NZPhotographer Issue 37, November 2020

CASTLE ROCK
F6.3, 1/80s, ISO125
If you already own a DSLR, mirrorless, or compact
camera one of the most popular options is to buy a
waterproof case or ‘housing’ for your existing camera.
These housings range from simple plastic housings
rated to 10m depth to machined aluminium housings
that technical divers routinely take to over 75m depth.
New housings for DSLRs and mirrorless cameras can
cost upward of $10,000 so if you are unsure or unable
to lay out this much, a good place to look for housings
is online forums or second-hand online retailers.
Housings are camera specific so people will upgrade
often, and you can nab a bargain online if you are
willing to use a camera that might be one step down
from the top of the range. I have bought most of my
housings secondhand from overseas or from fellow NZ
photographers that were looking to upgrade.
If you are using a DSLR or mirrorless camera
underwater you will need to invest in specific ‘ports’
for each of the lenses you will be using. Even many
compact cameras require additional ‘wet lenses’,
converters attached to the front of a housing to widen
the frame of view or focus more closely in macro
scenarios. Most DSLR or mirrorless shooters will invest
in a good macro lens and a wide angle or fisheye
lens; and there is no reason not to use lenses you
already use topside underwater. Many land-based
nature photographers will already have a macro lens
in their arsenal, and as an underwater photographer,
particularly in our often-greener temperate waters,
a shorter focal length macro lens like a 60mm is
easier to use. This lens can be used for anything from
photographing nudibranchs or tiny crustaceans to
stunning fish portraits. One other essential lens that
you might be less likely to own already is a fisheye
lens. These are the widest lenses available typically
covering 180 degrees; meaning you can easily
capture a whole reef scene, large animal or school
of fish. However, the main selling point for these
lenses is their ability to focus incredibly close to the
foreground, this allows the photographer to compose
an eye-catching shot that has depth to balance out
the incredibly wide field of view. If you are shooting
with a compact camera adding a supplementary
wide-angle waterproof ‘wet lens’ to the housing
can achieve similar results to a DSLR with a fisheye
lens however, you may encounter more distortion.
To keep your lenses safe underwater most housing
manufacturers make interchangeable ‘ports’ which
are specific to each lens, macro ports are often as
small as possible to allow you to get close to the
subject you are photographing and wide angle lenses
are housed in dome ports, half a sphere of acrylic or
glass that allows for the super wide field of view.
NZPhotographer
November 2020
57