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Fuji F80EXR - The Fish and Critter Enthusiasts Underwater Camera
The Fuji F80EXR in it's WP -FXF80 underwater housing is a very capable and easy to use underwater camera that is especially well suited to photographing small to medium sized fish in good visibility. It also excels for extreme close up work, even in low viz, making it perfect for underwater photography in home waters or exotic critter diving destinations like Lembeh and the Philippines.
The Fuji F80EXR has a 12MP sensor. The zoom lens fitted to the Fuji F80EXR is a 10X Fujinon that runs from 27mm wide- angle to 270mm telephoto (35mm equivalent). Underwater, the 27mm lens behaves much like a 36mm and the telephoto becomes approximately 360mm due to refraction. This makes the Fuji F80EXR suited to small to medium size fish photography in good visibility typical of popular overseas diving locations. The lens range lets you keep your distance from marine life, yet still zoom in to fill the frame with something small like an anthia. You can easily work with subjects such as clown fish through to jacks, napoleon wrasse and the smaller sharks and rays. When not under the water, the wide angle end of the zoom is good for group shots, photographing in confined areas like dive boat saloons while the telephoto end can be used for yacht to yacht photography, for instance, or long distance animal portraits on safari. It's important to realise that Ocean Optics does not recommend the Fuji F80EXR for underwater photography of large subjects including mantas, basking or whale sharks, reef scenes, shipwrecks or for shooting general subjects in poor visibility. These subjects and conditions require the use of genuine underwater wide- angle lenses, which we consider the Fuji F80EXR to have serious incompatibility issues with. Simple dome ports marketed for the Fuji F80EXR are not wide- angle lenses at all and merely stop the lens changing focal length when it is submerged.
The Fuji F80EXR features a built in macro mode for close up photography. Like most compact cameras this has some limitations - closest focusing is
achieved on the wide-angle setting, so small subjects may not really fill the frame. Normally compact cameras suffer also from a shadow created by the built in flash at close camera to subject distances. Adding an INON UCL165M67 or INON UCL330M67 close up lens makes the Fuji F80EXR much more effective for photographing very small subjects at short distances as you can zoom in. A built in diffuser on the INON AD28 lens adapter also helps the built in flash to evenly light your subject, preventing annoying shadows. However the built in macro mode is very useful for photographing shy fish at distances of around a metre to two and a half metres. At this range you can fully zoom in and still get sharply focused images, making it possible to literally capture an image of something as small as a fishes eyeball. It's best to avoid using the built in flash for these types of longer-range photos, as you'll almost certainly get backscatter. It's better to add either an INON underwater flash, like the INON S-2000, INON D-2000 or INON Z- 240 or use manual white balance with an Alex Mustard Magic Filter. These solutions will restore vibrant colours when used properly. Mark or Steve can talk you through the best settings to use by phone if buying mail order or in the showroom if you can call in. The Fuji F80EXR offers a user friendly tracking autofocus mode that helps to follow moving subjects, like fish, and keeps them sharp.
The Fuji F80EXR offers a choice of automatic exposure scene modes, which are a convenience for topside shooting. Underwater auto modes can be very restrictive and often lead to disappointing images. A "normal" auto mode can be useful when snorkelling, especially when shooting fast moving subjects like dolphins. But most underwater photographers will find the Fuji F80EXR's aperture priority and manual exposure modes more useful. Aperture priority is used to prevent over exposure when using underwater flashguns at short distances for close ups or to maximise underwater flash range when photographing hard to approach fish. It's also used to increase or decrease depth of field, helping you throw distracting backgrounds out of focus or keeping the entire picture sharp from front to back. Manual exposure lets you select a limited range of apertures, but a full range of shutter speeds from 1/2000th of a second to 8 full seconds. Fast shutter speeds help you freeze swiftly moving subjects like sharks and slow shutter speeds introduce deliberate blur to create a sense of motion. We also use shutter speeds to control the background colour behind a subject - for example, a lion fish shot at high noon may look much better on a jet black background instead of the light blue backdrop a camera set to auto would choose. High shutter speeds also help avoid burn out when the sun is in the shot. The Fuji F80EXR has an ISO range of 100 to 12800 - this can also be used to help control exposure.
The large 3 inch monitor works well in bright light and the displays are comprehensive, keeping you fully informed of what the camera is doing. The Fuji F80EXR shoots high definition video at the 720 standard, letting you capture the grace of a swimming stingray or the gentle sway of an anemone.
The Fuji F80EXR offers many other useful features. The sensor can take multiple images that are then automatically combined into one picture to combat common problems such as burn out from sunbursts appearing in the shot. Other features help reduce noise when shooting in low light typical of underwater photography. Flexibility of the Fuji F80EXR is assured by the addition of INON close up lenses, INON underwater flash units, INON LE underwater video and focusing lights and Alex Mustard Magic Filters.
The matched Fuji WP -FXF80 underwater housing is built to Fuji's usual high standard. All camera controls can be accessed. The housing is rated to 40 metres. A nice touch is Fuji's signature double O ring seal to reduce the risk of a user caused flood. A very useful accessory shoe is built into the Fuji WP-FXF80 underwater camera housing that accepts INON's Shoe Base for mounting INON LE Series video lights and INON flash units. A simple and inexpensive adapter connects your INON strobe cable to the camera housing. An INON Lens Adapter lets you attach M67 fit INON UCL165 and INON UCL330 close up lenses and UR Pro underwater colour correction filters. This makes for a very compact underwater camera system.
The Fuji F80EXR Underwater Camera System / Fuji F80 Close up accessories for the F80EXR / Underwater Flash Photography with the F80FXR
INON UK Level One Underwater Photography Course
Developed by Ocean Optics' Mark Koekemoer and Steve Warren, and approved by leading underwater camera equipment manufacturer INON, this beginner's course can really help you avoid the pitfalls of taking pictures under the water. Instead you'll learn how to take great images on our purpose designed replica reef in Underwater Studios movie tank. More>
Underwater Photography Manuals
"The Underwater Photographer - 4th Edition" by Martin Edge
Martin is considered one of the most influential underwater photography educators in the world. The 500 page plus 4th edition Martin's "The Underwater Photographer" packs in a phenomenal amount of information, advice and inspirational ideas. Truly encyclopaedic in it's scope, this is a book an underwater photographer can either read cover to cover or simply dip into when they need a solution to a problem. Ocean Optics' Mark Koekemoer and Steve Warren were among the contributing authors brought in to lend their expertise to Martin's mammoth project.
"Underwater Photography for Compact Camera Users" by Maria Munn
Maria Munn pioneered underwater photography courses for compact users with her no nonsense Ocean Visions programs. In "Underwater Photography for Compact Camera Users", Maria takes her straightforward, jargon busting approach to shooting with digital compacts and packs it into her first book. Lavishly illustrated in full colour, hundreds of images taken with compact underwater digital cameras prove just how capable these cameras are.
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