apete

Forum username: apete
Real name: Anders (based on forum posts)
Posts: 262
Active years: 2003–2009
Primary forums: Photography Gear and Technique
Specialization: Compact camera systems, TTL strobe technology, Canon and Olympus point-and-shoot cameras

Community Role

apete (Anders) was a technically minded Wetpixel community member active during the early digital underwater photography era from 2003 to 2009. He was a strong advocate for capable point-and-shoot cameras as serious underwater photography tools, arguing that a truly capable compact with fast autofocus, minimal shutter lag, live view LCD, and RAW mode could be superior to a DSLR underwater due to bulk and viewfinder limitations. His detailed technical posts about TTL strobe systems, camera lag times, and optical design made him a respected voice in compact camera discussions.

Notable Contributions

• Olympus TTL breakthrough discussion: apete was among the first to discuss Ikelite’s announcement of true TTL flash control for the Olympus C-5060 housing — the first housing to convert Olympus hot shoe TTL signals for use with Ikelite DS-50 and DS-125 substrobes via sync cord, rather than slave-based systems. His technical questions about the TTL metering mechanism (pre-flash vs. through-the-lens measurement) prompted informative responses from Ikelite directly (^[1]).

• Canon G7 analysis and critique: His thread on the Canon PowerShot G7 and WP-DC11 housing became a major discussion point. apete wrote extensively about the G7’s shortcomings — the removal of RAW mode, added flash lag, and slower autofocus compared to the G6 — arguing that Canon had moved backwards from what serious underwater photographers needed. His passionate defense of RAW shooting and his analogy comparing JPEG-only to receiving prints but having negatives destroyed became widely referenced (^[2]).

• Nikon Coolpix P5000 evaluation: He contributed critical analysis of the P5000’s focus speed limitations, citing review data about 1-2 second focus delays that made it unsuitable for moving subjects. This was balanced by Fantasea Line’s Howard sharing positive dive-test results (^[3]).

• Ivanoff-Rebikoff corrector discussion: apete initiated a discussion about the Ivanoff-Rebikoff corrector/adaptor, an optical device for reducing dome port aberrations — showing his interest in the physics of underwater optics (^[4]).

• Macro lens recommendations: He sought and contributed to discussions about macro lens options, diopters, and the tradeoffs between different compact camera macro capabilities (^[5]).

Activity Profile

• Peak activity: 2003–2007
• Started 56 forum threads
• 1 article comment
• Equipment: Olympus compact cameras, Canon G-series, Nikon Coolpix series
• Advocated strongly for compact cameras with RAW capability and minimal shutter lag