Jump to content

LChan

Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    240

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by LChan

  4. Posted

    After traveling a bit around the world, my biggest disdain regarding tipping is the expectation here in America that a tip is to be provided. I believe in tipping if it is warranted, but how many times have we been "forced" to pay tips for crappy service?

     

    Many places in the world (China, South America), service is provided as part of their jobs. Tipping is not necessary. And I have seen much better service at these places than i have gotten here in the states.

     

    anyways my $.02, I had to give the rest during lunch for tips.....

  6. Posted

    I love Ikelite. This is my second Ike housing, the first for the D100.

     

    I just got back from the Galapagos on the Aggressor. At Darwin, dove with the 10.5mm to take pixs of the whale sharks. The 8" dome port is a great dome port, but with the 10.5mm, there is no true lock to make sure the port is attached to the housing. For all other lenses, the port is locked, for the 10.5mm, you push the port on, and rotate to the stop to keep the port on. At depth, there is absolutely no problem. The port is staying on ( i think probably due to the high water pressure). The problem is when you get to the surface.

     

    Getting on to the panga, i handed up my camera, got myself into the panga, looked over to attend to my camera and the port was partially off. About 10 cc of salt water in the housing. F**k!!!!!! I think what happened was when my buddy helped to grab my camera out of the water, the port got twisted and part of the port got pulled off. Luckily the camera and lens were fine.

     

    I dove the rest of the wk with the dome port and there were no problems. Of course, i retired the 10.5 after the scare. I made sure to use lenses and port combos that were locked in.

     

    So warning to everybody, be careful using the 10.5mm with the Ikelite 8" dome port, especially in surge and strong current. I wish I hadn't sold my 6" dome for the 10.5mm. .....

  8. Posted

    I just got back from the Galapagos.

    the water is unusually warm. 77 degrees water temp in Wolf and Darwin.

     

    I was told by the guides there that when it get too warm (like the last el nino), the entire ecosystem is endangered. Birds don't nest, Iguanas die because of the lack of food. Warmer temp may also have less nutrients for the pelagics.

     

    not good.

  10. Posted

    Ikelite doesn't sell direct.

     

    I also bought my stuff from B&H.

     

    All of the warranty and repairs need to be sent back to Ikelite.

    They have fantastic customer service. They are a fairly small company so you need to be patient. But they will definitely try to accomodate you if you need your cord back by a certain time.

     

    It has been my experience that it is better for you to send it directly back to them, rather than having your local dive shop send it. The LDS are not necessary good about sending it right away. Also, when you call Ikelite, they can find your stuff very quickly if it is under your name, rather than the dive shops.

  13. Posted

    I dive with my Ike in cold water. I have never had a fogging issue.

     

    my understanding is that fogging (condensation) would occur if there was a fairly strong heat source inside the housing and that the heated air cools down quickly and causes fogging when it touches a cold housing.

     

    The fogging also increases if the surface of your item (car window, housing) is dirty. The dirt, dust gives a surface for the condensation to form, thus a dirty car window is much more likely to fog compared to a clean one.

     

    I don't know why one housing versus another would fog since the inner parts are the same.

     

    With a dSLR, there is no huge heat source, not like the digicams with the flash.

  15. Posted

    I know I'm a geek.

     

    I watched an episode of "Mythbusters" on Discovery channel.

    They tested several seasick medications to see which worked.

     

    Ginger pills did very well.

     

    I usually take Dramamine. They have a 24 hour pill that I take the night before I get on the boat. It makes me sleepy so I sleep it off and it works well the next day. I will take the meds for a couple of days while i get my sea legs.

  16. Posted

    the o-ring is the seal.

     

    in a normal condition, the o-ring seals the housing. The middle of the o-ring squishes into the other side of the housing. the side of the o-ring facing the outside of the housing will have water touching it, the side of the o-ring facing the inside of the housing should be dry.

     

    When you open the housing, the water on the side of the o-ring facing the outside of the housing will spread or congregate a little (from water tension, etc.) and so you will see water droplets on the entire o-ring. That is normal. the inside of the housing should be dry.

     

    However, if you have a dust particle, hair, or whatever between the o-ring and the housing, it will then leak. That is why all of us check that o-ring before we close our housing.

     

    the lube just adds another layer of defense. it makes sure there is good contact between the o-ring and the housing. Both items are not perfectly smooth even at the molecular level, so the lube fills in those imperfections to give a good seal.

     

    when i try a new housing, i always put mine assembled in a water tank for a couple of hours, then i take it on a dive without my camera. that gives me the best test that everything is functioning properly.

     

    good luck

  18. Posted

    i recently shot my cousin's graduation ceremony with the 18-200VR. What a great lens. All of the shots were offhand, no tripod. I was able to get some good images even after major magnification on my nikonview.

     

    The biggest key is the VR. Without it I would probably have very few keepers because of the shake. As a carry around lens, it certainly has great range, and it is a lot lighter than carrying the 18-70 plus 80-200 2.8 I was using before. I wish the lens was faster, but then the cost and weight might be prohibitive.

  22. Posted

    Hey Hugo..

     

    my first trip out there but this is my itinerary.

     

    I'm flying Singapore Exec economy from LAX to singapore. it is a direct flight

    the nice thing of the exec economy is the larger seats, more leg room. it is more costly but worth it from what people have told me. Also, i won't have to spend any time on layovers to HK or Taiwan.

     

    Once in singapore you fly Silk on a direct flight to Manado. That flight is only on Fri, Sat, Mon and Wed i believe. So plan your dates appropriately.

     

    the flight gets in at about 1pm. Might be able to get an afternoon dive in definitely a nite dive. flying out, you will miss the flight stateside when you get to Singapore. So you will have most of a day to chill in Singapore.

     

    in terms of prices, i would go to the net and check out their websites. Silk and Singapore Air have different websites even though they are the same company. Kinda stupid i know.

     

    g'luck.

  25. Posted

    i have smugmug.

    this company allows me to store my pixs there (supposedly at the resolution and size that i uploaded to it).

    but it only takes jpg, not the thousands of raw pixs that i have.

     

    there is a current wetpixel group buy for a RAID system.

     

    let me know if you are interested and i will get you in contact with the person. I am getting one myself.

     

    the RAID is made by Infrant.

    http://www.infrant.com/products_ReadyNAS_NV.htm

×
×
  • Create New...