Tips for Shooting Wide Angle Marine Photography

by Steve Norvich
If you are like me, you probably started out in underwater photography by shooting a Nikonos V (or Sea and Sea) with framers and extension tubes. As time goes by, however, certain limitations of this system can get frustrating. As such there is a tendency to move to a Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera which is either amphibious by nature or is housed in a metal or Lucite housing from one of the many good vendors in the business. An SLR allows more creativity and control over the results since in most cases you see what you are shooting in the viewfinder (in certain cases, however, less than 100% of the image is in the viewfinder), but it also requires more skill than simply placing a framer over a subject and pressing the trigger. While this will certainly remove many of the limitations imposed by not using an SLR camera, it also will whet your appetite for shooting reef scenics and large marine animals rather than small marine animals that move slowly. These larger reef scenes are normally taken with a wider angle lens, which can vary from 14mm to 35mm. I personally favor the Nikonos 15mm lens for the Nikonos V camera, and a housed 18mm lens for a housed 100% viewfinder camera such as the Nikon F5. Don't take my personal preferences as more than recommendations of what I personally like.

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