November 2007 Archives
On the heels of my last post about underwater camera setups, here is the whole rundown on my camera setup. As you can see below there are quite a few parts to my camera setup. Seven to be exact. So without further ado, here is me explaining what all this stuff is.
The centerpiece of my camera gear setup is my camera. Its a Canon SD800 IS (Thats the model name in Japan and Europe, in North America its called the SD700 IS). It takes a 6 MP picture and was the first compact Canon camera to feature a built in image stabilizer. I've found that this can help out quite a bit underwater. It also has a 4x zoom and a nice big 2.5 inch screen. I'm able to take well over 300 photos, without flash, on one battery charge. It also takes rather decent video at 640 x 480. For a nice big full review of this camera just click here. I've had it for nearly two years now and its still quite the good camera, as seen by the fact that its still sold in stores.
The camera wouldn't be much use without an underwater case. Below you can see the official Canon camera underwater case, nicely named WP-DC5, which I bought off amazon and oddly is much more expensive to buy now then a year ago. The model is sturdy and easy to use. I've had no issues using it when diving. Controls are just as easy to use on it as they are when normally using your camera. The only problem I've had is with the flash defuser, the big honking thing in the upper right hand part of the first picture. It mostly does a good job but leaves one corner of all your shots without flash (when using flash). I'd complain but this seems like a common technical issue found in most underwater cases, which is why you'd want to get a light.
As happy as I was with the pictures I was taking with just the camera in the case I felt like I could use a bit more help. I finally decided to do something after my first dive in Japan where an overcast day caused massive underwater light issues when diving and taking photos. So I went to my local dive shop and started looking at lights. Much to my surprise lights cost a lot of money. As in $300 or more. My dive shop took pity on me and sold me a light second hand. So now I own a UK C8 Light which works well as either a regular stand alone diving light or used with a camera setup. I'm told it gets about 4 hours of light off one set of 8 D batteries, which means it'll last me 4 or 5 dives.
But to use my light efficiently with my camera I needed a few other things. Two things actually. A tray setup to put my camera on and an arm. Again I asked for help picking out a model at my local dive shop. They showed me the various models they had, and told me what they liked, and then showed me the prices. Again, not so cheap. The arm and try setup was about $150, but well worth it when diving. I went with the two designs seen below. There are many many many different setups, and most of them act the same and do the same things. It just depends on your preference.
I also invested in a Snappy Coils. At $25 it was a cheap way to connect my camera gear setup to me when diving. Nothing scares me more then dropping my camera gear into the bottomless blue of the ocean. The Snappy Coils just snaps onto your BCD and onto your camera setup. Simple.
Even more simple is what you see below. Its some string attached to a clip, which attaches to a ring on my camera tray. This setup is to connect my diving light to my camera tray in case it or the arm somehow comes loose when diving. My dive shop takes full credit for suggesting this and making it for me. A very very cheap way to insure you don't lose your light underwater.
Seen below is everything hooked up and connected. Except for the camera in the case, because I needed it to take photos. At this point I'm more or less done adding things to my setup. I guess I could add a second arm with a big strobe or flash, but my camera case is not set up use external flash kits. Which is no big loss. Anything past this would mean that I would either be a) Starting out doing professional underwater photography or b) taken this obsession a bit too far. While I've not seen a lot of divers with this kind of setup, I have seen a few. As I said in my Affordable Underwater Photography Guide the most common setup I've seen is just getting an underwater case for your digital camera. Something that worked great for me and allows for some wonderful underwater pictures.
The total cost of this underwater setup is somewhere around $450 USD (I'm converting this all from yen). Thats without the camera which was about $250. The high price of this gear is why its extremely important to take great care of it. A damaged o-ring on on the camera case or light and you'd end up with flooded electronics. Not clipping everything together properly and you stand a chance that something will fall off and into the depths. These things worry me.
Besides the diving equipment I also invested in a 2 Gig and a 1 Gig SD memory cards for my camera because I tend to take a lot of photos and video. Along these same lines I also use a USB camera connector for my iPod so I can offload pictures and video from my camera onto my iPod. Once again, because I take a lot of pictures when diving. I've had people joke that I take 5 photos of every fish, which is only halfway true, but most of the time when I do take 5 photos only one turns out to be any good. Especially with macro shots. I'd rather end up with four bad pictures and one good picture, then find out I only had one bad picture.
So thats my underwater camera gear setup. It took me over a year to buy everything, piece by piece, but I'm really happy with the results. Hopefully I'll be even more happy once I start taking pictures.
Technorati Tags: cameras, diving, equiptment, scuba, video
One of the reasons I got into SCUBA diving was to take photos. In the past underwater equipment was too expensive for the casual diver to afford but luckily those times have changed. Below I present an easy guide to cheap and affordable underwater photography.
Cheap
For those who don't want to risk camera equipment under water, or who just want a few pictures to show their friends, you can't beat disposable cameras. Yes, I'm talking about those $10 one time use cameras you can find at any drug store. There are many brands of disposable under water cameras and they all work more or less the same. Their construction is sturdy enough to withstand the pressure of sport diving and their price is low enough that anyone can afford it.
Upside: Super cheap. Easy to use. Will withstand the pressure of normal sport diving. You won't get angry if it breaks.
Downside: Picture quality isn't the best. Limited number of shots. You still have to pay to get it developed. Will annoying anyone who owns a digital camera.
Moderate*
*For many people.
If you already own a camera, especially a newer name brand digital camera, chances are that theres an underwater case available for your model. For example most Canon, Sony, and Olympus cameras made in recent years usually have a case designed specifically for it. These range between $100-200 depending on your model and are rather simple to operate. This option is by far the most popular (so I've observed) among hobby and sport divers. Just pop your regular digital camera into a case, go diving, and then pop your photos onto your computer.
Upside: Taking decent photos underwater is annoyingly difficult due to lighting conditions and environmental factors, which is why the digital approach will yield the highest number of decent photos for the hobby diver. Being able to take many photos, preview photos, having a LCD screen, higher camera and picture quality,and taking video are all obvious benefits of using a digital camera over a disposable film one.
Downside: This option is only 'cheap' if you already own a digital camera, otherwise tack on another $200-300 to the price of the camera case. The risk is also much greater. If done wrong you could end up flooding your camera case and killing your expensive digital camera.
Expensive
The next step up from using an underwater case with your digital camera is add-ons. This is where things get expensive. To improve your photos underwater, even with compact digital cameras, just add lights. This improves your ability to focus and greatly enhances your color underwater (you lose color the deeper you go). Light set ups range from $100-$1,000 depending on the brand and the type. The easiest thing, and the cheapest, is find a nice regular hand held diving light which would cost between $100-400. Either use this when taking photos or take the next step and get an arm for your camera (seen below in both photos). Just hook up the arm to your camera and put the light on the end of the arm, which would cost a bit over $100. This way you can free up your hands and easily position the light anywhere around your camera. An even more expensive option is getting a strobe or external flash for your camera, which would require ANOTHER arm (I'v seen plenty of people who have two arms hooked up to their cameras. One for a basic light and one for a flash.) for your camera as well as require that you have a camera/ case that can use external flash devices. Total cost: A lot. But with a massive setup like this you're bound to get some good shots along the way.
Upside: Just getting a light helps out a lot for focus and color, plus having a light when diving comes in handy quite often. Any one of the above options will improve your pictures.
Downside: The more you buy the more expensive it gets. Very expensive. Plus you always run the risk of losing it or destroying it along the way.
As for my setup, I'm currently running in the middle of the Expensive setup. Camera in case, arm, and light. Though for the photos I took in Thailand, Fiji, the Philippines, and my first Japan dive all I used was my camera in an underwater case. For the the vast majority of people this is the best quality/ cost solution for taking pictures underwater. You can take lots of photos and some of them are bound to be good. If you want camera equipment or advice on upgrading your current setup just talk to your local dive shop. They no doubt have a large selection of catalogues filled with different equipment types as well as experience with various camera setups. Plus they can show you a few helpful tips on how to not destroy your camera underwater. (Its what I did, and it helped quite a bit.)
Technorati Tags: cameras, diving, equiptment, scuba, video
I wrote an article about my Asian diving for the monthly Hiroshima ALT newsletter Wide Island View. Its nothing I've not written here before, but worth a read if you're interested in what we English teachers in Japan write about. Click on it to view in your browser, or right click to download it. The file comes in at about 550 kbs.
Out of all the photos I sent them why did they use the clownfish photo? Seriously. Clownfish. Sigh...
Technorati Tags: diving, fiji, japan, koh tao, philippines, scuba, thailand, travel
Despite international protests Japan's whaling fleet set sail in search of whales to kill. Seems they plan on killing around 50 humpbacks, a first since whaling standards were set in 1963. You can read more about it via this article. I can only hope they stay clear of the only all white humpback whale in the oceans. While this doesn't surprise me, it still saddens me to no end. Lets hope that this years catch causes a lot of international negative press as well as support for the ending of Japanese whaling.
Technorati Tags: conservation, japan, whales
Fiji stands as one of the best places in the world to dive. There are thousands of dive sites on hundreds of islands that will take your breath away. Back in August of 2007 I headed down to Fiji for some summer diving and relaxing. Our trip required us to fly from Osaka to Korea and then to Fiji. A trip that took about 12 hours to complete, plus some additional over land travel.
Because of our time restraints we decided to stay on the main Fijian island as opposed to one of the smaller, more remote areas. We ended up staying on the small island of Nananu-i-ra which was a two hour drive from the capital and a 10 minute boat ride off the northern coast of the main island. Nananu is attractive for several reasons. First it doesn't require an internal flight within Fiji, just a cheap cab ride and boat ride. While it is well set up for tourists it is also far away from the busy tourist hubs on the southern coast. There are plenty of sandy beaches, beautiful landscapes, and really good diving. While the lodging and food isn't super cheap, it also won't tax your budget. Plus everyone spoke English and was quite friendly. If you want to get away from everyone else and just relax, Nananu is a perfect choice.
For some nice high pictures of Nananu-i-ra check out these google maps images.
Setting up diving with the local dive shop Ra Divers was quite easy. They were located on the main island but were more than happy to pick up divers staying on Nananu. Their staff was friendly and knowledgeable, equipment clean and functional, and prices very reasonable. I was able to do 8 dives over 4 days with equipment for 400 Fijian Dollars. Every morning I was picked up at my hotel, did two dives, and was back for a late lunch at around 1 pm. The reason for this quick turn around is that Nananu is about a 10 minute boat ride from a whole host of fine diving. Hard and soft corals. Sharks and snakes. Several sunken wrecks. Everything you could hope for. I don't' know if it was the time of the year it, or just the state of the local tourist economy, but we were the only boats on the water each day. Its a wonderful change from the busy waters of Koh Tao and Bohol.
From what I'm told the visibility is usually around 20 meters or more, but in the week before I came a series of bad storms with heavy wind had hit the area. Thus visibility was not as good as I had hoped, but still rather nice.
The dive sites around Nananu were full of rock pinnacles, mazes, and arches which made for rather wonderful sights. Though several of the arches were a bit tight for me and I ended up cutting myself on a couple of dives.
While the area is known as a "soft coral heaven" of sorts its also a great spot to watch sharks. At least once a day our group encountered sharks. At one point in the trip we hung onto some rocks and watched as about a dozen reef sharks swam no more than 10 meters away from us.
We also ran across several black and white sea snakes who were quite curious about us. I was also able to take some video of one of the snakes, which you can view at the bottom of this post.
Some more shots of the caves and canyons we often swam through. Simply breath taking.
If you wanted to see coral, Nananu would do it for you. The amount and variety of health coral was astounding. The problem I found was that I was virtually in a forrest of coral, and was in constant fear of touching something or running into something in the narrow straits. I also ran across quite a few massive fans. Several of them stretching out over 2 meters.
Speaking of things that were nearly two meters, pictured below is one of several massive eels we came across. Plus the obligatory clown fish picture.
Lastly a couple of fish/ coral pictures. The fish variety was quite impressive with interesting variations as you changed depths. The only thing I didn't see on my dives, which I wished I had, were rays. Several divers I was with had spotted a group of eagle rays the day before I showed up. But sadly I saw none.
I took a very large amount of video using my digital camera while diving. An edited down version of it can be viewed below.
I can't really think of anything bad to say about diving at Nananu except that Fiji is quite expensive to fly to. If you can get there its a divers paradise. If you look around you can also find insanely cheap diving deals depending on the area and the season. Its defiantly worth going to if you want to both dive and relax away from the crowds. I only wish I had the cash to go again!
I've never been a fan of Japan's whale "research" and tend to be quite vocal with my Japanese friends when the subject comes up. As one friend put it, the Japanese research tends to consist of Japanese people testing out if a whale is "delicious" or "not delicious." But to make things even better Japanese whalers now seem to have their sights set on the world's only white whale. In a struggle that may soon parallel a certain novel, conversationalists are now preparing to face off with the Japanese whaling fleet in defense of the whale. The government has so far been the standard Japanese level of "coyness" about it, which means they're not going to stop it from happening.
Not all Japanese people are behind whaling. The young dislike whale for its bad taste (so much so that some schools have introduced it into school lunches in an attempt to instill the joy of whale eating at a young age) and the market in general seems to be moving away from it with prices going so low that dog food manufacturers can afford the meet. I can only hope that Japan decides to drop the nationalistic crap and stop their "taste test" whaling research.
Technorati Tags: conservation, japan, whales
Sharks get a bad rap in the ocean. Most people fear them, few people understand them, and no one fights for them. The movie Sharkwater tries to dispel these myths and phobias and show the movie going public the true danger. People are not the ones in danger from sharks, sharks are the ones in real danger from people. Shark fin soup and an apathetic public take center stage as writer/ director Rob Stewart shows us the impact that the Asian market and hysteric media have had on world wide shark populations. Its a movie any diver should see before swimming with these beautiful creatures.
Matt Cale over at Ruthlessreviews.com pens a wonderful review of the movie. If you're at all interested in the film you spend ten minutes and read it.
Technorati Tags: conservation
At the end of March 2007 I headed down to the Philippines for some relaxing diving. This was my first time to the Philippines and I was doing it Solo. My destination was the island of Bohol, a land of Chocolate Hills and cheap mangos. Plus the diving was really good. I only had two goals for my 9 day trip: 1) Relax 2) Get my Advanced Open Water Diving.
The trip required me to take two trains from my apartment to Osaka, fly from Osaka to Manila and then to Cebu, stay overnight there, catch a boat to Bohol, and endure a hour car ride. By the time I got to a beach I really could have cared less what I was doing as long as it wasn't moving. Where I ended up was right next to Alona Beach, on the Island of Panglao, which is only a bridge away from Bohol. The area was clean, friendly, English speaking, and not too expensive. Most of the people in the area were divers, though there were quite a few family resorts along the beach as well. I ended up diving with SeaQuest Diver Center who were very helpful in arranging hotels, boat and car transfers, and SCUBA classes for me. Their staff was friendly, their service good, prices competitive, and their diving top notch. Plus they have a really kick ass breakfast in the morning. Its my favorite meal of the day.
I ended up doing 9 dives while I was there, most of them were directly related to my Advanced Open Water Class. The class consisted of me doing one on one time with a local dive master. I also did two days of boat dives where I took photos like a crazy man. The water was clear and the hard coral to die for. The area had quite the diverse set of dive sites ranging from fast drift dives, to shallow forests of hard coral
The coral seemed rather healthy, from what I know about coral, and the fish life was abundant. I was quite pleased with some of the photos I took.
This trip was also my first time doing a night dive. Which freaked me out quite a bit, but provided me with an opportunity to see some fun new things.
During several dives I was able to be engulfed by large schools of large fish. At one point I was completely surrounded by a school of friendly Jack Fish.
I even ran across some odd balls, like a shy group of garden eels and a really strange little crab hidden in a plant.
The dives were all boat dives, and usually with 5 or 6 other divers as well as a couple of crew members. The other divers in my group were a mix of Germans and Japanese. Much to my surprise the Germans, who assumed I was German by my name, started all speaking to me in German. The Japanese people in my group were all equally surprised when I started speaking Japanese to them. Divers are a fun bunch to hang with.
This trip was also my first attempt at doing some video using my small camera. I was rather pleased with the results, though it inspired me to go out and buy a larger SD memory card for my next dive adventure.
Besides diving the area is also home to the Chocolate Hills and the elusive Tarsier, who isn't actually a monkey and is ever so shy. For about $20 USD you can take a tour of Bohol complete with a driver and AC van. Stops on my tour included a Tarsier Reserve, the Chocolate Hills, a boat ride and some water falls, an old hanging bridge, and an old church. Taking the tour is cheap and is a really fun distraction when you need some time above water.
Diving in the area was wonderful and I would most certainly do it again given the chance. Theres not much more you could ask for in a dive location or beach area. Plus all the mangos you can eat. If you're traveling to the Philippines try and make it to Bohol. You won' be disappointed.
Technorati Tags: diving, philippines, travel, scuba
