Underwater filming with George Karbus

Taking the plunge

After moving to Ireland in 2005, George found himself drawn to its dramatic coastline and soon began exploring coastal landscapes. But it was his extraordinary bond with a solitary dolphin that gave him the courage to take a camera beneath the surface. “My partner Kate and I first saw her while we were out swimming one day. We returned over and over again, just swimming with her and slowly developing a relationship. We call her Malinka, which means ‘little girl’ in Czech, my native language,” he says. “The experience was so special that it inspired me to start underwater photography and videography. The more I did it, the more I learned, because I had the greatest muse. She was not posing, exactly, but she would get herself into really amazing situations and positions. Malinka taught me how to read the behaviour of animals, especially dolphins and whales. It was really good practice for me, and I think that’s why I’m good now, because I have practised for thousands of hours with a dolphin.”

From curiosity to career

Malinka may have been the beginning, but the underwater world soon became a place where George felt creatively free. “Why underwater? Because I can be unique,” he says without hesitation. “I used to capture so many landscapes, but every time I discovered a new place, people would come and copy my images and locations. Underwater, nobody can copy me. There are endless possibilities beneath the waves, with animals, different light, different angles and different reflections.”

With his curiosity sparked, George began travelling further afield, seeking out other marine animals. “I just had a big admiration for them,” he says. “I love to capture marine mammals and their playtime. I’m fascinated by dolphins and sea lions, because there are not many animals that have so much time to play and have fun.” More than two decades on, that fascination has carried him across the world and shaped a career built on patience, instinct and an extraordinary understanding of life beneath the surface.

Choosing the Nikon ZR

But as George explains, underwater filming also requires reliable equipment that can cope with shifting light, fast movement and the unpredictability of the ocean. His latest camera of choice is the Nikon ZR, protected in a specialist underwater housing and recently added to his kitbag along with his Nikon Z6III. Together, the two cameras now form his core set-up. “I can cover all situations with these two cameras,” he says. “But I’m so impressed with the ZR that I’m actually thinking about having two. It is that good. Even for photography, especially wide-angle underwater photography, the ZR is absolutely outstanding.

“I think the biggest advantage of the ZR is its size. Everybody wants to be portable these days. If I go out filming Malinka, I have to carry that camera in its underwater housing for several miles, walking across the fields here in Ireland, so I’m constantly thinking about how to make my kit smaller, lighter and more portable, but without sacrificing quality. The ZR is tiny and lightweight, so I can be really fast underwater and quite agile, but it also has a massive screen, which is amazing because I can see everything very brightly. For wide-angle underwater work, that makes a huge difference.”

For George, the ZR’s appeal is not only its portability, but also the quality it delivers. “It captures amazing stills and the R3D NE footage looks absolutely epic,” he says. “The latitude you have with R3D NE when you are editing is beautiful. Getting that kind of quality footage from such a small camera is incredible. So it’s a win-win on every front. In fact, I think Nikon just broke the market!”

The wider the angle, the bigger the impact

With the ZR giving George a compact, powerful body to work with, the next decision is what to put in front of it. For underwater work, that often means going wide. “My favourite lens is the AF‑S FISHEYE NIKKOR 8‑15mm f/3.5‑4.5E ED,” he enthuses. “Fisheye is exceptional underwater. On land, it makes the corners curve and straight lines start to bend, but underwater there are no straight lines in the same way, so it works beautifully. It is incredibly sharp, covers a large area and creates amazing contrast in both images and videos.

“Another advantage of fisheye is that it doesn’t distort animals, or parts of animals, when they are close to the corners of the frame. If I used a wide-angle lens, say a 14-24mm underwater, and a dolphin passed very close to the corner of the image, the tail could look stretched out. It doesn’t look good and it doesn’t look real. Fisheye doesn’t do this, and that’s amazing. But you have to remember that you need to get really close to the subject with fisheye.”

For situations where animals keep their distance, George says he switches up his approach. “If I work in blue water with animals that don’t come too close, I use something like the NIKKOR Z 14-30mm f/4 S lens, so I can zoom in a little bit,” he says. “I also love to work on the surface for things like surfers and waves. There, I use the NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.2 S, which can create beautiful bokeh and a very artistic feeling.”

Staying in control beneath the surface

Even the best kit is only part of the equation, as George says success underwater comes down to understanding the conditions, choosing the right film settings before you dive and being ready to react when the ocean offers you a moment. “I’d say the best way to work with video is to set everything manually,” he explains. “I used to double the frame rate, but since Nikon introduced the shutter angle option, it is much easier. With the ZR, you can lock the shutter angle so you can’t change it by accident, which is great. I lock the shutter angle to 180°, then work with the f number and ISO. That said, auto ISO can be handy when you are working with fast animals like dolphins. They are swimming around you and suddenly you are filming backlit, then front lit, and the exposure is changing so quickly.

“What is also great about filming with the ZR is that you can change your White Balance later, and underwater that is very handy because the sensors can be a bit confused by the colours. Auto White Balance in Nikon cameras is amazing, but having the ability in R3D NE to adjust the White Balance later is an even bigger advantage.”

Finding focus in moving water

Underwater, staying sharp is about knowing when to let the camera help and when to take control. With his Nauticam housing, George can adjust settings while the camera is sealed inside, allowing him to react as the light, water and subject change. “I like to film with autofocus a lot, because autofocus is really good these days,” he says. “If it is just blue sea around you, you can use autofocus with animal subject detection across the full frame. But if there is kelp, waves or white water, it is very important to help the camera and specify where you want it to focus.”

For split-level scenes, half below the water and half above, George switches to manual focus, as the waterline on the dome port can confuse matters. “The autofocus tends to focus on that line instead of the subject,” he explains. “So it is better to set the focus, say, half a metre away, and it will work perfectly. In those situations, it is probably not a bad thing to switch to manual focus and use a bigger f number. Underwater, especially with fisheye, it is good to use a bigger f number, say f/8 or f/9, because it creates beautiful sun rays and gives you a nice, sharp image overall, from corner to corner.”

Above the surface, or when working with lenses such as the 50mm, George usually returns to autofocus. For following surfers cutting through waves, he uses a small focus point near the middle of the frame, helping the camera to stay locked on the subject amid the movement of the ocean.

The final secret? Successful slow-mo

All that control gives George room to lean into one of his favourite creative tools: slow motion, a technique that can transform fleeting underwater encounters into something almost otherworldly. “I love filming in slow motion,” he beams. “It is definitely one of my favourite things to film, especially 4K at 120 frames per second in R3D NE. You never know when something amazing is going to happen and, when you slow it down, it looks absolutely epic. Even if you don’t have animals, slow motion can make underwater footage so beautiful. When you have sun rays penetrating the water, even if it is just a diver or somebody swimming through them, it looks incredible.” But beyond its beauty, slow motion also has a practical purpose; softening the bumps, shifts and surges that come with filming in constantly moving water. “If you know the footage is going to be slowed down, the stability is not as important,” George adds. “On this matter, wide-angle, like fisheye, also always helps because the wider you go, the better the stability.”

What’s next?

For all the specialist kit, hard-won experience, carefully chosen settings and technical skill that have built George’s career, his story still circles back to the dolphin that first drew him beneath the surface, as more than two decades later, Malinka remains both muse and friend. “Malinka has grown up with us and still loves hanging out with us,” he enthuses. “She doesn’t really accept new people, but she loves us, and we’re actually making a movie about that.” And so, with Malinka now destined for the big screen, George has the Nikon ZR in hand to help bring the story that started it all to life.

George’s underwater filming top ten tips:

1. For people who want to start out, film in shallow depths, such as reefs, and work with natural light. Just put the camera in a reliable housing and off you go.
2. Use a wide-angle lens. The biggest mistake people make is using something too tight.
3. Film in slow motion because underwater magic looks amazing in slow motion – 120fps is perfect.
4. Planning is everything. When you are underwater, you can only choose one lens, so make the right decision before you get in.
5. Every lens needs a different port. For fisheye, I use a dome port, while a 50mm needs a flat port – another reason to plan ahead.
6. Make sure the housing and its seals are properly clean, so it doesn’t leak.
7. Work with sun rays. Calm water around an hour before sunset can be especially beautiful, as orange sun rays penetrate the water.
8. Use a bigger f number for sun rays, like f/8, f/9 or even f/11, and they will be beautifully sharp and contrasty.
9. Let the sun bring out colour. In California or Ireland, the water gets this emerald green, while in the open ocean, or warmer places, it becomes beautifully blue. In Indonesia, the sun can be so intense it is almost like an underwater studio.
10. Edit like a photographer. Understanding photography really helps me understand how to edit video. It is about contrast, not burning the highlights and not crushing the blacks too much.