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segal3

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Posts posted by segal3

  8. Posted

    For those that just want to see the pictures - http://www.carbonos.com/gallery/list.php?exhibition=13

     

    Would love to hear comments and criticisms :)

     

    _MG_2220_1w.jpg

     

    Drove up to the Truth (Santa Barbara) this last Friday night to discover nothing less than a plethora of photographers, and a few startled hunters . There were at least 8 or 9 cameras - we're talking everything from a Sony or Canon point-and-shoot to Nikonos 5s to D100s in Titan housings to VX200 (?) digital vid-cams in L&M housings as well. We took up the entire galley area, and the "displaced" hunters were wondering wth was going on. "Damn photographers" Notable among them was Ron Lagerlof (recent winner of the Wetpixel POTW with his Mandarin Fish shot) - nice guy. Met a few others on Wetpixel, a good group of people overall.

     

    Either way, we were going to try and make it out to the outer islands...but at 4AM when we started heading out, the forecast changed drastically...from 2-3ft swell to 7-8ft w/ 20-30knot winds. Woken up by the starting of the boat's engines, I nervously think about my camera setup sitting unsecured on the tables in the galley...thankfully everything got through ok. They called off going to the outer islands, and tried to find a spot to dive...we ended up pulling in behind Santa Cruz and didn't start diving until ~9AM.

     

    First dive was critter rich...saw a nudibranch or two I hadn't seen before (will need an ID when I put it up...), a baby octopus, and tons of Spanish Shawls out and about...was shooting 100mm macro of course (sadly, the focus limiter switch got hit when I put the port on, and whenever I wanted to do closer than 1:3 I had to go manual focus - glad I had re-linked the * to AF and the shutter to mere AE)...and everything seemed perfect until I got back onto the boat, downloaded the photos, and started flipping through them...an errant number caught my eye in ACR..."ISO 1600". Oh crap. Every shot of the dive...shot at ISO1600. This is what shooting pictures at the Getty leads me to. Great . LOL. Needless to say, I wrote myself a big note inside my bag reminding me to switch to ISO100. A big note

     

    Either way, the other three dives were somewhat inconsequential...never really saw as much critter life, although there were some very curious Garibaldi that seemed to like staring into my flat port...from 2" away...in some cases, I couldn't take a picture and would have to shoo them off with my hand so that I could try and re-frame the shot as they came back towards me. Funny Garibaldis... Third dive was somewhat barren, a little disappointing, but did see some little sea hares that are always fun to shoot. Fourth dive I made the decision to switch to wide if I saw kelp upon arriving at the location. In my haste (5min gate time) upon seeing it and switching promptly to wide, I forgot to attach the focus gear . So I was stuck at 33mm on the 18-55mm kit lens. Regardless, I'm still very happy with some of my shots from that dive...it was all kelp fun. Oh, and all the dives were cold...but something to deal with I suppose. Worth it.

     

    We ended up getting back around 8PM coming through rough seas. A fitting end to a long day. Despite some of the problems that I had (and they were all my fault of course ), I very much enjoyed shooting the 20D...can't wait to get back out there again. A good learning experience...

     

    ~Matt Segal

  9. Posted

    Promised I would put up a sunburst-esque image taken with the 20D from my recent (this last Saturday) local diving...there's a few more I haven't edited where the sun rays look like electric fire, but here's a quick example...

     

    teaser_sc1.jpg

    20D, 1/320, f/22, ISO100, 18-55mm kit lens @ 33mm

     

    ~Matt Segal

  11. Posted

    Confused as to why you selected a 60mm macro for the D70 pricing, and a 100mm macro for the 20D pricing...you're skewing it to one side. The Nikon 105mm macro lens (w/ rebate) is ~$550 or so (prices vary). The Canon 100mm macro is $450 max, and the Canon 50mm macro (1:2) is $250, w/ the Sigma (1:1) at the same price.

     

    Additionally, you'd want a flat port for the Nikon 60mm macro lens as well...and no, the #5503.55 dome port for the Nikon kit lens is not the same as the #5503.50 dome port for the Nikon 60mm Micro...

     

    ~Matt Segal

  15. Posted

    In this shot, I was using (2) DS-125s at -0.5 (controlled in manual mode on the back of the eTTL2 housing). What I have been wondering for a little while now however, is how much, if any, impact those strobes made in the shot, as compared to the overwhelming natural light.

     

    With regard to flash-sync, I noted the following in my 20D + Ikelite eTTL2 housing report (found on my site):

     

    In eTTL2 mode, the 20D always reverts to no faster than 1/250 when the photo is taken. In manual strobe mode, however, the 20D syncs up to 1/320 before black banding occurs (this was apparent from 1/400 onwards).

     

    (the modes referring to the different settings of the eTTL2 controller built into the housing back)...So apparently the 20D and the Rebel match up with regard to manual strobe settings, with the 20D holding a slight edge in TTL strobe-sync (not much of an issue as majority of any TTL work would be macro where 1/200 or 1/250 really won't make any difference)...

     

    I'll continue to experiment...

     

    ~Matt Segal

  16. Posted

    I know a number of you have seen this shot, but the 20D didn't seem to do to badly in this case...

     

    _MG_1957_5w.jpg

    1/400, f/18, 18-55mm kit lens

     

    Granted, this was only 10ft depth, so not sure how increasing amounts of water are going to affect it. The center is very much overexposed, but the radius still seems to retain the same effect as other bursts...don't know if this was just a lucky event or is indicative of the general abilities of the camera. If vis is good this weekend, I'll be out shooting WA kelp forest, so we'll see what comes of that...

     

    ~Matt Segal

  20. Posted

    I haven't really ever warmed to shooting CFn4=1.

     

    You can use CFn4=2 (ok) or CFn4=3 (better) more effictively. CFn4=3 allows you to start or stop the AF functions when in AI Servo AF mode...when you hit the * button the first time, all AF processes are halted and you have the ability to manual focus. Hit it again, and everything is back to normal. AF is always controlled by the shutter half-press when active. CFn4=2 is similar, except that you have to hold down the * button to continue halting the AF...

     

    *edit* Addendum to this two posts below...CFn4=2 is better option. */end edit*

     

    ~Matt Segal

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