304 replies to this topic

[Kanankeban]

James,
I can´t find your Fuji S2pro review...Could you post the link?
What make you buy the Fuji instead of the D100?
Regards..
Hector

[wetpixel]

go to the reviews area and check out the first entry. also, please discuss housings in the Housings forum category!

[Kanankeban]

Ups....thanks Erick

[norm]

Hello.

I've been anonymously reading wetpixel for a while now and never registered or posted mostly because I didn't feel like I had much to contribute. (Of course, that implies that I feel like I have something to contribute now... which I don't really. I'll just keep mooching off of all your knowledge and experience. )

I've been diving for 1.5 years about and just started taking digital footage of my trips. I've got a sony trv30 digicam and a gates housing. (i love them both)... for still shots, I just invite Eric on my dive trips.

I am in san diego and currently am back in school finishing up a computer science degree. (I wonder what percentage of digital underwater photographers are in the software? if this group is representative at all, the percentage seems pretty high.)

norm

[alien-bob]

Sheesh, you go away for a few weeks (figuratively speaking) and everything changes! Eric--the new software looks great! Awesome job.

Looks like I have lots of catching up to do, but it will have to wait until AFTER I MOVE because I'VE GOT A NEW JOB!!! Sorry to "yell" but I'm still pretty psyched. In a couple of weeks I'll be moving to Bar Harbor, Maine, and while a local diver told me "it's cold and dark" there's supposed to be a ton of life in that area ... and it's so much closer to the ocean than Utah where I live at the moment.

Professionally I'm a research scientist: biotech, and about to move from mainly microbes to mostly mice (Bill, I'd guess we'd have plenty to talk about). Snorkelled a lot with my Dad when I was a kid, learned scuba at university, and then gave it up for mumblemumble years when I got hooked on rockclimbing and biking in the desert. Started diving again about 18 months ago, recertified, and have been as obsessive about it as it's possible to be when you live 1000 miles from the nearest decent dive site. Into most things natural-history, in particular fungi above water and anything weird below. Shooting with an Ike-housed CP5000 and a DS125 that I seem to have a talent for flooding. Still very much in the steep part of the uw photography learning curve!

Anyone in the group from Maine or Mass or somewhere close by interested in getting together to tell some lies or jump into the balmy North-West Atlantic?

Bob.

[fotofish]

Hello,

I live in a small town in central Az and I'm also a Native of the state.

Originally I worked as a proffesional forest fire fighter until Pres. Carters cutbacks eliminated my position. I have been working in the commercial electrical contracting field for the last 25 years. I'm also an inactive PADI scuba instructor. I found out it wasn't my calling.

I have been diving since 1970 and shooting pictures u/w since 75, someday I hope to get good at it.

I'm still a film user, hopefully I'll be shooting digital soon. Its just a matter of trying to figure out which SLR system I want to use.

Have a great day and enjoy life

Stephen

[Uranium]

Hi guys!

I live in Singapore and started diving in June 2002. *Extreme Newbie, especially to underwater photography* Anyway, I started underwater photography in August. I currently use my educational institute's Canon powershot s30 without a strobe.

Other than diving, I play the clarinet and spend most of the rest of my time on the computer *Mac, Windows, Linux*. I have an interest in photography *this led me to underwater photography*. I have no job. *I'm still a student* I have just completed a project concerning the use of QTVR for a 3D representation of a coral on your computer. I hope i can upload this to my webpage soon and you guys can go view it.

[ShutterFish]

Hi Everyone-

I'm an avid photographer and outdoor enthusist. My husband and I ski from Nov - May in VT, SCUBA every chance we get (read twice a year - the water is too cold in the NE US), ride our road TREKs as often as possible and generally love life. We're a pair of engineers which pays for our fun. We are also computer geeks.

We were lucky enough to enjoy a photo safari in South Africa this past spring where my SONY F707 was a star performer! I brought my trusty Minolta with a 500mm lens, but truth be told, the output from the SONY was every bit as good.

We got certified off the Great Barrier Reef in 1995 and have been hopelessly addicted ever since. I shoot most of the images while my husband plays the role of camera caddy and chief critter finder! Presently I am shooting Nikonos V gear, but looking into a housing for my SONY. Hoping to glean some information from all of you!


Cheri

[Shawn]

Hello everyone!

My name is Shawn and I am a newbie to photography. I stumbled onto this site from another site. I have been diving up here in the Puget Sound since 1988 and can not get enough of it. I really have a keen interest in marine life and see photography as the next step.

That being said, I want to learn as much as I can about digital camera photography before I start. I am looking to get a good set-up for a beginner. Something better then the SeaLife. Something like the MX-10 level for digital. I need a strobe as well and would like to have some macro lenses.

Anyone have any words of advice?

Thanks alot,

Shawn

[scottyb]

Scotty B here from Austin, TX. I did my first bluewater dive with an Aquashot. I quickly avanced to an MX-10 and then used a Nik V for several years, adding strobes and lenses along the way. I was about to purchase a housing for my N90s when I read a review on the S2 Pro. I decided to take the plunge and bought it and an Ikelite housing. I am taking it for it's first extended outing on the Belize Aggressor in December.

I am currently working on my divemaster certification and as a volunteer, I am the National Rescue Coordinator for the IHBA Drag Boat Association. I do a lot of land photography at the race venues which take me from Red Bluff, CA to Augusta, GA. I also volunteer as a rescue diver with a local Emergency Dive Unit.

My wife and I spent our 20th anniversary on the Kona Aggressor last Jan. She is a great dive buddy and can really spot the small critters.

[james]

Scotty,

That makes 2 S2 shooters in Texas. I'm in Houston.

Cheers
James

[scottyb]

James, the S2 had been recommended by one of our IHBA Team Rescue members in N.C. He is a professional photographer in the furniture industry and uses it for commercial layouts. However, it was after I read about the Ikelite housing on your web site that put me over the top in my decision to purchase one.

[JamesWood]

Hi all, I’m Dr. James B. Wood and I’m a marine biologist specializing in cephalopods (octopus, nautilus, squid, cuttlefish). I have a few web pages dedicated to these animals:

http://is.dal.ca/~ceph/TCP/index.html
http://www.cephbase.utmb.edu/

I started uw photography in graduate school in 94 with a Nikonos V and started to sell my images to pay for film, equipment and food.

I currently live in Galveston, Texas about an hour south from the OTHER JamesW. Last summer I borrowed JamesW’s coolpix system for a field study of Caribbean Reef Squid

http://is.dal.ca/~ce...Ssepioidea.html

We are able to identify individual squid by their dot patterns and follow them for weeks at a time. However, some of us are better at this than others and explaining subtle differences in the patters of thousands of dots while talking though a snorkel, or even worse, back at base camp away from the animals, left a lot to be desired. With James’s camera I was able to take images, bring them back to the base camp, and carry on a *civilized conversation – it was a great tool.

We have recently secured a National Science Foundation grant to expand CephBase (the second link above) and I wrote an S2 into the equipment section. JamesW, no not me, the other guy, the engineer who is tech crazy and even more hyper then me, yeah him, is assisting again with advice and has also sent me here. Thanks!

Dr. James B. Wood
The Brine Shrimp

*Well, by biologist standards anyway.

[freediver]

Guess I'll do the same...

My name is Cliff Etzel and I am the Director/Freediving Editor for Deeperblue.net.

My professional background includes working as a photojournalist (since 1986) - first as a freelancer (including a stringer for the Associated Press), and also as a staff photographer for several small to medium sized newspapers. Some of my accomplishments include winning several regional photojournalism awards for 1993/1994 while working in newspaper and being accepted into The Eddie Adams Workshop for 1992, a prestigious photojournalism workshop which was by portfolio submission only for photo-documentary work I had done.

From there I moved to becoming a photo editor for a couple of specialty magazine publications, and now I write and shoot photo's as a freelancer.

I specialize in freediving (which I am a large advocate of) and recently became a licensed freedive instructor as well. I am also a PADI certified Rescue Diver.

Along with that, I also own a company called Blue Digital Media that I am just beginning to get off the ground specializing in multimedia content creation (both still and video) - hopefully to target the dive industry.

Not much created yet underwater since I live in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon) and I have been busy trying to get the business side of things off the ground.

I currently work with a couple of Olympus C-2000's, the PT-010 housing and Inon w/a lens.

My first all digital article was a 10 photo spread I did for a magazine on freediving.

Greetings to all



Cliff Etzel
"aka freediver"

[Elissa]

Hello everyone,

I'm Elissa from California. I'm a forensic biologist by day and a digital junkie by night.

After years of wishing I could dive, I finally got certified in 2000 and picked up a camera (Reefmaster RC) in 2001.

I switched to digital (Olympus 3040/PT-010 housing/Ikelite DS 50 substrobe, Inon Macro, Epoque wide angle lenses. Adobe Photoshop) in Aug 2001, and just got an Olympus 5050/PT-015/Ikelite DS 125 for Christmas

I also shoot video with a Sony digital PC-110 in an Ocean Images Housing. I use Videowave V for editing, but am switching to Adobe Premiere.

I have not been trained in photography and am just learning how to do things manually. Most of the photos on my website www.descentline.com were taken with the Olympus 3040 in auto mode. There you will also find a few pages on getting started in underwater digital imaging and photo galleries and video clips from our trips.

Looking forward to learning from everyone here!

[subh2o]

Hello all,

My name is Richard and I'm in eastern Quebec, Canada. I dive mostly the St.Lawrence estuary but also do frequent trips to Ontario and the Great Lakes for freshwater diving. I'm a DM and have been diving since 1979.

I've been working as a marine biologist for 16 years but do most of my photography for fun, although I often use UW photo as a tool at work. After using Nikonos III and V cameras for many years, I now do most of my photography with a Nikon F90x in an Aquatica-90 housing.

My first contact with UW digital was in June of 2000 when I started using an Olympus C-3030 in a PT-005 housing. Last year, that housing was replaced by the Ikelite version so that I could take the camera on trimix dives. In the fall of 2002, I changed system and I'm now using a Coolpix 5000 in an Aquatica-5000 housing. More about this system in an upcoming post.

My favorite subjects are cold water critters.

Richard

[james]

I'd like to welcome our new members. I'd encourage everyone to post some photos in the Critique section. As nerve-wracking as it can be sometimes, it's the best way to improve.

Cheers
James Wiseman

[markh]

Hi all, I've been posting away for ages unaware of this thread!

My name is Mark Humpage & live in Leics, UK (spitting distance from Stoney Cove). I run my own Highway Consultancy business, and my stress busters are diving & meteorology (good mix!!).

Been diving since mid 80's. Started the BSAC way & ended up as a PADI instructor! Set up my own diving school & retail outlet in Birmingham back in 90's. Having worked myself ragged with little reward for 5 years (Oh the joys of the diving industry), got rid of one wife, gained another, sold up (not the wife!), gave up my day job & disappeared to the Far East spreading the PADI word.

Had enough of continually being broke & working for a Muppet (Aquamarine, Jordan) so we came back to UK & got proper jobs! I'm non-teaching status nowadays but Debs, my wife, still teaches at Stoney Cove every now and then.

I'm a bit of a wreckie at heart & done a fair bit of cave diving although responsibilities (kids!) precludes this nowadays, and although have only dabbled with U/W photography over the years it is something I really want to get into now, particularly digital, as I am a bit of a gadget freak (are'nt we all?).

Bought the very basic Dimage xi /YS25DX outfit late last year really to experience digital U/W, albeit at a basic level. Quite impressed at the results (for a point & shoot setup) and now in process of purchasing the Titan setup for my E10.

Diving nowadays is limited to a few trips abroad/year together with the odd weekend along the British coastline, and of course Stoney Cove every now & again.

My dream.......to emulate my old pal Bob's (Cyberfish) lifestyle - Horizontal

Music - Maiden
Books - Clive Cussler
Drink - Guinness
Regs - Sherwood (reliable as a VW)

Mark

PS Great site

[Dr_C]

I've been lurking for a few months in preparation for my first digital underwater experience. I'll be in Hawaii for two weeks and will probably snorkel every day. No diving yet. Hell.. my first snorkel experience was only two years ago and I'm 35.

I bought an Oly-2040z two years ago and figured that my best bet would be to pick up a PT-010. So that is what I did

I hope to post my first underwater digital picture next week!

Tim

oh yeah.. I'm a mathematician turned systems adminstrator.. easier job...more money

[Newbibranch]

I'd like to welcome our new members.  I'd encourage everyone to post some photos in the Critique section.  As nerve-wracking as it can be sometimes, it's the best way to improve.

Cheers
James Wiseman

Ok James, I'm taking you up on it.

Hi ALL!

Been lurking & learning for the past few months and have really enjoyed the pictures & info. I have more apprecitation for UW photography now that I've finally given it a try myself. Wow...how you get those amazing images...well, I'm hear to learn. I've only been diving since May and just starting taking UW pix a couple of weeks ago. It was a lot of fun but I won't be giving up my day job... which is Freelance Computer Production Artist/Designer in the advertising biz.
The next step...off to Member Photos for my critique.....

C.J.
Newbiebranch from BC Canada