Chuck Tribolet

Adm. Linda FINALLY got her check from DEPP for the flooded 12-24 and got the 10-24. It must work pretty well, she got second in the Advanced (meaning experienced UW photogs) Traditional (only limited digital maniupulation) Wide-Angle category in this weekend's Monterey Shootout. With a couple of macro shots that got a 1st and 2nd, she ended up tied for 5th overall.

If you have a camera that will do pin-feed AF, the Tokina 10-17 MIGHT be a better choice, but for the low-end Nikon DSLR folks that need a motor in the lens, it looks like a real good choice. I have the 10-17 for my D300, so I'll have to see if I can borrow hers and compare. It will be interesting to see how the rectilinear 10-24 compares to the fish-eye 10-17.

Chuck

http://www.uwphotogr...4mm-lens-review

So how come the Nikon 10-24 is $250 less than the 12-24?

Chuck

In late November my GF received an e-mail stating that she would be paid on Dec 2. No check ever arrived, and DEPP's 800 number is now disconnected.

After involving the Attorneys General of California (where she lives) and Kentucky (where DEPP is located), my GF got a check from DEPP yesterday.

Yes, as Tom already noted, this is a dumb switch, serving only as a reminder for whether the pack is charged or not. I personally never use it !

I have rebuilt all my packs replacing the 1600 mAH NiCds with 4200 mAH NiMhs (don't forget to reuse the charging port's diode, and the thermal fuse located between the cells). I got very helpful info from Chuck Tribolet's page http://www.garlic.com/~triblet/sb104/ to start with, and took it from there.

I haven't checked the performance of the strobes, as far as number of full flashes is concerned, but I guesstimate to be no less than 300. That should be more than enough for a normal dive shoot, considering than most of the firings will not be at full power, and that would bring the number up, even higher. The awesome upgrade is on the recycle time, which is a fraction of the one from NiCds. (The strobe's thermal cutoff will kick-in a lot more frequently if you shoot paparazzi style!)

I also replaced the Nikon chargers with newer NiMh capable ones. I decided to do this for two purposes: first, I wasn't so sure how the old nikon NiCd chargers would behave with the new huge capacity and different technology cells (didn't care to experiment as well), and second, the two new small chargers I got are (combined) smaller and lighter than one of my Nikon ones (helps with travel weight management).

Hope I helped a little...

P.S. I must have a manual for the charger and for the battery pack laying around somewhere. If you need any info mail me.

The Nikon charger works just fine with the NiMH cells I rebuild with.

Chuck