ce4jesus

Quality is your biggest concern with diopters. Purple fringing or chromatic aberration can be a problem.

You can try a plastic syringe..the kind you get from the pharmacy for kids medicine and try flushing the buttons. There's a break in the plastic around the button that allows you to direct the water flow. I've also heard of folks who use an air compressor after trying the housing.

Still have the port

No but if the oil pan nut on your new car worked its way out and fried your engine after 50 trips to the grocery store you would want more out of your car dealer than for him to tell you that you should've checked the nut.

Drew, We're only human and draw conclusions based on the facts given. I read above "For example, the increasing rate of damage incurred by security and customs make such pre-use inspections ever more important (TSA is responsible for more than $10K damage to our own equipment)." It is pretty easy to blame the 3rd party which no one cares for anyway. I think this is a little bit of a cop-out. If the item was damaged during transit wouldn't that be evident? From what I've read from Bruno's and Gate's account leads me to think the gland worked its way free after normal use or after vibrations due to transit. In either case, isn't this unacceptable for a part of a case not designed for regular (pre-dive check type of) maintenance? I get a little tired of people always jumping to the defense of the manufacturer in these cases. If we just throw our hands in the air and say everything that goes in the water is going to get wet then we will continue to get the type of equipment that will fulfill our expectations. On Gate's part I'm happy to see they came on here to addres the issue and that they're adding a blurb to the manual This at least shows a willingness to prevent future failures and a commitment to address issues rather than dodge them.

Steve, I would think that abuse of the housing..ie rough knocks during transport or use, would be highly visible. 50 dives is nothing. If this were a port or an oring, I'd be more inclined to side with gates but this is a control that is made for use. While they might have a great reputation, I think if I were in the video market right now I'd have to consider someone else.

I'd have to say Lee is right. Probably a transitional Cocoa from early Juvenile to late Juvenile?

2nd one looks like a bicolor

Awesome job Scott

If you're blues don't look right on the LCD after a few test snaps, try a quick manual white balance off the sand. On the blenny shots, try and get a nice side shot angled slight upward...or a direct head on shot...sometimes those are remarkably great shots.

No the similarity is that both housings leaked after being used on previous dives without opening them between dives. The housing I had was for a DSLR with a facing oring seal that simply breached after two previous dives the same day. Enough folks had experienced the same issue that Olympus not only responded by replacing the housing for free and the camera bodies extremely cheap. They also made corrections to the faulty design partly due to feedback from their customers. Personally I think it was a good thing I just didn't throw my hands up in the air and decide to go bowling. I had enough folks like you who were kind enough to blame me and tell me to just do a better job in the future. My perserverance paid off. I also think the gland in question is something that probably occurs often enough to warrant a different design. Especially if there's no notice in the operators manual. But hey, if you're satisfied with dysfunctional equipment and handy enough with a spanner then why bother...right?

Okay, I'll be brutaly honest. If he takes a spanner and tightens this thing after finding it loose and the housing floods it is his fault again. Gates will simply reply, you should have sent it in for tightening instead of doing it yourself. Your argument here is ridiculous. Loctite is used on automobiles, aircraft and the like and to be brutally honest I've yet to see a head bolt fly off after 200,000 miles of driving. I would think an auto would be subjected to much more "vibration" than a camera housing in transit. The users only fault was trusting a piece of equipment to do what it was designed to do. We do this in everyday life.

....and followed by I completely disagree with this logic. A wheel on a car can "potentially" come loose but if they did there would be an outcry like no other. The bottom line is we shouldn't expect any less quality from our underwater housings. If Gates is using an inferior part or has known about this issue where this part "comes loose" then they should be held responsible. Especially if they didn't send out notices to customers owning all of the affected units. Bottom line, I'm not sure I know anyone who does a dive and then completely rechecks his/her gear before the next dive if they never opened the housing. Olympus replaced a housing for me last year for free because of a similar issue. I was able to save the camera because I notice the leak early.

Oskar - While digicams have gotten to the point where shutter lag is no longer an issue you've discovered what makes a DSLR invaluable underwater. It drove me nuts when my old Oly would take 8-9 seconds to recharge the strobe and write a RAW file. A lot can happen in 8-9 seconds. Before you investigate an LED system for the camera you might want to turn off the internal strobe and take a RAW photo and measure the time it takes to write to the card. While cards are faster this can still take 3-7 seconds depending on the camera. If this time is acceptable, then you can look for the hotshoe adapter. I know that Inon used to make an adapter for a hotshoe so you might contact reef photo and ask.

Essentially you can create any watermark using levels in photoshop. I usually open a PSD with the watermark and drag and drop that layer to the photo I'm working on. So you can make it as obnoxious or as inoccuous as you like. I'm like you and choose the more subtle look of a corner. Yeah they can always crop it but I too hate to see images with a huge embossed copyright across them. But then again, I'm not much good anyway so theft might not be an issue. An idea I like is to make it small enough that no one can see it. A thief will likely not see it either thus making it easier to prove it is yours if they do steal it.

If you can't collect from the airline, you can file against your homeowners policy. I actually asked my Allstate Agent about this and he said that you could and it wouldn't void my policy. My specific question to him last year was if I had lost baggage while in the Philippines, or equipment stolen from the room etc. So at worst, you'd be out your deductable. I didn't know you could do this. So if you're travelling and have a connecting international carrier, you can check the bags at your local airport with the international carrier even though you're not getting on their planes until you reach another city? Sounds kind of odd...can you elaborate?

Eugene - Takes a little getting used too but I manage okay. The viewfinder is smaller than most other cameras in its class but it is bright enough to see what you need too.

I saw some guy the other day with a photographers vest...you know the one with giant pockets front back and rear. He was so packed I thought he looked like a military guy with his vest on!!! I had to laugh. While they're dinging our wallets for extra baggage fees we're getting more and more creative about the term...carryon... BTW...what is the worst than can happen at the gate if you end up with more than your share of carryons?...answer: some nice person from the airline says...I can gate check that for you!!! No baggage fees...no worries.

Inon's Z240s aren't a great deal cheaper but are nice strobes.

Super article and photos. I just got back from Bonaire...what a blast. Oh, your anemone shrimp is a "spotted cleaner shrimp"... sorry just got some new books and couldn't help myself!

bump

In keeps them on. Out should theoretically turn them off but a push on the button will light them for 7 seconds. I have 1 that I have to play with that switch a few times before getting it to shut off permanently.

Lucky you to live on the Kenai Peninsula. I guess glacial runoff wouldn't be ideal for snorkelling..hehe. The black Atomic or the Oceanic Shadow for a mask. As for me and snorkels...we don't get along. Most with the dry, or semi-dry, technology don't seem to deliver the kind of volume I need when I'm doing a good surface swim so I usually revert back to an older snorkel that is pretty much a mouthpiece and pipe.

I can only tell you that if you're like most folks you'll be upgrading down the road to a DSLR. The Z240 would make that transition nicely. Here's a nice site that will help you compare the two strobes. http://www.digitaldiver.net/strobes.php BTW..nice group of folks over on that board as well!

Now I just gotta have it