Herb Ko

Full name: Herbert Ko
Aliases: herbko
Role: Underwater photographer, Wetpixel moderator, POTW administrator, gear reviewer, article author
First appearance: 2002 (Wetpixel member #59) (^[1])
Location: Mountain View, California
Affiliation: Wetpixel (moderator 2003–2010+), NCUPS (Northern California Underwater Photographic Society), LAUPS (Los Angeles Underwater Photographic Society)
Personal website: herbko.net (^[2])
Forum posts: 1,872 across 126 threads started
Active years: 2002–2010

Biography

Herbert Ko is an underwater photographer based in Mountain View, California, who became one of Wetpixel’s earliest and most engaged community members. Registered as member #59, he was active on the forums from August 2002, initially shooting with consumer compact cameras before transitioning to DSLRs (^[3], ^[4]). In September 2003, he was appointed moderator of the Consumer Digicams forum, at a time when Wetpixel had approximately 1,300 members and 20,000 posts (^[5]). The announcement noted he had “proved that consumer digicams can produce excellent, prize-winning photographs” (^[6]).

Ko authored seven articles for Wetpixel between 2004 and 2005, covering gear reviews, strobe technology, competition announcements, and community events. He also contributed actively to technical discussions in the forums, accumulating 1,872 posts over his active years. His forum activity peaked in the 2003–2007 period, covering topics ranging from camera and lens comparisons to RAW conversion techniques and trip reports from destinations across Southeast Asia, the Bahamas, and California.

His competition record at NCUPS and LAUPS events demonstrated skill in both macro and wide-angle underwater photography, with placements in multiple categories. The LAUPS 2005 contest results listed him under his full name, “Herbert Ko, Mountain View, CA” (^[7]).

Gear Progression

Ko’s gear evolution tracked the early digital underwater photography transition:

• 2002: Began with an Olympus compact camera (likely C-4040 or similar) in an Olympus PT-015 housing with INON wide-angle lens and INON Z-220 strobes (^[8], ^[9])
• 2002–2003: Tracked the Olympus C-5050 announcement with interest, noting RAW mode output as a key new feature (^[10])
• 2003: Purchased the Canon Digital Rebel (300D), his first DSLR, describing it as feeling “BIG” compared to his Olympus 5050 (^[11])
• 2004: Received Aquatica A300 housing for the Digital Rebel, paired with Sigma 15mm fisheye, Sigma 50mm macro, and Sigma 105mm macro lenses, plus INON Z-220 strobes with TLC arms (^[12])
• 2006: Upgraded to Canon EOS 5D in Aquatica housing with Canon 15mm fisheye and Canon 100mm macro (^[13])
• 2007: Followed the Canon EOS-1D Mark III announcement closely, highlighting 14-bit image processing as the feature he most wanted (^[14])

Contributions

Wetpixel Moderator

Appointed moderator of the Consumer Digicams forum in September 2003 by Craig Jones and the Wetpixel staff (^[15]). When Wetpixel expanded its moderating team in September 2005, Ko continued as moderator alongside Craig Jones, with James Wiseman and Alex Mustard serving as co-administrators (^[16]).

POTW Administrator

Ko designed the pipelined Photo of the Week contest system that separated entry and voting phases. Based on his suggestion, individual POTW contests were split into “entry” mode and “voting” mode, with two active contests running simultaneously at any time — the previous week in voting and the current week accepting entries. He also simplified the voting to 1st/2nd/3rd place instead of ranking every photo (^[17]). In July 2004, he took over administration of the POTW contest (^[18]) and ran it through November 2004, when Markus Nolf took over. Eric Cheng publicly thanked Ko for “administering our Photo of the Week contest for the past few months” (^[19]). The $90/year prize cap (3 wins maximum) was separately established by Eric Cheng (^[20]).

Article Author

Ko authored seven Wetpixel articles, spanning gear reviews, product announcements, and community event promotion:

1. Aquatica A300 Housing Review (July 2004) — A detailed first-person review of the Aquatica A300 housing for the Canon Digital Rebel, field-tested over two weeks diving the Similan Islands, Thailand. Ko documented the shutter release reconfiguration he performed (flipping the outer contact piece 180 degrees for easier focus lock), tested Sigma 15mm fisheye, 50mm macro, and 105mm macro lenses, and provided 100% corner crops to evaluate dome port sharpness. He found the housing “simple, compact and solid” with near-neutral buoyancy, noting issues with the exposure lock button design and the spring-loaded latches. He also discovered the Digital Rebel would sync with INON Z-220 strobes at 1/320s despite a spec of 1/200s (^[21]).

2. New Digital Life for an Old Strobe (August 2004) — Documented how Subaquatic Camera would retrofit the Nikon SB-105 strobe with optical fiber and housing mounts for approximately $130, enabling film-era strobes to work with digital cameras. Ko noted the drawbacks: no pre-flash canceling circuit (limiting compatibility to cameras like the Olympus 5050 that could fire without pre-flash) and only full, 1/4, and 1/16 power settings (^[22]).

3. LAUPS Photo Contest Submission Deadline (September 2004) — Promoted the 42nd Annual International Underwater Photographic Competition hosted by LAUPS, which the previous year received entries from 16 countries and 17 states (^[23]).

4. Light and Motion Bluefin VX2100 Video Housing (September 2004) — Covered the press release for Light and Motion’s underwater video housing for the Sony 3-chip VX2100 and PD170 camcorders (^[24]).

5. INON D-2000 Ultra Multimode Strobe (November 2004) — Announced the new INON D-2000 strobe with S-TTL, External Auto, 13-step Manual, and Nikonos TTL modes, GN 20 at ISO 100, and 100-degree circular beam coverage (^[25]).

6. NCUPS Presents: Big Animals with Amos Nachoum (January 2005) — Promoted an NCUPS membership meeting featuring professional wildlife photographer Amos Nachoum at Fort Mason, San Francisco (^[26]).

7. An additional article (seventh by count in the person_matrix data).

RAW Processing Expertise

Ko was an active participant in RAW conversion discussions. Eric Cheng specifically referenced Ko’s sunball conversion tests from his Digital Rebel in the comments of his landmark “Mystery of RAW Converters” article, noting “Check out Herb’s conversions of sunballs from his Digital Rebel” (^[27]). In 2005, Ko posted comparisons between Canon’s Digital Photo Professional and CaptureOne for 300D RAW files (^[28]). He consistently shot in RAW mode and used both CaptureOne and Canon DPP for processing, choosing between them based on subject matter — CaptureOne for general use, Canon DPP for sunball shots (^[29]).

Wetpixel Quarterly Staff

Staff photographer for Issue 2 (January 2008), alongside Alex Mustard, Eric Cheng, Mike Veitch, Luiz Rocha, Cor Bosman, Julie Edwards, James Wiseman, Todd Mintz, Matt Segal, Elijah Woolery, William Heaton, and Leslie Harris (^[30]).

Forum Technical Contributions

Ko was a knowledgeable contributor on strobe and camera gear topics. In a 2005 comment on the Sea & Sea YS-110 strobe announcement, he critically examined the claim that the strobe was “more powerful,” noting it was rated at the same GN 22 as previous models despite the wider beam pattern (^[31]). He started the forum thread announcing the Canon EOS-1D Mark III (73 replies), identifying 14-bit image processing and live view as key new features (^[32]), and started the Digital Rebel XT thread (23 replies), predicting it would be a “plastic 20D with lower frame rate and smaller buffer” and spotting the buried announcement of the new Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens (^[33]).

Competition Results

• 1st, Open Digital California Macro — NCUPS SEA 2004, also received Honorable Mention in Open Digital Macro (^[34])
• 1st, Digital Open Macro — California Beach Dive Photo Competition, 2004 (shot with Sigma 50mm lens, no post-processing per contest rules) (^[35])
• 5th, Wide Angle Slides/Digital (Category C) — LAUPS 43rd Annual International Competition, 2005, with photo titled “Tiger” (^[36])
• First INON Artist of the Month — November 2003, alongside Craig Jones, with testimonials and a gallery featured on INON America’s website (^[37])

Dive Destinations

Ko was an active traveler who regularly shared trip galleries on the Wetpixel forums:

• Monterey, California — His local diving waters, where he shot macro and wide-angle subjects in cold water conditions (around 50°F/10°C). Posted galleries from multiple trips between 2002 and 2004 (^[38], ^[39])
• Similan Islands, Thailand — Dove over New Year’s holidays and returned for the Aquatica A300 review trip. Used primarily wide-angle setups with the Craig Jones filter scheme (CC30M on lens, CC30G on strobes) (^[40], ^[41], ^[42])
• Lembeh Strait, Indonesia — Macro-focused trip, gallery posted November 2003 (^[43])
• Bali, Indonesia — Multiple trips to Tulamben and other sites, shooting nudibranch and critter macro (^[44], ^[45])
• Sipadan/Mabul, Malaysia — Five days with Borneo Divers at their Mabul resort, with two morning dives at Sipadan and afternoon dives at Mabul (^[46])
• Bahamas — Shark and sunball photography trip, 2005 (^[47])
• Wakatobi, Indonesia — Trip with Canon 5D in Aquatica housing, November 2006. Focused on macro critters and sunball wide-angle shots, drawing praise from fellow members including Mike Veitch, Alex Mustard, and others (^[48])

Timeline

• 2002-08: Earliest forum activity; posts about Olympus C-5050 announcement and Monterey diving (^[49], ^[50])
• 2002-11: Shares pelagic tunicate photo from Monterey for critique (^[51])
• 2003-09: Purchases Canon Digital Rebel, his first DSLR; appointed Wetpixel moderator for Consumer Digicams forum (^[52], ^[53])
• 2003-11: Selected alongside Craig Jones as first INON Artist of the Month; posts Lembeh Strait macro gallery (^[54], ^[55])
• 2004-01: Posts Thailand Similan Islands gallery from New Year’s trip (^[56])
• 2004-03: Proposes POTW entry/voting pipeline system, adopted by Eric Cheng (^[57])
• 2004-05: Shares Digital Rebel photos from Thailand using Craig Jones filter scheme; his RAW conversion tests referenced by Eric Cheng (^[58], ^[59])
• 2004-06: 1st place Digital Open Macro, California Beach Dive Photo Competition (^[60])
• 2004-07: Takes over POTW administration; publishes Aquatica A300 housing review from Similan Islands field test (^[61], ^[62])
• 2004-08: Publishes SB-105 strobe retrofit article; posts Monterey macro gallery shot with Sigma 105mm manual focus (^[63], ^[64])
• 2004-09: Authors LAUPS contest announcement and Light and Motion Bluefin VX2100 press release (^[65], ^[66])
• 2004-11: 1st place California Macro + HM Macro at NCUPS SEA 2004; authors INON D-2000 announcement; Markus Nolf takes over POTW (^[67], ^[68], ^[69])
• 2005-01: Authors NCUPS event article promoting Amos Nachoum presentation; plans Tulamben trip (^[70], ^[71])
• 2005-02: Starts Digital Rebel XT announcement thread, identifies Canon EF-S 60mm macro lens (^[72])
• 2005-05: Posts Bali album with macro critter photography (^[73])
• 2005-06: Posts Sipadan/Mabul gallery; Bahamas shark and sunball gallery (^[74], ^[75])
• 2005-09: Continues as moderator in expanded team (^[76])
• 2005-10: 5th place Wide Angle at LAUPS 2005 with “Tiger”; comments critically on Sea & Sea YS-110 strobe specs (^[77], ^[78])
• 2006-11: Posts Wakatobi gallery shot with Canon 5D in Aquatica housing (^[79])
• 2007-02: Starts Canon EOS-1D Mark III announcement thread (73 replies) (^[80])
• 2008-01: Staff photographer, Wetpixel Quarterly Issue 2 (^[81])
• 2010-04: Last recorded forum activity ([source: person_matrix.json])

References