Gear

Blogged by Simon on January 30, 2009 2:04pm | Last updated by Simon on August 11, 2010 11:02am |

I dive a Nikon D300 as my underwater camera which I bought in 2008. Next to the general rave reviews, the main criteria to buy my first D-SLR camera were the price, DX format chip, good low light performance and low noise. As of 2010 I am still very happy with the D300.

Initially, I used the Nikon 105mm lens for macro and the 10.5mm fisheye lens for wide angle. The 105mm has a very narrow angle of view and is really a super macro lens, which is more difficult to shoot, so I added the Nikon 60mm for general purpose macro, and later the excellent Tokina 35mm macro (which still focuses almost 1cm in front of the lens).

On the wide angle front, I am very happy with the Nikon 10.5mm fisheye for wrecks or large schools of fish. I should subsequently add the Tokina 11-16mm wide-angle which I sold again and replaced with the Nikon 10-24mm wide-angle and the Tokina 10-17mm fisheye (which is wider). My favorite general purpose lenses are now the Nikon 60mm macro and the Tokina 10-17mm fisheye.

Here, all my underwater photography gear is packed in a pelican 1620 case with pick&plug foam. It’s big enough for housing, ports, lenses, and while not really cheap, it is an excellent case to protect against shock and the elements, when travelling. I also added a padded soft esky (cooler bag) to carry the camera around and to protect it against damage on boats, which also doubles up as a rinse tank.