Here’s my final part of my series from Bonaire, with my underwater photos taken with the Nikonos V. I still enjoy using this camera for underwater photography, despite the obvious disadvantages of film over digital photography (fixed iso, limited frames, no auto-focus, etc). No digital underwater camera can match the viewfinder and the wonderful sound this shutter makes. Anyway, I have a fair bit of photos I like, as I am improving my skills. The most difficult parts are depth of field with the limited iso, and staying still underwater, while having dived deeper for a better viewpoint. But practice makes perfect, so hopefully one day I will bring home a few rolls of perfectly executed images on film!
Velvia is quite a difficult film with the low iso (I use Velvia 100), but when it works the blues are quite good:
Ultramax 400 is a more budget friendly film, and gives pretty good results. There is a bit more contrast and saturation than I would prefer, but sometimes that is exactly what the subject needs.
Portra 800 is still my favourite film for underwater photography, the colours are great and the higher iso makes the keeper rate higher (less motion blur as I can keep the exposure time fairly short):
This is my favourite image, with the two Angel fish:
Spot the spotted trunk fish (I will help you out, it’s right in the middle of the photo):
A few more Ultramax images, not all under water but some are taken with the Nikonos around the water:
Finally my favourite series with Portra 800:
All film was developed by me in Tetenal and scanned on my Reflecta scanner.
Thanks for reading!