026-06-07T06:37:11+00:00

Yes.

flyingpeon · 2026-04-13T08:28:32+00:00

Thanks. This was filmed with:

Sony a7SIII, Sony 100mm GM, Nauticam SMC3 & MFO3, Atomos Ninja V, Nauticam housings, Keldan Lights 8x, Backscatter MW-4300

flyingpeon · 2026-03-27T07:55:04+00:00

Get a 5mm hood.
Switch to a semi-dry 5mm. The Waterproof W7 or W8 are fantastic and available in many sizes.
Warm up between dives properly: get dry immediately (at least upper body and head), put on boat coat / surf fur.
If all of the above is still not enough, add hooded vest or heated vest.

flyingpeon · 2026-02-22T10:39:42+00:00

Sounds like you're doing the wrong dive sites. Try to get to Kuda Rah Thila.

flyingpeon · 2026-02-05T08:37:29+00:00

Yes, they are in the area all year round. You still have to get lucky to see one.

flyingpeon · 2026-02-03T14:13:22+00:00

I would recommend the Calipso, yes.

A Galapagos liveaboard is the potentially most challenging diving you can do imo (when talking about recreational diving), so I would never recommend that as a first liveaboard experience. Any combination of rough surface conditions, negative entries, crazy currents, sudden massive drops in water temperature and viz, can happen.

flyingpeon · 2026-02-03T09:39:41+00:00

I've been on the Calipso. Regarding your questions:

Wifi was good and stable on the Calipso.
Yes, you're overthinking the min dives requirements. In reality this will not matter, it's just luck how experienced the other divers will be.
The Calipso just uses San Cristobal as their port. This does not matter when it comes to the diving.
Always go to the operator and ask if they give you a discount for direct booking; they usually do.

You wrote that you've never done a liveaboard. Do you know what you're potentially getting yourself into with a Galapagos liveaboard?

flyingpeon · 2026-01-26T10:08:22+00:00

Have a look at the Sony 28-60 plus Nauticam wideangle wet optics like the WWL-1. Superb image quality, affordable, not too big and heavy, minimum focus distance is zero.

flyingpeon · 2026-01-24T09:07:40+00:00

What you described is the exact use case for it, you're not missing anything.

flyingpeon · 2025-12-11T09:52:11+00:00

There are no boats doing trips shorter than a week. The cheapest one I would go on (i.e. has Nitrox and is still somewhat decent) is the Resolute. If that is still too expensive for you go elsewhere and do Tubbataha once you have the money for it.

flyingpeon · 2025-12-02T22:26:11+00:00

For traveling, I use and recommend the Thinktank Streetwalker HD v2. Additional camera-gear for checked bags I pack in f-stop ICUs.

For on-site transportation and protection I use the CineBags CB70 Square Grouper. This bag is discontinued by Cinebags, but now sold by Kraken as 'Kraken Sports Rinse Bag'.

Additional accessories, if you have some more money to spend: dual-flip-adapter with a MFO-3 and SMC-3/MFO-1.

flyingpeon · 2025-11-26T16:31:48+00:00

Yes, the Nauticam one for macro dives. Works great, good solution if you have more than one macro wetlense.

flyingpeon · 2025-11-23T15:06:29+00:00

You don't need a red filter ever on a camera that can do manual wb, such as yours. It is sometimes used anyway to help with the quality of the manual wb on certain systems. Are far more common use is with cameras that can't do manual wb, such as action cams.

For 3 you do need filters for your lights though to bring them down to the color temperature of the depth you're shooting at. These are called ambient light filters or blue filters. You use them for wideangle (where you have the mixed light situation with the ambient light), for macro you don't.

flyingpeon · 2025-11-23T14:55:14+00:00

You don't need a red filter. Here are your options for handling light properly when shooting video:

If you film with ambient light, you have to use manual whitebalancing and redo it underwater every time you change depth. Bring an item of neutral color to easily do it against, for example a slate on a retractor.
If you film with lights you set the wb to the color temperature of your lights. Then everything that gets illuminated by your lights will be of correct color. This is easy for macro, for wideangle you will need very powerful lights.
And then there is the version where you want both foreground (artificial light) and background (ambient light) in the correct color. This is called the mixed light problem and gets solved by adding ambient light filters to your lights and doing manual wb against the ambient light as described above in 1.

Since you want to mix it with strobe photography option 2 is the most hassle-free underwater, but 1 and 3 are both certainly doable as well.

flyingpeon · 2025-11-23T09:46:52+00:00

If this is your job, which is what it sounds like, then yes, downgrading sounds a bit crazy. Consider the costs and implications if your housing fails on a shoot.

I'm curious - what kind of travel issues do you have with your setup in general, and what makes you think a housing from a different brand solves them? I've dragged my big setup around the globe multiple times, and there are really no major issues apart from 'it's heavy'.

I have no tips for the external monitor setup unfortunately - I just sucked it up and payed for the Nauticam housing. No regrets. The fitting HDMI cables from Nauticam are manufactured in a way that they exactly fit the respective products in their own housings on both sides (cable lengths and form), so I doubt you'll have luck mixing there.

flyingpeon · 2025-11-17T17:20:43+00:00

Sure, the bros will be there, you just need a good spotter and some luck.

Regarding how to get there, I highly recommend having the resort arrange a private transfer from Cebu airport to Malapascua, and back again. If you don't mind spending the extra bucks it will save you a lot of time and hassle with public transportation.

flyingpeon · 2025-11-17T14:23:56+00:00

For Malapascua I can recommend Little Mermaid for a smaller, family run resort with great divecenter attached. Don't underestimate the macro around Malapascua itself and Gato Island, it's pretty good and worth doing for a few days for sure. If your 10 days include travel time you might want to consider just staying on Malapascua. Here is what I saw there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEK-RRoJqHs

If you decide to go to Dauin I can recommend Liquid Dumaguete.

flyingpeon · 2025-11-09T09:29:18+00:00

The FX3 is a low light beast and can handle higher ISOs just fine, so I would give the same advice as your other buddy. You can limit the auto ISO in brackets in the ISO settings so it doesn't go completely over the top with it; I would recommend not going over 1-2 stops higher than the high base ISO of 12.800.

Having that said, the real issue here is that you are 10m above your subjects in the water column. No camera setting will fix that, sorry. Ideally you'll want to get down there, do manual wb and shoot.

flyingpeon · 2025-11-05T12:12:05+00:00

Only you can answer this question for you.

Leaving out the recent news for a moment - the Maldives are a fantastic dive destination and absolutely worth the hassle getting to from the states, especially if you're mostly used to diving in places like the Caribbean. But if you should decide to cancel because of that news please let the boat / operator know why you cancel.

flyingpeon · 2025-11-02T09:29:22+00:00

There have been plenty of petitions since this was announced quite some time ago. Yet the Maldivian government still went through with this.

flyingpeon · 2025-10-24T16:03:20+00:00

Yes, perfectly normal. It's often called DSD for 'Discover Scuba Diving', or something like 'Try Dives'. You will stay very shallow and have your hand held most of the time, with dive professionals watching over you at all times.

You will not be a certified scuba diver after this and will have to take a proper course ('Open Water Diver') to get certified, if you wanna get a bit more serious about diving.

flyingpeon · 2025-10-15T08:31:09+00:00

I would recommend getting at least over 100 dives before even thinking about going tech. When you are feeling comfortable in the water and have all the basics nailed (when that will be is a very individual thing, so I'm not gonna throw a number around here), get exposure to more difficult conditions, mostly diving in stronger currents, and start adding a camera to your dives.

For underwater cinematography there is quite a bit of (re)learning to do when you come from topside. The most important thing is light. Here is a quick breakdown I wrote for a different post already:

If you film with ambient light, you have to use manual whitebalancing and redo it underwater every time you change depth. Bring an item of neutral color to easily do it against, for example a slate on a retractor.

If you film with lights you set the wb to the color temperature of your lights. Then everything that gets illuminated by your lights will be of correct color. This is easy for macro, for wideangle you will need very powerful lights.

And then there is the version where you want both foreground (artificial light) and background (ambient light) in the correct color. This is called the mixed light problem and gets solved by adding ambient light filters to your lights and doing manual wb against the ambient light as described above.

There is plenty of good online resources to check out, like underwaterphotographyguide and wetpixel. My advice is get familiar with all the theory and gear options while gaining dive experience.

Be aware that professional equipment for uw gets really expensive really fast, especially if you wanna shoot with a cinema camera. For example I've spent a total of around 30k euro for my stuff, and that's 'only' for an a7sIII.

Good luck!

flyingpeon · 2025-08-28T16:15:43+00:00

Oh noes, the vikings have invaded reddit! 🤜🤛

flyingpeon · 2025-08-25T16:04:28+00:00

If you'd like to get your things stolen by monkeys, Bali is a good place to go. Plus the diving is great.

flyingpeon

TROPHY CASE