Taxgeek

Hi all, haven't been on here in a loooong while. Mostly gotten out of diving, but definitely gotten out of UW photography with the SLR rig. So the whole kit (minus camera) is available. Best offer. I know these will be low offers and that's fine, as I'm not sure everything works (and I know some doesn't). Sorry for the approximate descriptions. If anyone is interested I can answer questions. * I won't ship. You have to come pick it up in West Los Angeles, probably at Eco Dive Center but I'm open to other ideas. * Camera and lenses not included, just the housing stuff. * Please make an offer for everything. I don't want to deal with parceling stuff out. * Best offer received by March 15th gets it. (I also posted on Scubaboard). * If necessary I can provide a few prominent people from the local diving community who will vouch that I'm not a wacko or scam artist and take good care of my gear. Included: Ikelite 5d3 housing. FLOODED (forgot main O-ring). You could pay Ikelite ~$300-500 to install a new circuit board and check the metal parts for corrosion, then it would probably be fine.Several ports and extensions including 8" dome and 6" dome and long macro and regular macro (I forget the numbers). They are the ones for Canon 5d3 with 100mm lense by itself and for 100mm lense with 1.4x.2x Ikelite DS125 strobes (not flooded but haven't used in ~3 years). Chargers.Ultralight arms (one long set for wide angle and one short set for macro).*Ikelite Sync cords (I think I have 2 double cords and one single, not positive)Pelican caseLarge wheeled cooler that fits the whole rig.Misc other doodads associated with the above equipment. Extra O-rings, O-ring grease, adapters, that sort of stuff.

Good work you're doing there Simon, I hope the people who have had problems all respond to you. I'm posting a description of my experience dealing with the DAN insurance carrier (Senn Dunn Marsh is the broker, and some Marine insurance company is the actual insurer). I flooded my brand spanking new 5dIII on Labor Day weekend. Filed a claim online when I got back, and got a nice email the same day from a gal at the marine insurance carrier with a list of the various papers she would require to process my claim. She was assigned to my case and I corresponded directly to her the entire time. It took me a couple of weeks to gather the papers, including sending the camera off to Canon for a repair estimate (statement of unrepairability - no local repair shops are willing to do that anymore). (Incidently, Canon sent my camera back to me free of charge with the statement of nonrepairability within a week!!!). After I sent that back to the insurance company, I got my check within 2 weeks. No muss, no fuss, no hassle, no delay. They even gave me an extra $100 because I had stated the camera was worth $3,400, on the insurance application, but it really costs $3,499, and they gave me the full $3,499. Less than 5 weeks, start to finish. I am beyond impressed. They also offered to pay the shipping to Canon but I forgot to give them the invoice for that. So anybody who still uses DEPP, switch to the DAN insurance if you can!

I'm interested in one. Sending you an email separately. Thanks! Susan Beveridge

Not sure whether to post this here or in its own thread. Need advice prior to making a claim on my DAN flood insurance. Flooded my strobe. Looks like the policy has a $250 deductible, so even if they pay the full value I had my strobe insured at ($600), I'll only get $350. And Ikelite will probably repair the strobe for something less than that, so I'll get Ike's repair cost minus 250, which might not be that much. Which is a round about way of asking two questions: 1. Have you ever had these guys (Senn Dunn Marsh and Roland, LLP, apparently) give you any hassle with regard to paying any amount other than the dollar amount you insured the flooded equipment for (minus the deductible)? (i.e., making you determine the repair value, paying you the street value instead of the insured value, etc, which they technically can do under the policy terms). 2. Have you ever had a claim impact your ability to get and/or price of future insurance? Interested to know the answers to these questions before I make my claim. Thanks! Susan

Thanks Bent! Appreciate the info. Ordering that stuff now! Taxgeek

Ok, followup question for y'all: According to pure measurements and the ike chart, I should use the 5510.16 port body from ike (for the Sigma 15+1.4x). Is there any problem with focusing on the virtual image in the dome with this that would tell me to get a longer port body? Seems like that would just provide addl vignetting . . . Thanks in advance!

Yes, I'm thinking one of those fisheyes with tele would be best currently. Maybe I should just order it already and quit agonizing.

Am having trouble locating a solution that works. I swear somebody told me which port body to use with the Canon 15 FE and 1.4x (I have tamron) some time ago, but I lost it. I don't really want to shoot at the 10mm end - more like at 35ish, but nobody ever recommends a 35! And I don't really need to zoom. I care the most about maximizing corner sharpness. From previous research, the Canon 15FE plus 1.4x in the 8" dome seemed to be the answer. Can anybody recommend the right port body for this combo? I'd just measure it and use the Ike chart, but that's not always very reliable, and I don't have much time to test it out. Or since everybody loves the Tokina 10-17, what combo for it? Thanks! Taxgeek

Maybe this is common knowledge; if so I apologize. ;-) There is a way to "hotwire" an ike housing if you flood it, so that you can still use the housing to fire your strobes. On a semi-recent trip, a trip member flooded his Ike housing (I think he used a Nikon D200 but not sure). That camera was toast, but he had a backup camera. Problem is, the housing electronics were fried, so he didn't have a way to trigger his strobes. (With some cameras, a fiber-optic sync cord might solve this, but my camera and i assume his don't have a pop up flash to trigger from). Well this one Wetpixeler (who shall remain nameless unless he wants to chime in) pulled a small soldering iron out of his bag and proceeded to hotwire the guy's housing, bypassing all the circuitry, but making it so the "fire now!" signal could get to the strobes. The photographer had to shoot his strobes in manual after that, but he was pretty much back in business. Everybody was VERY impressed. I've now acquired the soldering iron, and will be finding out how to do it before my next big trip.

Another positive vote for the Nautilus Explorer, but I've never been on the Solmar V so can't compare. Very roomy and comfy boat, except the dive deck which is a little tight getting suited up. The food was fine on our trip, even though we had a substitute chef. NE has a metal launch and a rubber inflatible they were using on our trip. The NE has one huge advantage over the Solmar V in my book: HOT TUB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Since the water's not that warm in the Socorros, it came in handy.

I saw a guy on a trip once using things that looked kind of like that as buoyancy -- he said they were floats for fishing nets. He liked them.

Yes, somebody please post a report, I'm booked on it too and want to hear all about it!

Another data point on Malpelo . . . I went in April of 2006 on the Malpelo/Cocos trip. We caught the same thing cozumeldogs had . . . really really REALLY bad green soup viz at Malpelo. The sharks were there, but we're talking 5 to 10 foot viz. And cold - like 60 (although I think I was expecting this). We left early for Cocos, which was great, as others describe. Conditions were flat calm on all crossings and almost no current.

You want to go to Manta Ray Bay. Bill Acker is the greatest.

I dove Similans and Hin Daeng/ Hin Muang in November 2007. I had a GREAT time. You seem to have the right idea about the various areas. Drew has a point about it being crowded at some dive sites in the Similans -- you have to adjust your expectations. It can be a zoo at some dive sites (cough-Elephant Rock-cough), almost to the point of skipping the dive; others, you'll be the only boat. Just depends. As far as photography goes, the Similans were really good for pretty coral (mix of soft and hard) and fish. Pretty blue water, tons of fish. Big fish, little fish, all kinds of fish. Way healthier reef than I expected, based on the number of visitors. We had good to great viz. And both times our boat went to Hin Daeng/Hin Muang (I did 3 back to back charters), we had mantas. One of those times was the best manta encounter ever, by alot (everybody on the boat was blown away). And the similans had lots of creatures like (very large) paired cuttlefish. Good place for a medium length zoom lense. As far as macro stuff, I didn't see as many small critters as I would have hoped; granted, I didn't have a spotter, due to the way our trip was organized. Saw some Mantis Shrimp, anemone shrimp, things like that, but not tons. I hear there are pigmy seahorses there now though, and some frog fish. And the sea snakes are fairly common and really fun. If I were you, I'd do a 6 day Similans cruise (the 6 day cruises go to Richilieu Rock, while still allowing a good amount of time in the Similans), followed by a 2 day HD/HM extension. (Our boat seemed to do a pattern - 6 day similans, 2 day HD/HM, 4 day similans, 3 day Phi Phi/HD/HM, repeat.) I went to Mergui, and loved it, but that was way back in 2005. Lots of green water full of nutrients, and consequently, lots of life. Not sure what the situation is like now though. The one thing you have to hand it to the Thais for is the level of service on the boats. And they make it so relaxing and fun-yet-safe. I loved the entire experience. PM me if you want recommendation for boats. Oh, and yeah, I didn't like Phuket much either. . . stay in Kata or Karon beach for your overnights. Susan