Robert Delfs (frogfish)

Real name: Robert Delfs
Forum username: frogfish
Posts: 652
Active years: 2003—2018
Primary forums: Photography Gear and Technique, Photo / Video Showcase, Trip Reports and Travel, Conservation and the Environment
Specialization: Wide-angle reef photography, Indonesia marine life, Subal housing systems, marine conservation

Biography

Robert Delfs is a government relations consultant originally from California who spent more than 20 years living and working in Asia — Hong Kong, China, and Japan — before settling in Bali, Indonesia (^[1]). He certified as a diver at Maumere Bay in Flores in 1993, and all of his diving has been in Southeast Asia (^[2]). His deep familiarity with Indonesian waters, particularly Komodo National Park, made him one of Wetpixel’s most knowledgeable voices on diving in the Coral Triangle region.

Delfs joined the Wetpixel forums in 2003 under an email-based username. He had previously used the handle “frogfish” on other scuba-related boards and sought to reclaim it on Wetpixel — which initially proved difficult because the name was already registered by an inactive user (^[3]). The handle was eventually freed up, and Delfs became known to the community simply as “Frogfish.”

Photography Career

Equipment evolution

Delfs’s first underwater camera was a Sea & Sea MX-10, followed by a housed Nikon F801s (Subal) from 1999. He transitioned to digital with a Fuji FinePix S2 Pro in a Subal FS2 housing in 2003, pairing it with Nikon 12-24mm DX, 17-35mm, and 105mm micro lenses (^[4]). His strobes included Ikelite SS200s for wide-angle and Sea & Sea YS-90DX units as backups (^[5]). He later upgraded to a Nikon D2X with a Subal housing (^[6]).

Subal FS2 Review (2003)

Delfs wrote one of the earliest detailed digital housing reviews published on Wetpixel: a comprehensive assessment of the Subal FS2 housing for the Fuji S2 Pro, based on more than 30 dives in Indonesia. His review covered construction quality, wide-angle and macro performance with various Nikon lenses, digital operations controls, and practical field experience. He described the FS2 as “a near clone of the D10 housing for the Nikon D100” and documented how Subal’s modular design philosophy allowed rapid development of housings for new camera bodies (^[7], ^[8]).

Color Channel Reconstruction (2004)

Delfs contributed a feature article to Wetpixel titled “Getting Rid of the Underwater Blues — Advanced Photoshop Techniques to Reconstruct Damaged Color Channels,” which generated significant discussion in the underwater photographic community (^[9]).

Wide-Angle Indonesia Galleries

Delfs posted numerous wide-angle galleries from Indonesian dive sites, maintaining a personal website at tabula-international.com. His Raja Ampat gallery (February 2005) showcased the region’s spectacular reefs with over-under experiments in mangroves — his first attempts at split shots (^[10]). He also shared work from the South African Sardine Run, including a snorkeling encounter with a humpback whale that he described as “one of the peak experiences of my entire life” (^[11]).

Notable Community Contributions

Subal O-Ring Warning (2005)

After suffering a flood caused by mismatched o-rings on Subal port extension rings, Delfs wrote a detailed community advisory explaining how Subal had changed their port o-ring specification from 2.6mm to 3.0mm without clearly marking the transition. He obtained technical diagrams from Subal and shared practical identification methods for distinguishing between old-style and new-style ports, potentially preventing similar floods for other Subal users (^[12]).

Underwater Tripod Discussion (2005)

Delfs started one of the forum’s most engaged gear discussions with his thread “Underwater tripod?” (65 replies), exploring methods for using tripods underwater for long-exposure wide-angle photography with Magic Filters and ambient light. The thread drew detailed technical responses from experienced photographers and became a reference thread for the technique (^[13]).

Komodo Missing Divers (2008)

When five divers went missing in Komodo National Park in June 2008, Delfs — who worked with The Nature Conservancy on Komodo marine conservation — was among the first to report the incident on Wetpixel, forwarding the official statement from Putri Naga Komodo. His post noted the dangerous currents that make Komodo both a premier dive destination and a place where “this was an accident that was almost waiting to happen” (^[14]).

Conservation Advocacy

Delfs was active in marine conservation, working with The Nature Conservancy on issues involving Komodo National Park, including liaison between TNC, park authorities, and liveaboard operators (^[15]). He shared WWF releases on coral bleaching in Southeast Asia’s Coral Triangle (^[16]) and contributed to conservation discussions on the forums.

Larry Smith Memorial (2007)

Delfs was a close friend of Larry Smith, the beloved dive pioneer and critter expert in Indonesia who passed away in Sorong in March 2007. Delfs organized the cremation and memorial service for Smith in Bali and served as the point of contact for attendees. A photo credited to Delfs showing Larry cooking BBQ for friends at Thanksgiving 2003 appeared in the Wetpixel memorial article (^[17], ^[18]).

Expertise Areas

• Indonesia diving: Extensive knowledge of Bali (Tulamben, Menjangan, Secret Bay), Komodo, Raja Ampat, Maumere, and other Indonesian sites. Described detailed comparisons of dive conditions, operators, and marine life across sites (^[19], ^[20])
• Subal housings: Deep practical knowledge of Subal housing systems across multiple generations, from N10/N80 film housings through D10 and FS2 digital models (^[21])
• Tides and currents: Contributed a detailed post on tide prediction software for dive planning, particularly useful for current-dependent sites in Southeast Asia (^[22])
• Digital post-processing: Authored advanced Photoshop techniques for reconstructing damaged color channels in underwater images (^[23])

Activity Timeline

• 2003-07: Joined Wetpixel forums; introduced himself in the community introductions thread (^[24])
• 2003-09: Published Subal FS2 housing review on Wetpixel (^[25])
• 2003-12: Requested handle change to “frogfish” (^[26])
• 2004-01: Posted coral shrimpfish images from Menjangan Island, Bali (^[27])
• 2004-04: Published “Getting Rid of the Underwater Blues” feature article (^[28])
• 2004-05: Attended Asian Dive Expo in Singapore; identified as “Frogfish (Robert Delfs)” in comments (^[29])
• 2004-07: Photographed humpback whale during South African Sardine Run (^[30])
• 2005-02: Posted Raja Ampat images gallery, including first over-under experiments (^[31])
• 2005-09: Shared tide prediction software recommendation (^[32])
• 2005-12: Published Subal port o-ring warning after housing flood (^[33])
• 2005-12: Started underwater tripod discussion thread (65 replies) (^[34])
• 2007-03: Organized Larry Smith memorial service in Bali (^[35])
• 2008-06: Reported missing divers incident in Komodo National Park (^[36])
• 2010-07: Shared WWF coral bleaching report for Coral Triangle region (^[37])
• 2018-09: Last recorded forum activity

Activity Profile

Robert Delfs accumulated 652 forum posts across 15 active years (2003—2018), with peak activity in 2003—2010. He started 25 threads and was mentioned in 86 Wetpixel articles — an unusually high count that reflects both his editorial contributions and the many articles covering Indonesian dive topics he was knowledgeable about. His posts were characteristically detailed and substantive, often running several paragraphs with practical insights drawn from extensive field experience.

Note: “Frogfish Photography” — a UK-based underwater photography business that co-hosted the “Visions in the Sea” festival — is a separate entity unrelated to the forum user frogfish (Robert Delfs).