First Dive of the Year
Small anemone crab
Edit: Some browsers might have issues with the photo enlarge and the video on the same page. For now, just scroll down the page when looking at the enlarged photos if you have them layered strangely. I am too tired at this point to deal with it, but will look at it another day.
I know it has been awhile since I have posted anything, but I have been laying low – taking a break from diving. I have been preparing for next spring, selling off most of my photo equipment, and saving up for a new, more professional rig. I am going with the Nikon D90 (yes, I switched teams), with an Ikelite case with 8″ dome and sigma 8-16 mm wide angle lens. My goal is around May to have everything in my possession.
I just got my case the other day, but have to save up a bit more to be able to afford the rest. Well either that, or actually sell my old equipment… I put it up on Ebay last week, but no bites yet.
I had a nice outing today, even though the current was high, and the conditions weren’t ideal. The weather was great. We have had an exceptionally nice winter over here, and it has been a great pleasure to get outdoors – even in January.
I think that my break from diving is a good thing. I have been doing a lot more photo work topside of late, and trying to improve my fundamentals, as well as my post-processing technique. I think it has made a huge difference in my photo work, and I hope we will see the results next summer.
Anyways, I took a short vid of an octopus that I harassed (seen below). Check it out, and enjoy the photos!
Monotone and Black and White Series 6-11
Working in monotone and black and white can liven up a composition
I don’t usually do a lot of work in black and white, but I decided to give it a shot. I always tend to think of black and white and monotone photography as a last resort for photos that don’t work in color, but the truth is that they can really make a composition sing. Some of the photos below have already been on the site in color, and some are completely new.
In other news, I had a run of rather bad luck in the last few weeks… My Canon G9 bit the dust last week, and my main hard drive on my server failed as well. The good new is that I sent the camera off to Canon to get repaired, and I expect it to be a relatively simple and inexpensive fix based on the research I conducted (fingers are crossed). As for my hard drive, I replaced it and got it back up and running within 36 hours. The bad news is that I hadn’t really counted on spending all that money, and it looks like I will be without my G9 for up to two months!
Luckily, I have my Canon Powershot D10 as a backup camera. It is much more limited than my G9 in that it is more of a point-and-shoot affair with much less manual control, and I am limited to 10 meters (about 33 feet) in depth. While I won’t be able to take it very deep, I have already heavily modified my rig to work with my D10, allowing me to use my strobe, my stacked Inon macro lenses, and my wide angle dome. All my alterations are completely home-made, and it even looks pretty cool. I spent all last week tweaking the setup and perfecting it. My initial tested are pretty good, and I just have a few minor light leakage issues when using the wide angle lens to patch up. I even hacked the camera with the use of the CHDK custom firmware in order to utilize RAW format. With that last touch, I can last a few months and keep shooting without missing a beat while waiting for my baby to get repaired. I think I will post pictures and details on how I set up my Canon D10. Some people might find it useful, and it might even spur on some further ideas on making the D10 a legitimate shallow dive camera.
I have a bunch more photos coming this week. I’ve been doing a lot of shooting these last few weeks, and a deluge of photos is coming your way soon! Enjoy the photos.
Repaired D10 is on the way, Ewa-Marine Casing is on its Way For Repair
Canon PowerShot D10
Well, I promised a full review of my D10 (the shorty version that I posted is here), but then I broke it right away, so I never got a chance to finish reviewing it. Luckily, it was under warranty, and my replacement is finally arriving from Canon next week sometime (I have waited 5 long weeks for Canon to get it repaired and sent out).
Once I get it back, and get some more time with it, and I will be finishing that review at some point. Until then, anyone who is considering buying one, I highly recommend the Canon D10, but just be careful. I am not sure if mine was defective or not, but the doors on mine, even though they snapped shut and seemed tight were not all the way closed. Pay extra attention to it before getting in the water. That is what happened to me, and it may have been a defect, I don’t know. We will find out when I get mine back.
Canon Both my Canon D10 and my Ewa-Marine U-AX are out of commission.
In other news, I sent my Ewa-marine case out to Germany today for repair (yes I broke that one too). I’ve used it probably 60-75 times and never had a problem. It has always performed reliably. It seems that one of the seams has come loose, and I am getting a slow drip of water at 2 bars and below. The hole is so slight that it doesn’t even leak until there is pressure applied.
I do have to say though, that the Ewa Marine models have a natural reservoir built in under the camera, so if you get a leak, it is not necessarily gong to damage your camera just because you have water in it. My problem was that I left my camera in the case and laid it on it’s side after I got out of the water (I had not yet realized that there was water in the case). Once I did that, kapoof, my camera was gone.
The thing is, my lens and my flash were both okay, so I really only lost out on a 4 year old camera body. I was long overdue for an upgrade, but was just waiting for the video to be smoothed out in the DSLR bodies. So really, this is the perfect time to take the leap, and I am going to upgrade when I go home for Christmas (Buying things in US dollars makes me happy).
First Shots from my New Canon Powershot D10
Canon PowerShot D10
Just wanted to post a few quick shots from my new Canon Powershot D10 that I bought on Saturday. I have been getting ready for my trip to Thailand next week, and I decided to pick this bad boy up. It sports a 12 Megapixel resolution, an optical 3x zoom lens, and the DIGIC processor. Add to that the fact that it is waterproof (up to 10m or 33 feet), it does both photo and video, and features some anti-shock capabilities (it can withstand drops of 1.2 meters or 4 feet), and you have a pretty nifty little package.
I am getting started on a full review of the camera that focuses more in-depth (no pun intended) on the underwater capabilities and results than your regular-old review. I hope to have it done before I head to Thailand next weekend. If I don’t get it finished up, I will just post it when I get back.
Until then, I have posted a few initial pictures from my first weekend owning one. You can find them here:
Canon D10 Underwater Photos: http://www.azur-diving.com/Canon-D-10-Underwater-Shots/
Canon D10 Dry-Land Photos: http://www.azur-diving.com/Canon-D-10-Dry-Land-Shots/
Control lost is portability gained
I have to say that initially, I am rather impressed with the D10. Obviously, there are some trade-offs between my normal Ewa-Marine U-AX/Canon DSLR rig. You really lose a lot of control stepping down from a DSLR camera, but at the same time you gain a few important things, such as portability. I will say this: the Canon D10 is a pretty smart camera. It does a lot of the work for you. This can be good or bad, but in my initial testing, the Canon D10 comes out on the good side more often than not.
Full review to come.
Lonely Jellyfish. Taken with the D10
It's me! Taken with my new Canon D10
Edit: I decided to throw a few video samples in as well quick. If you are catching this article on Facebook, LinkedIn or through an RSS feed, the embedded vids won’t work, follow this link to watch the vids:
