Coverage of the Digital Shootout
Nauticam USA is proud to be a premier sponsor of the Digital Shootout 2011 in Bonaire. This is the second installment of our daily coverage of the shootout.
First boat dives of the trip - it's great to be back in Bonaire and hear the divemaster rattle off site names that I fondly remember. Today we visited Klein Bonaire, the uninhabited island offshore surrounded by reef. We had a great group on the boat, and other than a blown HP hose, the first set of dives went off without a hitch. I shot the Canon 7D in a Nauticam (of course) with a Zen 230mm. Part of the time I was working on getting some shots for the shootout blog that would include some people shots and some gear.
I decided to shoot the Canon 10-22 for this. Everyone loves Tokina 10-17, and I also love to shoot that lens, but for me there is just something about shooting rectilinear underwater that I enjoy. The downside is that you can't shoot the mini-domes like the awesome Zen Underwater DP-100; the upside is that you get to use the also awesome DP-230. With the combo of the 230mm dome and the 10-22 lens, I got some gear images that were absolutely tack sharp. See yesterday's installment for a good example of that sharpness.
In the afternoon I opted for the bugeye lens, officially the Inon Underwater Micro Semi-Fisheye Relay Lens UFL-MR130 EFS60 (say that 3 times fast). This is definitely a specialty lens; hard to get sharp shots, but the perspective it affords is very unique. I enjoy shooting it a lot, and it sometimes frustrates me to no end, but today I managed to get one keeper, a super tight shot of a black seahorse. It's cool to get that close to something and still get a blue and wide background. I also liked the lettuce sea slug below; it's not a perspective you often see of that creature.
