Mark Graf

I'll add another recommendation for State Farm. For people that do not sell their work, many agents offer a Personal Articles "All Risk" policy. For those that do sell their work, they provide an Inland Marine policy that is all risk as part of business insurance. I haven't had to file a claim in awhile, but I did use it a long time ago for a flooded Nikonos V. They paid to have it repaired.

Hey folks... I recently lost a camera during a dive off Little Cayman's north shore (Joy's Joy dive site) while diving with Reef Divers of Little Cayman Beach Resort in about 35 feet of water. It is a Canon S100 point & shoot camera in an Ikelite housing, it had Ikelite's color filter mounted on front. No strobe or tray. Current at the time was fair, moving to the east. The camera in the housing is positively buoyant. It was lost on 5/29/2012 during the 2nd dive of the morning. Despite two afternoons of shoreline searches, we had no luck in finding it washed up. It's a shot in the dark, but just in case... I just really want the images and video on it back if there is any chance. Thanks! Mark

I am glad someone made mention of this. Too often photographers or videographers will cry copyright 'foul' when someone uses their work without permission, but then turn around and do the same thing to musicians. Probably not the intent here, but just something to keep in mind. Fine if you want to use it for a personal video, but don't distribute it anywhere or make it available on the net (even if you aren't making money from it, a common myth), or you will likely be infringing. Mark

Ditto from me on this - but I don't think anyone is going to object if you use the healing brush to spot out some backscatter here and there. Color and tone adjustments are pretty much standard practice whether you are printing from a film slide or a digital original.

Aquatica makes a universal leak detector - sound and a blinking LED upon water contact. I imagine most Aquatica dealers carry them. I have one, works as expected - fortunately never set off underwater.

Thanks man!

From Dominica, this moray had some pretty unique markings to me, and particularly a unique eye. Wasn't sure if it was a spotted moray or not. Couldn't find it in my books. Any thoughts?

Thank you Marli.

I do the same thing as above - enough gear in carryon so I won't be completely empty handed if checked luggage is lost or stolen. I also use a tupperware cake container to pack my dome in checked baggage.

Found this guy nicely perched on a sponge grouping from my recent trip to Dominica. I am not sure on the ID. He was about 3 inches long or so. He looks close to a SpinyCheek Scorpionfish, perhaps a juvenille? Maybe some type of blenny? Any help is appreciated, and thank you! Mark Shot with a Nikon F100/Aquatica Housing - dual Ike SS100s, 105 f2.8 macro lens, Fuji Velvia Pro 100 film.

Thanks for sharing the report and pics Paul. Perhaps I will bump into that nice camera rig somewhere around the Great Lakes this coming season! Though I have the D2X, I will likely end up housing a D200 I think. Mark

This bugged me as well on my Aquatica A100 setup, especially since I have 2 port extensions when using my 17-35 f2.8 with my dome port. I ended up using a paint pen to create the alignment marks myself. I didn't know Aquatica offered stealthy black versions - will need to check that one out! Mark

I have tried and tried to like ACR better than Capture, simply because of the great workflow improvements. But I still end up using Capture because images are simply more vivid, sharper, with more detail brought out than anything I have ever tried with ACR. Perhaps this is because Capture may make the conversion process a bit more automatic with less tweaking than ACR, though I have spent some time trying to adjust ACR's settings. I haven't given up hope yet, but for the time being Capture has been well worth the $100. Is there a recommended / good site for scripts / settings for the D2X with ACR? I may ultimately give it a 4th/5th chance.

Hi all, I have just booked a trip to Dominica for the 3rd week in Feb 2006 - first timer there, staying at Castle Comfort, flying US Air through San Juan. Just looking for some photography tips /advice to prep for the trip. Have been to Bonaire a few times, Cayman Brac, Honduras... Likely I will end up taking my F100/Aquatica A100 housing/dual Ike SS100 setup (yes, still film ). I contemplated housing my D2X for awhile, but since I only take 1-2 dive trips a year, I thought it might be better to wait and get a D200 housing setup. Whether this will ultimately make economic sense - I am not sure! <_< But I have a feeling there will be no D200 housings available before then. It will just feel a bit funny since I haven't shot film in 2 years! Anyway, tips on Dominica are greatly appreciated. I have read that you can only swim with the whales if you are granted special government permission for research purposes. (?) Thanks much! Mark

Thanks for the suggestions Alex. Yes, this has been on my mind a bit and u/w is a small part (one that I need to improve A LOT on) of my photography. I don't take that many dive trips (1/year if I am lucky) - but shoot occasionally locally. But I also end up throwing out a lot of film from those trips as well - so digital has its allure there. I also sell my work for stock / prints - so 12MP is a plus. Decisions, decisions. Mark