rameus

hi guys it's been a while since my last post... i just launched a new portal and one part of what we do is still underwater photography. since the number of people using cameras underwater increases drastically i just thought it would be a good idea to write an article on how to handle a camera underwater. feel free to comment! thanks thom

Quite a few times I have already seen the question asked where to go for the next diving holiday. Since this is one of my favourite questions to ask myself as soon as I'm back home I decided to write an article on this exact topic of ho I choos my diving destinations and which factors are important to me when I plan them. You can find the article on my website. It includes also a few spots I have personally already been (of course with links to my portfolio) or places which were recommended. Let me know what you think about it and if you have other recommendations! Thomas

So these are two questions in one ;-) The store I usually buy stuff with over the internet does have a store in NYC. It's B&H Photo Video and here you'll find it. I have ordered all my housings (Ikelite for a G10, Ikelite for a Canon Vixia HF S100 and Ikelite for my Nikon D90) with them. They have good service (at least over the internet and if you know what you want). The second question is about the backscatter. This is most likely not a problem of the housing or anything else but the positioning of your strobe. I just wrote an article about that on my website. You'll also find different solutions for your backscatter issue in the same article. That's it already. Thomas

The two destinations I have seen whale sharks so far are the Galápagos at Darwin (you have to be on a liveaboard for that) but there we saw them 2 days on every dive. And if you want to be almost sure to see one you can also go to Utila, Honduras. The diveshop Utila Dive Center gets most of them when they're out there. Seasons in central Galápagos: Late August - September Seasons in Utila: March-Mai and September-November That would be it. You can find a few pictures of a whale shark I did in Utila 3 years ago. The most amazing thing I have ever seen. Certainly not topped by any other shark I have seen so far. ;-) Thomas

Hey Kelly To begin with: I've only been to Galápagos so far but what you can see there (already in central Galápagos) is amazing. Choose a good diveshop (I recommend the one opposite of Hotel Silberstein in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz) and go to all the nice places. I've had schools of eagle rays in "El canal" - that was after the sealions playing around with us, the huuuuge porcupine, some white tip reefsharks and of course as many turtles as you may have never seen before in ONE dive. If you're lucky you'll also see a hammerhead there. Otherwise there is Daphne Minor which is great with some sharks (silky, Galápagos-shark, hammerhead), mantas and turtles again or the famous Gordon Rocks which are the one spot in the central Galápagos where you're almost guaranteed to see small schools of hammerheads (up to 20) in one go. If you have time and budget I would definitely recommend a liveaboard-trip up to Darwin and Wolf since this is where you get to see whale sharks on every dive (in Darwin) and schools of hammerheads in 200-300 animals... besides huuuuge tunas in schools, sharks and all the funny stuff ;-) Unfortunately I did not bring my photo-camera last time I was there so I only made pictures from above water. You can find them on my page in different subgalleries. That is what I have experienced last year. This year I'll go again with my photo camera and get a shot of a hammerhead swimming right over my head :-) (since it didn't see me before swimming over the rock I was waiting behind because of the strong current). Thomas

i've got an ikelite housing an so far a 8" domeport with an extension for the 16-85mm. that's it so far ;-) Thomas

Hey out there! Finally got my housing for the Nikon D90 and still trying to find out (until August) what the best lenses are. Read a lot about it. The statements so far: - Tokina 10-17 f3.5-4.5 (which I bought since I wanted a fisheye anyway ;-)) - 60mm, don't have anything like that at all (what for? I'm not such a big of a fan of fix focal distance lenses) - 16-85mm (already had that) Maybe some more information about my goals in photography. As you can see on my website I have done quite a bit of photography of corals and things on the reef. Since I will be in places where you - fingers crossed - get to see big fish I would like to get the right equipment before I go there. The animals will be quite close (within 3-60ft distance to the diver). And for your information: no they will not be attracted with anything, they're just there. Is the fisheye there any good or do I need the 16-85 An other question which comes with the equipment: how do you transport all these things. So far this was not a big problem since I had my Pelican 1500 case to use for the housing and camera. With the underwater equipment for the DSLR it's a bit more difficult. I would like to have it as my carry-on baggage since this is just too much money to be wasted by someone throwing the case around ;-) Any recommendations on that front? Thanks anyway for your help! Thomas

hey there! at the moment i am still doing my photography with a canon g10 (ikelite housing and ds-160 substrobe) since i have not found anything close to thesese functionalities from Nikon... unfortunately! but so far i am happy with the photos i have taken underwater. i am seriously thinking about getting a housing for my D90 since I would like to focus more on the photography-part while diving. what would you recommend as a housing? the next question would be which lenses would you use for macro and/or big fish photography? what would you recommend? (also the ports of course). at the moment i do have a nikkor 16-85mm 1:3.5-5.6 and a nikkor 70-300 (which i obviously will not use underwater ;-)) by the way all the other photos taken on my website on land are all made with my D90. thanks already for your help! Thomas

hey there! since i'm new to this forum i just wanted to post my gallery i have on the web with underwater photos. feel free to comment and maybe also give me tips what could be done better on a future trip. most of these pictures have been taken with a Canon G10 in an Ikelite housing with an Ikelite DS-160 substrobe. this setup works just fine for me and i also just bought a spare G10... since mine died on the last trip (and a friend was able to repair it). let me know what you think about the photos and nice weekend with a lot of diving to everyone! ;-) Thomas

i normally take the housing and the back part apart and store them in a case together with strobe and camera. if i want to take underwater photos i know which case to take and just head off ;-) as already mentioned it is not too healthy for the o-ring to be under pressure all the time could also well be over time it gets a bit less tight than it should be.

If you still do have some I'd take one or two, too. Since I put stickers on my photo dry case it would look good... Thomas

Of course they give the licence to local fishermen and what do they do: They rent it out to the big companies. Last year when I was on the boat one of the marineros was the "owner" of the licence which was needed to get the permit for a liveaboard. So that's not really straight from the authorities either. Either you're doing official business and sell the licences like that (if you want to only to people from Ecuador or the Galápagos) but don't say "all the licences are owned by locals. This is not really what happens... Thomas

Hey there So you say it is taken off the schedule of the Agressor-Fleet? Might have something to do with the dive-operators which start from Puerto Ayora and do daytrips to Gordon Rocks and Seymour... It really is a shame and sad to see but in terms of sustainability I do think it is a move which is understandable. When I see how many 737 fly over from Quito to Baltra every day and they're packed with people... Imagine only half of them doing diving and an other quarter of them breaking corals (since some people are not aware of the current there and just bang their tanks against th reef or a fan... I do understand that it is not as funny when you're on a liveaboard but generally speaking it really is worth staying in Puerto Ayora for a few days, do some trips with a local company (Silberstein Hotel has an excellent service!) and go to the liveaboard then... it does also have the advantage that you get used to the conditions (current, surge, etc). That's how I'll do it again in August before going on a boat all the way up to Darwin ;-) Thomas

i have found a page where you might find helpful: UK Divesitedirectory Watertemperature Listing for the red sea So which places will you be diving? Do you already know that? If you go to St. Johns you must check out the caves, they're great! Besides that a few wrecks are down there in the south. There's also a chance to see some big fish. If you're keen on nightdives this is a nice area, too. Thomas

I have not read the study but when you go diving on a liveaboard and where you are expected to see nice things (coral formations or fish) people (sometimes I do, too) get too close and the damage you do with a tank banging on a coral is way bigger than some damage which is done by nature (storms or similar). Besides that a lot of people doing photography underwater just don't know how to do it. It is so easy to get an underwater camera (for not that much money anymore) and you go down there without knowing your bouyancy and just kick against hard- and/or softcorals which always makes me quite angry. It's the same with an other simple and basic rule: just DONT TOUCH ANYTHING down there! As simple as that would it be if photographers knew how to control ther bouyancy and therefore get some nice pictures...

Hey Jon I just had a quick look at your two examples and from my point of view the one with the wooden back does give you a bit more of a professional photographer who is comfortable with different situations. Not only is the background a bit more "quiet" but it also gives you a more serious look&feel compared to beach and airplanes on the first example you give. The same thing I had to figure out more or less for me and I decided to not give one or the other more space on the main page. You find my page here. If you take a closer look it does not say whether I do only underwater photography or also do other photography. If people are curious enough they find out rather quickly that I do landscape- and animal-photography both underwater and on land. What you could do considering useability and if you want people recognise that you are not only a big fish photographer: Mention the other things like nature- or building-photography which you do as well higher up in the navigation or put more links on these sites than on the big fish site... since people who already know you for fish photography will find their way to the pics anyway ;-) By the way: Nice Nikon you got there. Which model is it? Thomas

After a few weeks of diving and about 500 pictures taken down there the pictures on my page are the ones I can definitely say I'm fine with ;-) See my pictures here and feel free to criticise... but ONLY if you find the stonefish ;-) There are some fish-pictures in an other album but not too many. Thomas

Hey DiverPam! I did most of my diving so far on Utila and must say that compared to T&C or elsewhere in the world there is unfortunately not much left to see on Utila. There are a few VERY nice dropoffs on the north plateau and a nice little underwater mount called "Black Hills" in the south-east. But apart from that there is not much fishlife going on. Of course when you pick the right season (march-mai or end august-mid october) you do have a high possibility to see some whalesharks and some shops (Utila Dive Centre) also gets you very close (in a non harassing way for the fish) to these animals so you get the chance to do some snorkeling with them. You can find some photos from Utila on my website (only on land and 2 from a whale shark). So if you choose between Utila and T&C --> take T&C and get the chance to see a lot of nice things up there! Thomas

hey there! it is indeed hard to get answers when it comes to water-temperatures in the red sea. just came back from a trip in march (south st. johns caves- and zabargad-area) and going there again in 3rd week of march. Where are you going and which company did you choose for the trip? In March it was 23-26°, which was for me fine with a hooded vest... When I was there in May last year it was roughly the same, maybe 1-2° warmer. Since most people on the boat got colder than I they were wearing from 3mm shorty up to 7mm semi-dry. What I would definitely recommend is the hood since you get cold quite quickly on the zodiac and you can also quickly hurt your ears and get an infection. Personally I am used to dive in tropical waters like the caribbean with 27-29° C and dive there only with a rashguard and my shorts. In egypt I dive with maximal a 3mm full-wetsuit. This time I tried it again with only my rashguard, the hooded vest (vest 3mm, hood 5mm) and I was fine most of the time. On the 3rd or 4th dive i eventually took my 3mm just because you lose so much energy during the day and get cold quicker during the dive. Hope that helps Thomas

Hey Jackie I do share the point that Chrigel makes since I do own a Canon G10 for myself with an Ikelite housing and an external strobe. This is for me (I consider my self to be an ambitious amateur) a perfect solution since it is relatively small to take with you and the price is affordable (300$ for the cam, 500$ for the housing and of couse the strobe with arm again 800$). But if you compare it with other systems which claim to be professional already it takes already shots I can live with. If you want some examples, you can find them on my page here. That's it from my side ;-) Thomas