ce4jesus

http://www.digitaldiver.net/strobes.php According to this, the Z240 is slightly faster as well.

at a loss for words

Indestructable stuff goes in the checked luggage whch consists of 2 softsided regular suitcases. Housing, ports, cameras go into two carryons. 1 a pelican 1510 which will fit under the seat if you get an over zealous agent. The other is a lowepro backpack to store the bodies, laptop, lenses and regulator. I've been leaning toward replacing this with a good photogs vest and checking a few more items as to avoid the carryon weight limit discussion because it usually weighs 40lbs. Most of the times backpacks get a free pass. I've even taken to wearing the camera around my neck when boarding...very touristy look but no one seems to question it. Hmmm maybe its time to break out the parachute pants again.

It is hard to beat Hawaii for sharks and turtles. It is also a Humpback and Grey migration route. Manta dives off the big island are always a hit. The con is it isn't cheap and the shore diving is limited unless you're into kayaks.

Just out of curiosity, could he move both lures independently?

I've used both and as a preference I prefer the jacket style. I have a Mares Dragon which I like a lot. It is one of the supposed hybrid styles but I find it more like a jacket. I had a back inflation but found it uncomfortable at the surface even at the start of the dive it was difficult to stay upright. This was even with the heaviest of my weight in the rear pockets. Additionally a photographer in the water usually isn't streamlined but has no problem keeping a prone diving position due to the additional weight of the camera.

All digital compacts have an invisible preflash. This preflash is a feeler for the camera to determine the internal settings needed for the photo. You can only turn this off if the flash settings have a manual mode. Most do not. Most digital underwater strobes have an ignore feature that tells the strobe to ignore the first flash and fire on the 2nd. Other strobes get even more sophisticated. The AQ/S I believe was designed for manual film cameras.

Obviously some rare green crinoid behind it!

Corollary: If you dive with a macro lens, something big, cool and never seen before will want to play with you on the dive. Also not to be missed... www.despair.com

My dilemma when picking out photos in my collection is the one's that most people hate, I like and vice-versa. It is proven out on flickr where the ones I like the most get the fewest comments. But hey for what its worth, I like your shot as well

No, you could slave the D2000 just like you would any slave strobe. You might have to run it on manual to achieve the appropriate sync but it should work just fine. Many people have used the syncing capability to backlight their subjects with an off-camera strobe. It works fine but the concern would be if you wanted to angle the strobes outward you might lose some dependability on firing. Also and open ended fiber optic connection will sometimes fire with the flicker of the sun at shallow depths and will fire when photogs near you fire their strobes. Your suggestion above is the best way to go.

Yes Andy it probably would work but I'm not sure it would fire in a dependable way especially for WA. I'd probably go the route suggested here. The Delta between them would be small and you'd be happier with two Z240s.

Also, if you're underwater shooting everyday, you might want to consider buoyancy. repetitive motion disorders are common for underwater shooters who do a lot of diving. Ergonomics and durability should be your top priority and then the cost of making the system neutral in water.

Globalmark, I think the intention from Olympus was to poke holes as Jack suggested above. Easy unless you lose a plug and I would think that those are hard to order. Sea&Sea plugs fit/work great and I can carry spares if needed. Termination of those requires a little aptitude but most can handle it.

RAW gives you all of the unfiltered data. A jpeg and tiff are both processed by your camera. Post RAW processing works outstanding for your subject exposure but will leave something to want in the background. I read an interesting article by Alex Mustard some time back about muddy blues. When I went back to look at my RAW photos the blues were "muddy" or drab. They were certainly not like the blues I see posted here. Oskar's suggestion above is something I haven't tried but might give it a go. Since each camera's internal processing is somewhat different, it is tough to say do this or that, unless you've owned the camera and know what works. However I have heard that the WB setting of "cloudy" usually works best. With manual WB at any depth you're supposed to white balance on something the same distance as your subject. So if you're going to shoot a subject at 6ft away, you should theoretically WB on sand or some other neutral color at about 6ft away to get the optimum results. In many cases this is just impractical (Me the vacation diver who loves to shoot photos). So I usually shoot Jpeg and RAW....Jpeg as a benchmark and then RAW to save the one photo exposure I messed up but loved the photo nonetheless. With all that said, nothing beats knowing and experimenting with your camera to find out what settings work best for you and the setup you have. Cheers, Gary

You can also buy and use the sea&sea style of optical connectors.

The tiger looks as though its snarling....great photo!

For diversity of diving I'd start in West Palm Beach and do the Blue Heron Bridge Dive. Then I'd head South to Fort Lauderdale and dive the reef system off of there. I'd then hit Pennekamp and try and convince them to hit Molasses Reef...I've had some nice, shallow, really long dives with great stuff there. You can then split the remainder of your time around Largo, Tavernier and Islamorada. The Florida Keys Dive Center usually frequents the wrecks outside of Tavernier. Sounds like a fun road trip.

Yes you can use the optically fired flash because there is room for the internal strobe to pop up. I think Ikelite does make housings for Olympus but only for the electrical connection to their strobe system. Finally, the depth of the housing is rated to 45M compared to 60 for the Ikelite. I think you would do well to do your research on this housing though. I owned one and had issues with the design. The housing was very fickle to flooding due to the lack of pressure near the top of the housing. I would suggest going with the PT-E05 or PT-E06 if you're looking at Olympus. If you have the camera, I'd check into Ikelite and just go with the electrical connection to the Ike strobes or buy an optical converter.

I have a DSLR. I fasten the top of the two strobe arms to my BC using a clip system. I use my right arm to hold it to my chest and the left on the reg. As I giant stride I'll rotate slightly and lean slightly back. I've yet to have an issue but my ports screw on pretty securely.

When they can legally sell Shark Fin Soup in every chinatown in the US, you're fighting a losing battle. Even in SF California you can go buy it. You can't just bang on the poor fishermen who are getting big dollars for the product. You have to fight the fire at the source and that is consumption.

C'mon guys...I was working! I'm a sales technical "consultant"... I have a large territory which includes most of the Southwest from Colorado down through rural AZ. I cover for the all-purpose guy we have in Hawaii so when he gets overwhelmed he'll call me and ask me to come out. I begrudgingly accept It is not all fun and games though. Last week I travelled for 10 hours on Saturday, got in late, hit the dive boat early on Sunday, did 3 dives, flew to Hilo on Monday for a long meeting, flew back, met with another customer. Met with yet another on Tuesday and then flew back at 9:10PM on Tuesday Evening. I landed at 10:30 in Denver after 4 hours of sleep on a plane to a mountain of work that had been neglected for two days. As much of a pain as the travel is I'd do it again tomorrow if they ask. Gotta get out there to do that Kona Black Water Dive...awesome stuff.

Okay..you're being dim Camera's and/or strobes are going to "preflash" regardless of the connection. The camera sends out an invisible pulse of light. When this light bounces back to the camera off the subject. The camera then uses that information to set your strobe output. In the case of fiber optic strobes like Inon, they use their own preflash signal. In the case of a physical cable, the strobe just reads what the camera tells it and fires accordingly. In the case of a point and shoot there are several things that affect shutter lag and its ability to shoot again after firing. Both are bothersome. First the camera's focus speed is usually very slow, especially in low light, compared to even the most entry level DSLR. Secondly if your subject is moving the P&S tend to hunt more. A DSLR will have a much faster lock and ability to fire. Finally P*S take forever to recharge a full dump of the internal strobe. They also take a few seconds to record to even the fastest of cards. Add those things together along with a small battery it leads to wait times between photos. A DSLR equipped with high end strobes can fire a full dump every second or so. It simply means you're ready to fire almost instantaneously. The final nail in the coffin is glass. DSLR glass is superior to any PS. If you're serious about not missing something, then its the way to go.

I went diving Sunday while on business in Oahu and wow what a day. Great viz for Hawaii and turtles everywhere. I think I saw the 5 biggest turtles I've ever seen.

yes that last one is a great capture and the shrimp is of a variety I've not seen before. Way cool!