Jump to content

segal3

Admin
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    1729

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by segal3

  1. Posted

    1/15th of a second ? seems slow.

     

    Is this the norm in Cali waters ? Or does it just create a style you like ?

    Actually, 1/15@ISO200 was a little fast for the lack of light down there. 1/8 or 1/10 would have been better. It's not exactly a clear, tropical water here :D...

     

    Thanks guys for the comments. I should rename this "Plane Wreck and EXIF viewers" ;)

  4. Posted

    Think about this, if we were still shooting film cameras, would we have a 10fps camera?
    Without intending to take away from your overall statement on the remarkable progress that has been made as a result of digital (with which I agree completely)...the Canon EOS-1V, released in March 2000, is a 10fps film camera.

     

    I can't imagine wanting to go through an entire roll of film in 3.6 seconds, however ;).

  6. Posted

    Over President's Day weekend, I had a chance to dive Catalina Island for the first time. I'd snorkeled there before, years ago, but all of my local diving had been at the Northern Channel Islands (Santa Cruz to San Miguel). I expected slightly warmer water temperatures - well, it was 59F, so I'm not sure if that's much warmer :excl: - and a different blend of species - blue-banded gobies, angel sharks, and electric rays were encountered, so that fit the perception.

     

    The most interesting dive was the first of the day, at an otherwise unremarkable dive spot just off a bluff in the island. The briefing was typical for California - kelp, plentiful garibaldi and sheephead, scattered rocks, sand :), but what caught my attention was the briefest mention of a crashed plane at depth. Most of the divers on the boat were new students who would be practicing skills in 40ft, but I sought out a divemaster and asked about the wreck - "Straight north from the middle of that pile of rocks, a Piper that crashed about five years back and sunk...it's at 120ft."

     

    I already had the Tokina 10-17mm fisheye on the camera - I had been on a few dives with the lens, and found it extremely useful, even if I did usually limit myself to 10mm - and figured an easily reached wreck in California shouldn't be neglected. I jumped in the water, and started down the slope. Around 80ft, I encountered a 4-5ft angel shark, lying in the sanding waiting for a meal to pass by.

     

    cat_plane1.jpg

     

    I continued on, and around 100ft I saw it, twenty feet to my left. A small Piper, from what I could tell completely intact. After spending time with the angel shark, I only had a few minutes at 120ft, and quickly tried to cover the plane.

     

    cat_plane2.jpg

     

    Steadying myself as I maneuvered the housing into the interior, my support suddenly gave away...and I realized that the chairs still tilted front and back. From what I could gather, the plane had been sliding slowly down the slope over the years, and I didn't have a chance to fully enter to get a close-up of the cockpit controls and readouts.

     

    cat_plane3.jpg

     

    The plane had become an artificial reef, with small schools of perch, juvenile/intermediate sheephead, and plentiful invertebrate life taking over. My computer began to beep, and I started up the gradual slope again, taking a final photo of the engine compartment as I left. Very vaguely in the photo above, you can make out a shark/ray lying on the seafloor in ~140ft of water - it's the triangular shape w/ tail just below the tail-elevator on the right of the photo.

     

    cat_plane4.jpg

     

    For all those on the fence about the Tokina 10-17, it's an excellent lens that I've really enjoyed using. I did some research when I got home, and found a short blurb from the NTSB about the crash of the Piper PA-32-260.

     

    NTSB Identification: LAX02LA022

    14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation

    Accident occurred Saturday, November 03, 2001 in Avalon, CA

    Aircraft: Piper PA-32-260, registration: N3516W

    Injuries: 3 Uninjured.

     

    This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.

     

    On November 3, 2001, at 1645 hours Pacific standard time, a Piper PA-32-260, N3516W, sustained a loss of engine power during departure climb and ditched into the Pacific ocean, about 4 miles south of Catalina Island, Avalon, California. The airplane was substantially damaged. The private rated pilot and two passengers were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight, operating under 14 CFR Part 91, and no flight plan was filed. The originating flight departed from runway 22, and was destined for Carlsbad, California.

     

    The pilot reported that after takeoff the engine began making a "rattling" noise with a loss of engine power. He was unable to return to the runway and landed in the ocean. The Catalina Island airport manager stated that a pilot reported hearing the accident airplane prior to departure and that the engine sounded "terrible or strange" to him.

    Sorry for the long post - thanks to those who stuck with it :o.

  7. Posted

    FWIW, I've been told that Photobucket does not allow sale of photos to OTHER people, but only for a person to buy prints of the photos they posted there themselves. She still shouldn't have your photo on there without your permission, but she isn't necessarily trying to sell it.
    Bruce - I saw that response to you about that, followed up to check it out for myself, and found it not to be true.

     

    With a randomly-created user, I was able to get as far as being able to enter a credit card number (at which point I stopped) after selecting # of photos, their size, shipping/billing address, etc for print from iDiveChick's photobucket account.

  9. Posted

    I guess this was a lucky one, since web mail clients (such as gmail) usually do nor put originator IP in the SMTP header...
    Gmail actually does allow you to view all of the header information - when viewing an email, click the dropdown arrow near the top-right of the message window (next to the 'Reply' button), and select 'Show original'.

  10. Posted

    If I understand Canon's comments on this camera, all that is happening is more levels of gradation per color within the same dynamic range. This will decrease the need for interpolation or increase it's accuracy either in camera or in converter, but I don't see why it will cure an ill whose major cause is close dynamic parameters.
    Check out page 12 of the linked White Paper for the 1D MkIII - it shows an example of a bride in a white gown, and the increase in highlight detail is remarkable when Highlight Tone Priority is used.

  12. Posted

    The only piece of Ikelite gear that has failed on me in the last three years or so was the 10-setting manual controller...after a titan triggerfish bit through the sync-cord in PNG and the thing flooded :).

     

    I do wonder about if there are consistent issues with strobes or other underwater gear from certain suppliers/resellers? I imagine most of the Wetpixel sponsors are keenly aware of how to handle and store the various products, but I can see where strobes ordered from a local non-photo-oriented dive shop might get thrown around in a box more than is advised... :)

  13. Posted

    Instead of inserting a questionable photo into your post as an image, please provide a link with a sufficient warning for those at work or similar environment. Those who do not want to view the image can choose not to click on the link.

     

    Underwater nudes don't seem to generate the same response as topside shots, so it is a subjective decision. And please, no gratuitous pornography :).

  17. Posted

    Opistognathus dendriticus is much too large, and more aggressive from what I can gather.

     

    The closest match I could find was a female 'Variable Jawfish (Opistoganthus sp.)' from the Allen/Steen/et al Tropical Pacific Reef Fish ID book... but that's not much of an ID at all :glare: ...hence why I need help :lol:

     

    Another angle:

    sol_jawfish2.jpg

  22. Posted

    Just to add to Paul's useful advice, as far as I am aware you cannot twin up two of Canon's own flash units for underwater use (I have been asked about this).

    Paul - I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you should absolutely be able to link Canon's flash units underwater. Granted, only one (the master) will be physically wired to the housing (if you meant corded by 'twin up', then I agree with your statement), but the other, set to slave, should manage to pickup the IR signal and operate in eTTL2 or manual.

     

    A six-wire sync cord is required for eTTL/2 of course, and possible issues include the IR signal not reaching the second strobe...this could be alleviated in a similar fashion to how Marc Furth's dual SB-800s are setup - with an optical pickup that runs to the slave housing.

     

    I haven't found many housing options for the 580ex or similar, however. :D

  23. Posted

    Thanks guys :)

     

    Yes, the right-corner of the mouth where the jaw hinges was pure white - hard to avoid :(. The rest of his mouth was more of a gray or yellow coloration.

     

    I was hoping he wouldn't open up that wide but nooo... :D:)

     

    For those unfamiliar with the species, this moray was just over 1 cm in diameter, and 15 cm long. You can see the rest of his body curve around to the left in the background.

×
×
  • Create New...