Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium is the second largest aquarium in the world, and has the world’s largest aquarium window measuring 8.2 by 22.5 meters. I have been many times but usually without my camera as I was showing friends or relatives around the island. (The issue of being a good photographer versus a good travel companion will have to wait for a future post.) What this meant was that I didn’t have any really good images of the main tank which is a real oversight when the aquarium is one of Japan’s top tourist attractions.

So a few weeks ago I went along and took some shots with my main Pentax 67II camera. I used Fuji Provia 100F film and pushed it two stops to ISO 400 as it is so dark inside. The film was processed but there was still too much motion blur in the shots from the slow shutter speeds. I ordered some faster film on-line and last week went back again and shot a second roll. This time I used Fuji Provia 400F pushed to ISO1600 and the results were much better. (It must make digital users smile however to see me have to wait a couple of weeks to change to a higher film speed when they can do it in a matter of seconds.)

First a shot from the side….

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

And then one straight on…

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

There are actually three whale sharks in the tank. I had to wait a while until two of the sharks were passing by directly in front of the main window. I could have waited around all day to see if I could have got all three sharks into the same shot, but I had already finished the roll and I have to leave something for another day.