Hi all, I will be spending autumn on the Atlantic coast of the U.S. (Beaufort, NC) and am interested in starting to learn underwater photography. I can probably borrow a Nikonos V, 15mm lens and a huge orange flash (SB-101?) and bracket for the fall, but I have no idea if the 15mm lens will be the only lens I need. I hear there are many dolphins that live around the island I will be studying at, and so I was thinking that a 15mm lens may not be long enough (28 or 35mm?). I am interested in the 35mm because you can use it above ground as well. There's also the question of filtration. I know that using a short lens helps a lot because there is less water (and hence, floating particles and scattered blue light) between lens and subject, but when I looked at the photo.net underwater photography page, Phil has a series of low contrast pictures of dolphins which he said came out poorly due to the excessive blue light (they were even digitally enhanced so you can actually see what he took a picture of). I'm sure part of that was floating particles between him and the dolphins, but it seems like a strong warming filter would help improve the contrast. OTOH, I know I can't just screw in a filter to the front of the 15mm lens. So I'm looking for someone with underwater experience who can give suggestions to the aforementioned obstacles, and maybe point me to some good informational books or web sites so I can learn more. Thanks, Dan N.
