Johnny Christensen

Once a month or so I check my referrer logs to see anything weird. Just found a picture of mine linked from a tropical diseases medical centre in their solomon islands vaccination section. Im soo tempted to replace the image with something less appriopriate. They're asking for it! If you're gonna steal an image, have the courtesy to properly steal it right?

Replacing it with a text saying, "I'm cheap - so I steal other peoples photos" might be a proper response.

I purchased the Aquatica D300 housing specifically because it can be modified to go to 450'.  I bought the Inon strobes because they have the deepest rating (100m) that I could find.  Still, 100m is a lot shallower than my deepest trimix dives.

Are there any technical divers out there that have taken their strobes to 450' and beyond? If so, which model? One photographer claimed that Sea & Sea strobes should have no problem going that deep (although he never had come close with his), and certainly Sea & Sea doesn't say that their strobes can go that deep.

Thanks in advance

- Kent

If it's any help, I used to take my old Sea & Sea strobes in the 90m (300 ft) range on a regular basis. That was YS50 and YS120. It was the worry of the Nikonos V camera that kept me from taking them deeper.

I once accidently left one in a pressure-pot overnight at 14 bar's. It held up fine, but of course the controls where not touched when it was sitting in there.

I would not hesitate to do the same thing to their newer models.

yeah, johnny has some great wreck shots on his web site, I just checked them out.

Temember, you'll need to get the 10.5mm nikon fisheye, not the 16mm, to replicate with your D200 what johnny did on film with his 16mm due to the crop factor...my apologies if you already knew that.

Scott

Depends on what you want to do with the pictures. If it's for traditionel pictures of one shot showing a part of the scenery, then go as wide as possible ie. 10,5mm.

But if you want to stitch the pictures together, the 16mm fisheye on a cropped camera will give about 120 degrees of view, while still maintaining lines thats possible to straighten.
There is bound to be some curves, but that effect is far less than on the full 10,5mm fisheye.

For closeup pictures of wreck artifacts, pool shots of swimmers and underwaterbabies, I'm using 16mm. http://johnnychriste...113_107568.html

For general big view pictures of wreck sections, I'm using the 10,5mm.
http://johnnychriste...om/gallery.html

I have never tried to stich a bunch of pictures together, but it could give some really cool results.

You could also use the Nikkor 16mm f 2,8 fisheye. On a cropped camera, it will give pleasing results for closeup work.
My standard lenses for wreck shooting has always been as wide as possible. The 10,5mm filled the gap that 16mm on film left behind.
But there should be a few 16mm lenses collecting dust out there, you could pick them up cheap(is)

Iceland... what a fantastic country. I've just spend four days there and are now putting all other vacation plans on hold - got to go back for more.

What are most divers doing for securing there housing. No straps, 1 strap, or two straps? Advantages and disadvantages? All advice appreciated.
Thanks,
Zeb

I have loads of equipment to look after when I'm diving. So I'm in favor of securing the camera.

Clip 1 & 2 on the camera D-ring, 3 on the harness / bc D-ring to make it short.
Unclip 2 to make it longer.

Simple, strong and cheap.
Works for hoisting your camera down by the boatcrew as well.  Lanyard.jpg   73.93K   105 downloads