… on this very day, I was testing out a reverse periscope in Florida while my brother visited.
Here’s the deal: I really wanted some underwater pics in situ, but couldn’t afford an underwater camera. At that time, digital cameras were just appearing on the market – I remember one photographer in our wedding photography group just getting one, and everyone else asking about it – and specialty, underwater cameras wouldn’t be along for a few years yet. So the options were very expensive film cameras like the Nikonos line, or cheapy little things with a fixed lens, worthless for macro work. So I’d constructed a periscope to see under the water while the camera remained above, out of PVC pipe, a truck side mirror, and a sheet of clear acrylic for the port. The camera was my old trusty Canon Elan IIe and the Sigma 105mm macro; the lenshood fitted well into a reducing coupler at the top.
What I found with initial tests was that it was quite buoyant, and wanted to bob up out of the water, so it was anchored firmly to the monopod for better handling (necessary anyway because it wasn’t actually attached to the camera or lens otherwise.) The focus range was limited because the distance to the subject had to be a minimum of 50cm or so, just accounting for the periscope body itself, but then sediment would prevent seeing a lot beyond a meter. And lighting was an issue as well, not to mention subjects that would let this looming contraption close enough for decent pics anyway.
Then, there were the issues of the overall color cast provided by the hue of the water itself, magnified by the simple property that red and yellow wavelengths get scattered quickly by water, and as you can see here, refraction effects from the surface making strange light patterns. Given that I was already using an aquarium to photograph aquatic subjects, allowing more versatility in lighting and preventing subjects from slipping away, it didn’t see a lot of use. After moving back to North Carolina, I had absolutely no use for it because the water clarity anywhere in the state, well, isn’t – NC has the worst suspended sediment of any state I’ve snorkeled in. Now, I even have a decent, digital, underwater camera, and it’s seen almost no use underwater because it’s pointless around here, and the few times I’ve been elsewhere in appropriate conditions, I’ve found nothing to pursue. It does, however, serve as something I can carry along without worries when kayaking.
This is one of the first test shots though, taken in the pond at the apartment complex where I lived, and it came out halfway decently. In order to coax something close enough to the port, I dropped a couple of bread balls into the water right in front of the periscope, which worked quite well; the resident minnows were pleased with it, and enough of them faced the lens for a nice shot. Those are all minnows in the frame, by the way.
I have to take the opportunity to point out that the top pic shows my routine snorkeling haunt in Florida, which is the Indian River Lagoon, a mostly-saltwater sound behind the barrier islands. Cruising along on the far side of those rocks netted me so many interesting critters for the aquarium, as well as spotting numerous manatees, dolphins, sea turtles, stingrays, cow-nose rays, and I think a manta that leapt from the water. Once when snorkeling, I paused my forward motion abruptly and a tiny unidentified fish appeared from under my nose, realized it was now exposed in open sunlight, and darted back underneath my belly again; it had been cruising along with me, sheltered from view, possibly treating me like a manatee of something.
I also have to note that I considered including what I’d taken ten years ago on this date, but that was absolutely nothing. I have to make sure I take some photos today…