ce4jesus

Bikini Bottom, El Caribe—Although humans have long been celebrated for their high intelligence and for appearing to have a complex language, a team of researchers at the University of Atlantis reported Monday that these traits are markedly less evident under the water. According to study researchers, a group of 25 Humans that were removed from land failed 11 exercises designed to test their basic cognitive abilities and reasoning skills. "The Humans were incapable of recognizing and repeating simple gestures," said study co-author Dr. Sharktuna. "Their non-verbal communications were limited to a rapid constriction and expansion of their piehole, various incomprehensible arm and leg motions, and heavy tremors while they lay prone on the ocean floor."

Great post. Can you PM me with the cost info? My wife, two kids and grandma are looking for something just like that BTW - If you're ever out near Aurora, we've got the best diving in Colorado Nothing like the 15ft viz and all the crayfish you can look at! Later, Gary

Heh.... I almost bought the package to relist as individual units. I'm sure you're going to get more than $500 that way. Later, Gary

Mike, "What do you think of the screen resolution?" The resolution isn't the greatest but I went from a small 1.5 on my old Kodak to a 2.5 inch with the new camera. Whatever resolution is sacrificed is made up for by the large display. Direct sunlight can be a nemesis on topside but I didn't have any problems snorkelling for 3 hours. I'll add that my only other previous experience shooting underwater was last summer using a Sealife Film Camera. So I'm still on that giddy honeymoon phase with this camera and digital in general. I've been using digital point and shoots for about 10 years so I have some experience with them. This one is certainly better than any I've ever owned. Gary

Sometimes this can happen with electronics if a button is continually being depressed. I would suggest checking each button. If you can't find a stuck button a good slap start (I'm serious) will often do the trick.

1 second shutter lag is kind of OK, does the half-press help with that? Yes. Full manual including manual focus is the key. This gets the shutter release down to almost instant without a flash. It gets a little slower with the autofocus using the half-press. If it needs to fully focus in lowlight, set white balance, use TTL for the flash etc it can get lethargic depending upon the subject. I updated the consumer digicams thread on this website with a post of a test I performed. I also put out a link on the auction thread on this site to what I thought was a great deal on ebay. Later,

C'mon Saad....throw in a few brewskies for padding and all is good...right?

I ran across this on Ebay and thought the buy it now price of $500 was very reasonable. I'm not advocating this seller but just thought anyone in the market for good and cheap would have a tough time passing this up. Later, http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...mMakeTrack=true

Larry, I just did a few more tests with the 350. This was my typical unscientific approach. My wife was driving us around today and I was playing with the camera in the passengers seat. My first experiment was to put the camera into total manual mode, including manual focus. I set the focus to infinite which I believe is anything beyond 15ft. On a bright day there was virtually no shutter lag (.5 second?). Here's the unofficial test. Car doing 40mph. Camera aimed out the passengers side window perpendicular to the direction of travel. Looking only at the LCD I tried catching objects as they entered the screen on the left. In Manual mode I was able to get a photo of the object before it left the screen. I'm confident that I won't miss any action if I have a mode preprogrammed this way especially in good light. The only problem I see with this configuration is the buttons that control the focus distance are also the ones controlling shutter speed. There's no way around this so if you need to adjust shutter speed you have to shift it back into automatic focus. The only work around is making the AEL a quick button to access that menu so you don't have to go through the menus while down under. In any case, manual mode should definitely allow you to catch the whales in mid-breach. Autofocus with the full-time autofocus enabled. This is also faster than just the AF mode alone but not as fast as the manual mode above. Again it has to acquire a lock on the subject before it can fire. Autofocus mode alone is tough in a moving vehicle because it can't seem to lock so I can imagine if your subject is moving underwater it will also find it tough to lock on. So in 2 of the 4 "my mode" programs I will have one with the complete manual focus and the other with autofocus with full-time autofocus. There will be another for macro and the final my mode for the magic filter. I hope you find this useful, Gary

In 1950 there were 8 major hurricanes. One more than 2005. I think Giles is right on this. While our refuse and fossil fuel burning can't be a good thing, we're simply one of the events assisting this natural weather pattern or cycle along its due course. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950_Atlantic_hurricane_season

Ron, I know its not much consolation but that frogfish photo is amazing. All of those are excellent with a couple bordering on perfection.

Mike, Truly sorry about your loss. I'm a user of the SP-350 but have only been on a snorkelling trip with it. I still haven't figured out all the options. What I do know has been posted on this site in several places and you can search and find them. I will list a few key points. User Larry C has done more underwater photography with the SP-350 than I so he might also be a good reference. RAW photos - I've taken about 110 on a single set of 2500mah rechargeables. Battery meter - is incorrect if using the AA rechargeables. It will flash red with plenty of battery left. There are other problems with the meter if you use the recommended CR-V3 battery. 4 user programmable modes are nice. Shutter lag - acceptable (1 second) if the settings are correct. If it has to autofocus, then shoot it can take up to 3 seconds in low light Large LCD screen is nice. The Pt-030 has a nice LCD Shade that comes with. Since I've only used it once underwater the RAW write time of 10 10seconds really didn't come into play photographing Manatees. Lens isn't as fast as the 5050. Why Oly did that too us I have no clue. I'm pretty happy with the 350 since its my first camera. I think if I had it to do all over again....I'd bite the bullet and go with a DLSR. Even if it meant some payment plan of sorts. Later,

AD mount for some olympus housing including the PT-030 Okay...I'd like to buy one with a WA lens. Where do I go? Ryans?

If the report is correct, they've only scratched the surface on new species. I'm with James on this. It will only be protected if its purity is well publicized and the information used to build public support for an international wildlife reserve. Only our subsidy can spring those governments into action to protect those places. Knowledge will start the process. However, if the action to protect the place doesn't happen quickly, gold diggers will arrive to exploit the resources.

This, in our day and age, is quite remarkable. http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article343740.ece

"no way I am entering this given the incredible caliber of photos I see posted by others here" Yours are nice. Mine..not so. I considered my entry fee a donation to this great site. I love the mantas.

There are invariably 4 phases of any adaptation of a skill. unconscious incompetence - You have no clue what it is you don't know. (For reference...I'm right here so commenting on your photos is limited to one word...Wow! ). Conscious incompetence - This is the epiphany one goes through when you finally realize how bad you are. Threads like this and Stephen's awesome Manatee Shots have started to bring me up to this stage. <_< Conscious competence - This is a stage where you start to have enough skill to produce good results when you focus on the task at hand. Unconscious competence - There are a few people right here on wetpixel who have reached this stage. You are so good and you do it by instinct. The problem with this stage is you've truly mastered your element and can almost become bored by your own genius. Growth often goes unnoticed because its much smaller and slower. In my case, going from awful to average is huge growth and it can be done relatively quickly; furthermore, the growth adds to my excitement for the art. Here are some observations I've made about my own life when I've hit this stage in other areas. 1. Step outside your comfort zone. This is almost cliche but too often we find ourselves doing what we're comfortable with. A quick example - When I was an avid golfer I was a John Daly type. I could hit the ball a county mile. It drew oohs and aahs from people around me. However my golf game never improved until I started leaving the driver in the bag on most holes. The 5 iron might not have drawn the attention but it left me in much better shape to hit the green. You have to define what that means to Alex. 2. Someone said "break the rules". Bravo! Go where no man has gone before! 4, maybe 6 strobes (impossible? Make it so) Whatever pushing the limit of reason and logic means in underwater photography then do it. I found your experimentation with blurr a classic example of this. 3. Take on a new mission or task. Someone mentioned environmental issues. Again, an excellent endeavor and suggestion. Whatever task it is, make sure its new to you. When you broaden your horizons you invest in the expertise of others who will lead you to more underwater opportunities. 4. Rekindle the passion of your art - Remember the excitement of your first few underwater photo sessions? Seek out something you've never photographed before. We all have that little Cousteau inside of us screaming for the new and undiscovered. The mating Hamlets is, quite frankly, the finest fish photo I've ever laid eyes on. Great!...now do it again with another species. If you could manage to find a couple of Tigers mating while not becoming the post-sex aphrodisiac , now that would be a photo!

I'm curious as to why you don't just purchase a small external flash for your Oly 5050? It would certainly be as cheap as buying a new camera and housing additionally it would give you greater flexibility. I own the SP-350. It will focus as close as 2cm in the super macro mode but the internal flash is disabled. It will use the internal flash in regular macro mode at 7cm. Others have recommended the Fuji 810 and 900. The Canon S70, S80, A620. All of them have low cost housings available. Later,

Thank you ce4jesus for your comment U are right technically the photo is nothing special..but the fish gave me a big help taking a special pose for me ;-) Andrea, I was actually referring to the terrible clownfish shot taken by the other artist that was, at the time, winning that supposed contest. I found your picture a delight. I wish I could do as well. Gary.

This low price flash with a flexible arm also peaked my interest as a slave strobe. Since I believe it come with the fiber optic as well as a low price its hard to beat when you're just starting out. The only reason I didn't jump was due to the lack of specifications that were available on it whereas on other strobes you could find websites like this one. http://www.digitaldiver.net/strobes.php I did find another poster who purchased the flash with the camera and stated the way the fiber optic cable hooked up was not ideal. I will be interested in any feedback you have after taking a few photos. Later, Gary

I use a 7mm Zippered Seaquest long sleeved shorty over the top of a 3 mm full farmer john. Makes getting into and out of them a snap and I stay warm enough.

If this helps....after my short experience with my P&S, here is a list of importance in order. 1. Shutter speed in low light. 2. Fast Lens. Better than f2.8. 3. RAW mode - wouldn't leave home without it. 4. Manual Mode (I found this invaluable so far) 5. Battery life and type (AA's rule because you can find them everywhere) 6. Ease of use (There's nothing like getting lost in your menus underwater) 7. Accessories (From strobes to wide angle) Are there any? TTL? How Much? 8. Megapixels - I overrated this feature when I was shopping. 9. Memory card - You can fit about 80 9-megapixel images on a 1 Gig card... sincerely that's 1 every 30 seconds if you stay under for 40 minutes. I'm sure there is something missing since I'm new to this gig. The above list spells out DSLR if you can afford it. What I've found with most P&S's is they will be missing some of the above and you'll just have to decide what is most valuable to you. Here's a photo of mine with a breakdown in cost. http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11517

As you can see from the one shot above where the flash exposure is fine, the flash itself worked well. Composition was another story. It took me awhile to realize what I was doing wrong. I couldn't get the flash and camera together below the surface on my large setup and still compose a nice shot. Ie...on most shots the flash was out of the water, halfway under water or just not properly aimed. With proper weighting, I could have managed a lot better and will the next time I snorkel with these majestic creatures. BTW - went to your pic site and have to say the starfish pic is a great composition. One of my best underwater moments in SCUBA came in Cabo with a seal. Came right up within a few feet of me to stare at me in the same wonder that I was staring at it with. The Manatees are a must adventure.

I would never exceed 20ft with a camera in my hands. Gary

I posted a few under the dive trips catagory. My shots turned out okay...you can read about my struggles ... http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11825 One other note about the movie mode...make sure your mic is turned on in config. Silent movies are great at depth but not when you want to hear the oohs and ahhs . I learned this the hard way. Later, Gary