About

Our Photo Equipment

Records of the exact equipment setup used to take each of the images in our database are include in the database itself.   Thus, we can readily identify exactly what equipment was used to take any specific image. 
NOTE: We have now switched partially to video.

UNDERWATER CAMERAS

Many of the images in our database were taken with the housed camera setup that we used for several years:

For a number of years we switched to the following housed systems:

The zoom lenses were used behind an Ikelite dome port with either a +4 or a +5 diopter lens. Usually, on any specific dive, one of use would carry a housed setup with a Macro lens, while the other would carry a zoom lens setup. At night, we would add twin PCa spotting lights (one covered with a red gel filter) mounted over the lens port. We often also used a Nikonos with framer close-up system for specific subjects such as pygmy seahorses.

NIKONOS MACRO SETUP

Most recently we used

Images not taken using one of the above configurations were taken with earlier versions of these systems that used the following equipment in place of one or more of the items above:

FILM SELECTION AND PROCESSING

For all our underwater photography prior to switching to digital cameras we used almost exclusively Fuji Velvia Professional film. For duplicating slides we used Fuji CDU slide duplicating film.

We processed all of our own film using a JOBO film processor and Kodak E6 chemical kits. Film was cut and mounted in heat seal paperboard slide mounts using a Pic-Mount C-5 Manual film cutter (w/tacker) and Pic-Mount M-5 Manual slide mounter.

IMAGE SCANNING

All the film (non-digital) images on this web site are scanned with a Nikon LS4000 scanner.  Images were scanned originally as Raw TIFF files using VueScan software and stored on DVD media. We use ImageAXS Pro which we have now replaced by Adobe Lightroom in conjunction with Microsoft Access 2000 to store and organize our images and the underlying database. Images were prepared for the web site using a combination of VueScan and Adobe Photoshop. After the raw files were processed offline by VueScan, the images were cropped, levels are adjusted in Photoshop, then the images were re-sized, and written as medium quality JPG files and sharpened. No other image manipulation has been done on the images on the web site, except for a few (less than 10) images in which some backscatter has been eliminated.

For our digital images we use a similar workflow but using Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop for initial image processing.

For publication purposes we submit high resolution digital files. For our older film images, these digital files are from high resolution scans with our Nikon LS4000, but we can also provide original or duplicate slides of these images if preferred.

VIDEOS

Some of our videos were taken in standard format using a Sony TRV950 video camera in a Gates housing with Niterider HID video lights. Our HD videos were taken using a Canon Vixia HF G10 camcorder in a Light & Motion Bluefin OLED housing with Light & Motion Sola 2000 video lights. All video post processing has been performed using Adobe Premiere Pro.