Abucs

I would love to do three or four a year, but unfortunately for me, it's more like one or two.  Mind you, the 'dive trip' I did last year was a three month long dive and drive around Australia, taking in many of the best shore dives of the south and west coast.  An incredible experience that mixed taking a dip with long days of driving through the arid inland.  Highlights were- leafy sea dragons, cage diving with GWS, snorkelling with whalesharks, and videoing a goanna while it was foraging underwater at a mineral springs.

Perhaps the limiting function for me is cost.  I am guessing there are some on this forum who would do a Forrest Gump line with having money...

Three months long??? Amazing... I would definitely be the Forest Gump... lol... So apart from Australia, you do not dive elsewhere?

about 300 Days a year....
Well i am a dive instructor and own 2 dive operations
Chris

I bet you can already dive with your eyes close now...

About one weekend a month for me, averaging 5 dives per weekend.  Also one or two full weeks of diving during the major holidays.  I am fortunate enough to live within 2 hours driving time from Anilao . . .

Sweet.. mind recommending which dive center you often go? what's the cost like to dive like 5 times per weekend?

About 500 dives a year for the last 6 years.. The best thing about being a full-time Instructor

-Morten

yeah... i would love that too... trying to get my DM and then perhaps I can start diving all year long too... lol...

I average about 120-150 dives a year. That's a couple almost every weekend (local) and two modest dive vacations a year.

Lee

Which part of Canada do you dive?

Read the manual.
Some where there is an adjustment slider for the flash out put.
Move it down a little and take a test shot. Repeat with same subject.

As you change subjects from dark to highly reflective,you may need to readjust.

G9 has 3 levels of flash output.
I've tried the first and second level. The first is pretty much non-existence during underwater. Can't seem to bring out any light at all.
So the only option left is the 2nd level which I'm currently using.

The -1 and -2 would be your standard deviation setting which does not work on manual setting (I have a G11 and assuming it is similar).

Set your camera to shutter priority (TV) and select a shutter speed somewhere around 1/200 to freeze the action. In this setting your standard deviation setting will work.

If you want to use manual mode, put the ISO on 100-200, f4-f8 and shutter speed 1/125 - 1/200 and as Diver Dave said review after you have taken a photo and make adjustments as required...

If you practice adjusting the settings on the housing before you go diving it will be a bit easier!!

Good luck!!

Thanks. I will try out your suggestion.

I also have a G9 but not used in much in a while. If I recall correctly, you do not get flash TTL when in Manual setting, leading to your issue. So you might try Av, Tv or even P settings to get TTL flash. If you use Aperture priority, you can set the f-stop to perhaps f8 and have a better chance for good exposure.
If you want to stick with manual, you could dial down the f-stop and dial up the shutter speed, review the photo on the spot, change the f-stop and try again. I had two main frustrations with the G9, the lack of TTL in Manual and the shutter lag. An open f-stop and close photo's will be difficult not to over expose.

this is a great piece of advise and it just shows how much i understand about this camera. i also wonder why i never bother trying switching to other modes.
can i also check with you what's the normal exposure you use underwater? due to the flash being so bright, i always ensure i'm shooting photos underexpose. depending on the depth and object size, i'm always between the range of -1 to -2 so that the photo can be compensated by the flash (as in hoping the flash will not be too bright like the above photo).

about the f-stop, i tried before jacking it up to f8 or even f10 but that would result to a slower shutter and a higher ISO. Knowing G9 will be noisy at ISO400 and the response of the camera will be slower, I always end up having OOF photos. I also noticed the higher ISO, the more backscatter there is.

thanks for the advise.