Entry Level

[PinayDiver]

second random batch:

test shot 9.jpg

test shot 10.jpg

test shot 2.jpg

test shot 7.jpg

test shot 1.jpg

so now that the camera survived me on our "familiarization" dive (and it had to be a drift dive, sheesh), i hope to take pics of marine life that actually move on next month's dive at verde, puerto galera. hopefully then, i'd have something worth starting a photo gallery

[seasnake]

Very nice ... I didn't take my camera to the ocean this weekend, I was worried it would be too cold ... kicking myself now, because conditions were perfect ... But I did take into the pool last night during a class and shot some video ... I'll try and post later ...

P.S. the housing turned out to be slightly negative once the camera was in it . . .

[PinayDiver]

I tried out the weights on my camera housing but, pleading ignorance -- because this was a different model from what I initially researched on (learn from this, people! ) -- I definitely put on too much (a sealed box comes with four pieces so I underwent trial-and-error). Although that didn’t bother me too much then because, the truth is, when I wasn’t shooting, I was cradling the camera in my palms almost during the entire dive. I kept thinking the strap might loosen, slip off my wrist, and my mistakenly overweighted housing would go hurling down to depths I can’t reach.

Could happen too. On our third dive of the day, as we descended in strong current, instead of seeing a white sandy bottom open up, it just kept getting bluer and darker, like being cocooned. The visibility was poor enough as it was. Finally, at 75 feet, we looked at each other, threw up our arms in a “huh?” gesture, and, a minute after, signaled “abort dive.” It turned out the boat’s anchor came loose and we drifted off. We were in the wrong spot. Our DM described it as being in a moving aquarium, we didn’t know we moved because we were moving with the water. Lost 500 psi but, once we were finally anchored right, had enough to go back down and continue taking test shots. It was interesting to say the least.

Today, I did the online research I should have done the night before the dive and saw that Canon recommends 0 weight for my housing -- grrrr -- although I don’t entirely trust that. I’ll just have to fine tune on the next dive if I perhaps need at least 1. I also noticed that the weight screw has a tendency to loosen during the dive if I don’t use a coin to really turn it tight. Finally, another diver in the group advised me to cushion the sides of the Canon housing with tissue, showing me the scarring on the face of her own camera.

[seasnake]

Okay, finally, here are a couple of pics from the Canon A700 I took last weekend. Not the most spectacular site, quite silty, and of course I was just experimenting with the new equipment ... and other such disclaimers ... lol
water temp=38F viz=15'-20'

[PinayDiver]

The crab pic (with its autumn-hued backdrop) makes me think of a watercolor painting.

Placid waters over there.

What exactly was that "slime ball"?

[seasnake]

"autumn-hued backdrop". What a nice way of saying "mudhole". Actually I think they call that stuff rockweed, but as you can see, everything including the poor little crab is covered in silt. The bottom in this area is extremely soft. It is a huge brackish inland "sea" that is open to the ocean in three spots (one opening very near this dive site, actually. The slime ball? I have no idea what that is, but we see it fairly frequently. I assume it's some type of algae ... but if you put that in a bucket and drained the water out I doubt if what was left would fit in your hand, although underwater that mass was probably 3' (1 m) across at least.