NeptunesTrident

You should also look at the Canon OEM housing for the G10. It has a very port similar and there are a few macro lens adapters for it. Also Reefnet "the makers of Subsee Diopters" will make a custom port mount for any camera, so your covered there.

Thanks Alan, That was the very solution I was looking for. Can anyone direct me to a good online dealer which stocks these parts?

I've been looking for a mount which can attach a Fantasea 44 LED to an Ikelite dual handle tray with Ball Socket arms. I've looked on the Ikelite webpage and am not sure what would be compatible. I am currently only using a solitary DS-51, so the right post on my dual handle tray is not occupied. Is there an adapter which will mount the light directly to the post? or attached to my arm? This is the light in question:

Thanks for the tips. On the second image, I didn't swing the arm far enough out to eliminate backscatter. I have another image of the sheephead / reef taken a few seconds later, in which I did position the strobe right and also the diver is out of the image. Totally agree about your comments on the Tree fish "fourth image" and fifth image. Thanks again.

Critique and Comments welcome "Should have swung the strobe arm out wider for the shot below "to limit backscatter", but I was still happy with the result"

Here's a few more 's from the trip:

My old instructor / dive mentor did a series of dives at San Clemente 2 weeks ago. He said it was the most gratifying dives he's had in over 2 years. Mini walls, Blue Shark sightings and extremely good visibility. What more could you ask for? For someone who dives for a living on almost a daily basis, I took this as high praise. Needless to say, I'm currently looking for a day charter out that way.

I'm completely hooked on them. This was my third summer taking this trip and I don't think I'll be breaking that habit any time soon. The scuba diving portions did have quite marginal visibility, but since I'm mostly a shore diver "dealing with everything from 5-30ft" on a normal basis, it was quite adequate. Not necessarily my idea of an island "like" conditions but still very enjoyable.

As we made our way across the channel, I knew conditions were going to be nice. The ocean was almost lake like, with very little swell. When we arrived at Scorpion Anchorage’s pier I looked off the side to spot Garibaldi and various Rockfish swimming around the pylons. After packing all our gear the half mile to our campsite, I quickly setup my camera system and suited up. We tried our first dive over the left end of the cove heading towards the Sea Cave known as Marge Simpson, named for its silhouette. Patchy reefs over a sporadic kelp forest and sand channels were found on this dive. Pink and Red Gorgonians were abound, in very shallow water. Saw various Nudibranch’s, including San Diego Dorid, Yellow Dorid and Spanish Shawls. Visibility was 15ft but lots of particulates plagued the water. For the last two summers before this I’ve experienced better visibility here, but was still quite ample for diving. On our way back I found a huge Lobster under a small ledge. It was one of the largest I've ever seen, its body was close to the girth of my thigh! This dive really put the Channel Island waters into perspective for me. Life you usually only see in the deeper depths on the Palos Verdes Peninsula was found in only 20ft of water. On the second dive we descended directly below the pier and found a new Nudibranch species. My first Catalina Triopha's! Being a Nudibranch fiend I was really excited. The pier also hosted a variety of other invertebrate life and some interesting rockfish. We then headed into the cove and came across a sand barren. While free-diving here for the past two years, I’ve found huge adult Bat Rays. Some of the biggest specimens I’ve ever observed, close to a 5 or 6ft wing span. This year they were nowhere to be found. We did find a couple young ones but none of the large adults I am so used to finding here. For our third dive we were going to try heading out on the right side of the cove, but luckily decided to make the long surface swim out to the closest Scorpion Rock. Turns out this Scorpion Rock lays in about 40ft of water and is part of a gorgeous under pinnacle system. This area was full of life. Schooling blacksmith, countless rockfish, Treefish, Calico Bass, Garibaldi and much more were found here. This is why I came here. This is true Channel Island diving at its best. Brittle, Bat and Fragile Stars were in every nook and cranny. Bluebanded and Black Eyed Gobies darted back and fourth on the pinnacle wall, making the cold inanimate rocks squirm with life. Large male Sheephead kept just out of direct sight, making sure to give us bubble breathing behemoths a wide berth. We spiraled around the pinnacle for most of the dive, only venturing off its extending reef system for a few minutes before surfacing. This was an extremely fulfilling dive for SpKelpDiver and me. It is one I will soon not forget. On our fourth dive we descended down just outside Scorpion Rock and hung around the outer extending reefs before heading 150 degrees toward shore. As we came into the shallows we hit another reef system in which we took a parallel heading towards Scorpion Anchorage. This reef system, though shallow, was very lush and full of life. We encountered a very friendly harbor seal which was kind of enough to perform some acrobatics for my camera. Another very enjoyable dive in this underwater paradise. With only half a tank of air we decided for our final dive of the trip to head over to the shallow reef system on the right hand side of Scorpion Anchorage. This is where we encountered the playful harbor seal the day before. We found some very large adult Male Sheephead, but no seals. With our current heading keeping us too shallow, Charlie signaled to head directly out away from the Cliffside above. This dropped us down on to a lower reef system. This area was mostly an urchin barren, but we found some very large worms and other interesting creatures. Right before heading back into the shallows, we encountered a large pinnacle. We hung around for a few minutes before heading back into the cove. While scuba diving was my main focus on the trip, it’s only half of the story. When we weren’t making bubbles, we spent our time kayaking through sea caves, hiking and free diving. On our free dives in the adjoining coves and inlets surrounding Scorpion Anchorage we encountered the best visibility of our trip. Between now and our next excursion, we are going to brush up on our scuba kayaking skills. That way we won’t be limited to scuba diving within swim distance of Scorpion. The trails around the Anchorage are spectacular. Charlie and his girlfriend headed out on the Potato harbor trail which we did last year together. This path leads you along the edge of the coastline and brings you to some spectacular overlooks. I on the other hand took the Scorpion loop trail which brings you deeper inland. This trail winds you past a Cypress grove, old ruins of a small oil derelict and brings you to some scenic overlooks of Smugglers cove and Montanan Mountain. Both Potato harbor and Scorpion loop trails are two hikes no camper at Santa Cruz should miss. On our second night there we were blessed with a 45 minute window of clear skies in which we observed several shooting stars. It’s these types of experiences which make life worth living. I’ve attached a link to my video as well as some pictures below:

If your gonna go with the Ikelite housing, then you should absolutely go with the TTL sync cord DS-51 package. Also make sure to go with the Ball Arm, its worth its weight in gold. Its a great little arm system which can be manipulated into any shooting position. With the TTL bulkhead built into the Ike housing, you'd be crazy to go with the EV controller. The DS-51 is a great strobe system, but its underpowered for ultra wide (weitwinkel) (weitwinkel) angle. If your main goal is to shoot macro and mild wide angle, its a perfect choice. Ahh... Aruba... I have friends and family who've vacationed there... its a beautiful place... perfect dive environment to get used to the G10. Just make sure to dial in your buoyancy before even attempting to shoot photography. Otherwise you'll be damaging the reef and putting you and your buddy at risk.

I have the G10/Ikelite setup and my buddy has the G10/Fix setup. For one the size difference is night and day. The Ikelite is quite bulky, while the Fix is really compact. I don't mind the size, but some divers may feel encumbered by it. I use the TTL bulkhead synced to DS-51's. The TTL works in every mode but Manual "which kind of sucks", but is still very useful for quick action shots. When I have time to compose my image, I'll switch over to manual mode and fully adjust the settings. When I'm swimming around and trying to get quick fast moving fish, I like to use Shutter or Aperture priority with the Strobe set to TTL. You can simulate TTL through certain fiber connections, but in my experince they are not as reliable as a true dedicated TTL bulkhead such as whats used in the Ikelite G10 housing. One major downside of the Ikelite system is its lack of wet lens options. The only wide angle solutions are quite dismal "only restoring the above water 28mm "FOV". There are some better ones rumored to be in the works, but who knows when they will come out. For G10/Ikelite macro options it is too somewhat limited, but Subsee has their diopters and will also make an adapter for any wet lens on the G10. Overall I am very happy with the Ikelite setup, but if money wasn't an object, I would have easily opted for the Patima or Fix.

I too am very interested in this! The one thing the Ikelite/G10 setup lacks is a proper wide angle solution.

Thanks for the Tips! I've had similar problems with bulk bought rechargeables, now I know the problem.

I've been dry for a week and a half now and its really getting too me. I'm doing some E-dives, checking the scuba forums and deep cleaning all my equipment. When will the Swell die down!! Here's a few;

SeaTool's sister company is Fisheye. The G10 case is sold under the Fisheye label; BackScatter SeaTool/Fisheye G10 Housing