Which lenses do you use for underground photography?

[francis]

Hi, I'm curious as to which lenses you guys use for underground photography.

I have a Nikon D80 and have used it underground on a few occasions. I have only used the 18-70mm f/3.5-45 kit lens so far. I have a 50mm f/1.8 too, but I think that will be too narrow.

For lighting I use an SB600.

Francis

 

[Dear Noel Axle]

Hi Francis,
I think many peoples answer to your question will be: "cheap ones". When I had an SLR there was no way that I would take it caving! Humidity, dust, throwing it around etc were the reasons it stayed on the surface. I now use a fairly cheap and quite small camera underground. Granted the results arn't the best, but I think it's more down to lighting than the lens etc.
You can see a few of my pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_paphia/sets/72157594502272949/

..the camera is an Acer CI-6330 btw.

Regards

 

[ogofmole]

I use a Nikon D70 and the 18-70mm kit lens, which I find to be just about right. As for lighting i buy many cheap no dedicated flashguns off e-bay (Max ?10 each) and connect a firefly to each one, i genially have four or five flashguns firing off at once, using one flashgun with a test button to fire the others. The Camera is covered in clingfilm, and transported in a Pelicase filled with bubblewrap. Flashguns and Firefly also wrapped in clingfilm and transported in Pelicases. Camera and Flashguns insured on household insurance policy, but I have never had a problem with any of my Nikon D70 underground which have been used for caving for over two years, I also have a cheap digital camera with a Firefly3 which is used on normal club trips.

 

[Andrew W]

I use a Nikon 18-35mm. This is mainly because since I moved digital I don't tend to use the lens above ground anymore (it was my super wide lens on my 35mm film camera but with the magnification factor you get on digitals I bought a 10-20mm for wide shots above ground).

I find it suits me for most subjects though if I was buying fresh I'd probably go for an 18-70.

Here are a few I've taken with the 18-35 and two SB600s.

http://s205.photobucket.com/albums/bb201/andrewwallis/Notts%20II/

 

[francis]

Thanks guys! Sounds like I have a good lens for use underground

I bought a 10-20mm for wide shots above ground

The sigma?

Francis

 

[Cave_Troll]

i have a Canon 350D, normally use the kit 18-55 lense although have been known to use a sigma 10-20

 

[Andrew W]

I bought a 10-20mm for wide shots above ground

The sigma?

Francis

Yep - quite a nice lens and didn't cost the earth.

 

[biffa]

I have a nice Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 for my 30D (Nikon mounts also available).  I've found it to be useful on the surface to get the extra stop, need to find some time to abuse it underground.  One feature that I feel can often be overlooked is the need for good, easy manual focus on a lens; the Canon kit lens is a nightmare in this regard.

7dayshop do very cheap UV filters which are good for protecting the delicate parts of your lens and at less than ?5 when they get scratched you can  easily through them away.

 

[francis]

One feature that I feel can often be overlooked is the need for good, easy manual focus on a lens; the Canon kit lens is a nightmare in this regard.

Good point, allthough I find manual focusing on any digital SLR a nightmare compared with my analog Pentax cameras. I really miss the split prism for manual focus. Katz eye have focusing screens that you can modify your camera with, but they can screw up auto focus ++ from what I have read on the web.

7dayshop do very cheap UV filters which are good for protecting the delicate parts of your lens and at less than ?5 when they get scratched you can  easily through them away.

Thanks for the tip. I got my filters from eBay (Hoya pro1D), at about 4x the price... Maybe I should get some cheap ones to use underground.

Francis

 

[Andrew W]

Couldn't agree more about getting a lens with a decent manual focus. I find that autofocus is pretty unreliable so I default to manual focus virtually all the time. I find the viewfinder too dark to adjust the focus through the viewfinder so I generally end up guessing the distance and using the distance scale on the manual focus ring. I can then check focus on the lcd afterwards and adjust if necessary.

If I didn't have a distance scale on my lens it would make life very awkward.

 

[Cave_Troll]

i normally focus manually using a small LED torch with more than 1 LED.
eg use a tikka plus on one of its dimmer settings.
If the head torch is too bright , you won't be able to distinguish the individual LEDS which you can use to focus on.

 

[francis]

That's a good tip. thanks 

Francis

 

[footleg]

I currently use a large lens compact camera (Olympus C8080 Widezoom) underground, so the lens is not changable. Focus control is via push buttons on the back of the camera, allowing me to use it in a Ewa Marine pvc housing. I generally take most pictures on 28mm (equiv. for a full frame 35mm camera).

 

[Burt]

i normally focus manually using a small LED torch with more than 1 LED.
eg use a tikka plus on one of its dimmer settings.
If the head torch is too bright , you won't be able to distinguish the individual LEDS which you can use to focus on.

Do you mean you put the tikka in the subject, focus on it and then remove it from shot? Seems like a cunning idea, my fuji S5000 sometimes has a struggle to focus in complete darkness.

 

[Cave_Troll]

get one of my models to look at me wearing either a tikka or a multi LED Duo.
Focus
Reposition head to desired facing

you've got to turn the LEDS down to lower setting when you're looking through the lense or they blur together and you can't distinguish the individual LEDS any more.

if not having any people in shot, then if its a close up of a stal, get someone to shine "A lot" of light on the stall so you can see it and focus properly.
if its a wide shot with no people in, get one of your "biological slaves" (TM) to look at you then duck back out of shot.

If all else fails, use instant reply on my DIGI SLR and have a few attempts to bracket focus.

 

[Burt]

Cheers, trollmeister - tried it in the house the other day (in a blackout) and it seemed to work. Next time im underground I'll try it for real.
We dont have biological slaves on Mendip and all my models have refused to work with me anymore.

 

[Les W]

We dont have biological slaves on Mendip and all my models have refused to work with me anymore.

The trials and tribulations of a cave photographer