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Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Mitsuna Kawai photographed the ribbonfish with a Canon R10 in an Ikelite underwater housing, paired with an Ikelite DS160II strobe. The lens was a Canon RF-S 18-150mm F3.5-6.3 IS STM set to 18mm, according to finalist coverage. Kawai’s image won first place in the Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026 category The Ocean Unseen: Hidden Worlds—not the overall competition.
What camera and equipment did Kawai use?
The official Ocean Photographer of the Year gallery lists a Canon R10, Ikelite housing and Ikelite DS160II strobe. DPReview identifies the lens as the Canon RF-S 18-150mm F3.5-6.3 IS STM at 18mm. The sources use both “Canon R10” and “Canon EOS R10” for the camera.
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| Part of the setup | Published detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Camera | Canon R10 (also identified as Canon EOS R10) | Official winners gallery; DPReview |
| Lens | Canon RF-S 18-150mm F3.5-6.3 IS STM, set to 18mm | DPReview |
| Underwater housing | Ikelite housing; the gallery does not state a model | Official winners gallery |
| Strobe | Ikelite DS160II | Official winners gallery |
| Exposure | ISO 200, f/9, 1/160s | Official winners gallery |
Why use a zoom lens underwater?
Digital Camera World says the lens was at its widest 18mm setting, which it describes as equivalent to 29mm on a full-frame camera. The publication reports a focus distance of 28cm and a capture time of 19:45 local time on a late-March evening; those details are from its coverage, rather than the official gallery.
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Digital Camera World’s explanation for the zoom choice is practical: changing lenses inside an underwater housing during an encounter is not possible. That is the publication’s rationale, not a first-person explanation from Kawai. The published equipment record identifies the camera, lens, housing and lighting together; it does not establish that the camera body alone produced the image.
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Where and what did she photograph?
The official gallery describes a winter blackwater dive at Osezaki, Japan. Its caption identifies the animal as a ribbonfish rising vertically through dark water among salps. The work placed first in The Ocean Unseen: Hidden Worlds category of the 2026 competition.
The gallery describes Kawai as a Japan-based divemaster. Its biography says her underwater photography journey began five years earlier, that she moved to Australia to explore marine biodiversity, and that she later returned to Japan and made Osezaki her home base. These are details from the competition gallery’s biography.
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What the published settings do—and do not—tell you
The official gallery records ISO 200, f/9 and 1/160s for this photograph. Those are the documented settings for one image, not a general recipe for blackwater photography: the sources do not show that copying them would reproduce the result or explain how Kawai chose them.
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Digital Camera World reports that the competition received more than 15,000 entries in its October 4, 2026 article. The figure is attributable to that publication; the cited materials do not independently confirm it with an organizer source.
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Sources and further details
- Official Ocean Photographer of the Year winners gallery — category placement, caption, biography, camera, housing, strobe and exposure.
- DPReview’s finalist coverage — lens identification and a quote from competition founder and director Will Harrison: “These photographs don’t just capture what’s beneath the surface; they surface the stories our planet most needs us to hear.”
- Digital Camera World’s report — reported focal-length equivalence, focus distance, capture time, zoom rationale and entry count.
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