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Biography of Underwater Photographer Charles S. Hood
Born in 1960 Charles first started taking wildlife photographs at the age of 8. After winning the best junior award at his local school, with an image of a swan, he\'s never looked back. At the age of 16 he started taking photographs underwater while living in the Middle East. His equipment then consisted of a Kodak Instamatic in a homemade plastic housing. Since then Charles has won numerous awards for his work in the UK and worldwide. These include, the most first prizes in any one year at the British Society of Underwater Photographers, the current UK Underwater Photographer of the Year held since 2001 and culminating in being twice specially commended at the Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year in 2004 and 2005. Today Charles is a freelance underwater photojournalist under contract to DIVE magazine in UK. He also is a major shareholder in the UK\'s largest dedicated underwater photographic stock library to which he has over 5000 images online. His work is almost exclusively commercial, involving filming mostly people and big animals underwater with his Nikon D2x in an Aquatica housing. He has racked up over 60 front covers including being only one of two underwater photographers to have had a cover on TIME magazine.
What I look for in a Dive Operator:
Even after having spent over 4000 hours underwater my main priority in a dive operator is that they are safe and competent. They need to have an exceptional understanding of the dive site, conditions and potential risks. Working with either two or three models at a time or large, potentially dangerous creatures, I can\'t afford to have to worry about currents, weather or diving logistics. Following that, they must have a good sense of humour and enjoy what they are doing, after all, I do what I do because it\'s incredibly good fun, and long may it continue. At the end of the day the ultimate operator serves me a slightly chilled flat English bitter ale. OK, a fizzy frozen Bud comes a welcomed second.
Underwater Photography of Charles S. Hood
Latest Charles S. Hood's Comments
Mar 9, 2010
The last of the pro-am film cameras that I owned it was a bit of a disappointment after the F90, yes it was better but not by very much. A good camera but not a classic.
Mar 9, 2010
What an iconic camera. This body has to go down in history as one of the all time greats along of course with the F801 for u/w photography. I still have mine, its a calssic and to be honest for medium sized prints or web work its more than capable - just don't shoot into the sun. I use it for work when I know it may not survive as I don't want to risk the D3 but it just keeps on going and giving credible results.
Mar 9, 2010
Well mine is almost 20 years old, I bought it when it replaced the old manual focus 55mm micro back in 1990 and its seen an estimated 50,000 frames put through it. Its a general work horse lens for close-up work but also general topside stuff and studio product pix as well. Also not bad as a quick portarit lens if you want more depth of field than say the 105mm. Mine has had its fair share of salt water spray over it and still carries on - I fear the new af-s version may not be as robust?
Mar 9, 2010
super sharp and fast macro lens. Works well on both FX and DX cameras. You need to shoot at F16 plus to get any depth of field so make sure your chip is free of dust. Try using it for fish portraits as well as pure macro as this gives very pleasing results.
Mar 9, 2010
excellent f/f fisheye for DX cameras, you need to shoot above f4 as it will be soft on the deges below this aperture. Also a cover is essential if you use a large dome port to prevent internal reflection from the gold printing. If you pop a 1/2 diopter lens in the rear filter bay then it will focus on the dome!
Mar 9, 2010
Well since I know own the D3 housing that says a lot about what I think of Aquatica. They make an honestly priced first rate piece of kit that withstands all the knocks I end up giving my cameras. A few controls had to be adjusted but this was usually the case a few years ago. Mine completed around 1000 dives before I upgraded and is now still going strong with its new owner.
Mar 9, 2010
Good solid housing from Aquatica and the second one I've owned. The machining is excellent and all controls worked first time! They've improved the coating as mine is showing very little wear even though its been on around 500 dives and spent two months on the end of a pole last year. I did have a probem with the flash connector and have since lengthened it slightly but this is a minor problem. There is a small amount of corrosion around the top catch but then again not much. Considering what its been through so far it has coped well and I wouldn't have any hesitation buying the D4 version perhaps in the future!
Mar 9, 2010
never used it underwater but its great topside for photojournalism. It does move in and out across the zoom so would only be sharp at one focal length unless your port also moved I guess?
Mar 9, 2010
Simply the 'dogs' as we say in Britain. This is the best lens by far for wide angle on the FX format. Super sharp at f8. It maybe just a touch soft at f2.8 at the edges but for wreck photography for instance perfectly acceptable. You need to make a neoprene jacket to go over the top to prevent internal reflection - especially if you like big dome ports.
Mar 9, 2010
Better than the new ones, the YS90 had a great slave sensor much, much more sensitive than the YS110 for instance. Why oh why do companies make a great product them f**k it up with a later model? If you see one of these beauties new buy it, or please tell me where it is and I will!
Mar 9, 2010
Brilliant guns, half or full power and thats it. I have one left out of my original two that must have done over 2000 dives with me and its worked every time. Its now got a 10m/33ft lead on so I can fire it at a long distance. If anyone knows of a secret stash of new stock sitting somewhere I'd be greatful!
Mar 9, 2010
These are my workhorse strobes, cheap and pretty reliable. You can buy 4 of these guys for the price of a top end gun. Not quite as good as the now out-of-manufacture YS90 & 60s which were virtually indestructable. What I like is the incredible fast recycle times, especially if you use the new Duracell rechargeable cells and on half power. The slave facitity is crap which a big let down after the previous YS90 which works very well.
Mar 9, 2010
Incredible at high ISO, the best I've seen on the market so far. Useful for wideangle in low light eg. deep wreck photogarphy, or for capturing fast moving subjest like dolphins. For close-ups you have to watch the depth of field - not as good as DX format so you may be better off with the the D2x.
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