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Back in September I went for my first dive in Japan. I traveled six hours to Kashiwajima in Kochi prefecture. Or if you read the 日本語 it would look like this: 柏島。I took this trip thanks to Live Scene Dive Shop here in Fukuyama. They were the ones nice enough to deal with one silly, and large, foreigner. We almost didn't dive this weekend thanks to a typhoon that was barreling towards Japan. In order to safely dive the trip was moved up from Saturday to Friday. So on a very rainy Friday night, around 9 pm, six Japanese people and one awkward American piled into a very large van and drove six hours to Kashiwajima.

The thing that surpassed me the most about Kashiwajima was how busy it was. We stayed at a lodging house for divers, appropriately called FIN House, which provided us with the comforts of home and a place to store our equipment. They also served a mean meal of Japanese food. Besides all the divers around there seemed to be very few locals out and about. Granted, this wasn't a very populated island, but the lack of activity was kind of sad.

Our first dive on Saturday was at noon. The weather was quite sunny, though clouds in the distance looked threatening enough. The first dive was a shallow dive, only 18 meters, and was only a 5 minute boat ride from the docks. At first I was a bit disappointed by the apparent lack of wildlife. That was until we hit the slope. Among the rocks was a plethora of sea life, and my personal favorite of the weekend, eels. I probably saw around 10 eels on this first dive, as well as some fire darts and a little happy yellow spotted puffer.

After a fun filled meal of Japanese food (rice balls, miso soup, spaghetti) we loaded up our equipment on a different boat and headed to another dive site. Our second site wasn't too far away from the first spot, but this spot was much more rocky. Ok, so every dive spot was rocky, just in various quantities and sizes of the rocks. We swam out to a rocky slope and down to around 26 meters where I had the luck to see not one, but two ribbon eels. These small and brightly colored eels made the entire trip worth while. I managed to take a few good photos before someone's wayward fin scared him away. The video at the end of the post has a short clip of the second eel we ran across. Somehow I was able to pull off this wonderful macro photo of a really small shrimp. In case you're wondering, yes I did crop it and do some slight color correction. Also on this dive I saw several Lion Fish, as well as a Lion Fish hanging out with an Octopus.

Upon exiting the water we entered into a world of pain as a heavy rain had started. Not a fun time. Luckily we were already wet anyways, and were finished diving for the day. After a hot shower I settled in for a long futon nap, and then some fun filled bad Japanese bonding time with my co-divers.

The next morning we got up early for a 7 o'clock dive, which was good as the weather was decent. For this dive we took a 15 minute boat ride out to a large, rocky, wall with a decently strong current at a depth of 25 meters. This area had quite a few larger fish as well as a decent amount of soft and hard corals. As opposed to before where there was hardly any. It was a fun dive with a large variety of fish.

After a fun filled Japanese breakfast we headed out to our last dive around 11. This dive had us drop down into a rocky area and then swim out to a large flat sandy area. This was a treat for me as it was the first time in this type of environment. I was able to observe some some really interesting camouflaged fish and shrimps. My favorite were the Goby Shrimp relationships. Every type of Goby is paired up with a certain type of shrimp and they hang out in the same hole. I spent about 5 minutes just watching these two shrimp move sand and shells out of their hole while the Goby stood guard. After awhile we headed into some large rocks and took a group picture. Notice how cute we all are.

After exiting I noticed two things. First it was raining again, and second that there were ten other boats on the water servicing divers. I had no idea that this area was so popular. Live and learn I guess. We packed up our equipment, showered, and in my case bought a couple of t-shirts. Then it was off we went in the rain for another 6 hour drive back to Fukuyama.

A couple fun filled things about diving in Japan. When we did our dive logs we all got little maps of the dive sites, to which we drew our dive paths on. Handy if you want to do dives later one. Maybe it was just my dive shop, we we played fish bingo. As in when you spot a certain type of fish we got to put a sticker on our bingo card. Its easy to shock Japanese people by asking if they have eaten the various types of fish you saw when diving. I was surprised they hadn't.

While Kashiwajima probably won't make it on any Top 100 SCUBA Sites, it has quite a few interesting things to see. The ribbon eels alone were worth the trip, and I would do this trip again next year. Plus it was a good opportunity to hang out with some really nice Japanese divers and get a look at the Japanese diving scene.

Technorati Tags: diving, japan, kashiwajima, scuba, video

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