diverdon

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/template...dexId=cat601626 I had one of these Cabelas Lens Pens on my recent 203 dive trip. It made the job of keeping my ports perfectly clear effortless. I used it at least 100 times. This $10 piece of gear really made my life better and I do not know how I ever lived with out it. Of course I know that other people make similar products and you may like a different brand better, But I will never take another dive trip with out a Lens Pen. I am hoping to start a thread of gadgets that fill our needs for less than $100. I hope this thread will provide a useful stopping off point for us wetpixelators looking to fill the empty space in our bags.

Wow, great shots!

Very nice pipefish shot.

I looked at your Pics (assuming that you mean the Hurghada 2009 folder) It looks to me that your highlights and midtones are exposed ok. Shadows a little darker than you like? Three possibilities occur to me which could account for part of the difference. 1) "Active D lighting" setting 2) Strobe position/strobes to far from lens 3) photographic technique/composition I submit these only for you to consider, I am not nearly good enough to give you a definitive answer, I am just tossing a few ideas at the wall.

The shrimp is underexposed. If you shot it in raw perhaps you can dial it up a bit, if not then this is a reason to consider shooting raw. Also you might wish to consider looking at your histogram as you shoot, if you had you could have perhaps noticed that the chart was biased too much toward the shadows and then taken another shot perhaps with a larger apature or a more powerful flash setting. I like the soft pastel peacefulness of the anemone shot.

I second that thanks, this is something I always wondered about also.

I second everything Drew said and I would add in Sabang/Puerto Galera as a personal fav. The diving is good. Verdy island drop off is every bit as good as Apo Island. And the Macro at the Giant Clams dive site is great. Good hotels and restaurants and dive shops round out the mix. Another place with good scuba but less infrastructure is Moalboal, south of Cebu.

Karel, I think your second shot is made interesting by the texture of the water on the surface. The other two may accurately document what you saw but as compositions they have little artistic appeal to me. JMHO

Thank you Leslie

Thank you Leslie

Sorry about that, here are a few more shots. I Hope these help.

I would be proud to claim the first Picture. Good composition Good color Interesting subject conveys a scene of fun and zesty motion. If you have the raw you might wish to try to finesse the blown highlights at the top--- JMHO

Allison, I have a 40 LB backpack plus a briefcase with laptop. In my last six trips with NWA going to Asia (Philippines) I have had zero problems.

In Sabang bay Philippines. I have seen these in the day time also but in the daytime they always seem to be under a piece of wreckage or way down in a crack and hard to light of focus on. This one came right out for me at night.

Night dive in Sabang bay, Philippines.

Here is th pic.

It looks photo-shopped to me. JMHO. Why not ask the copyright owner? If you do not own the copyright do you have the right to post it here?

If he is on a trip he can continue to use the dome port with a cracked hood. When mine cracked Ryan at reef photo replaced it for no charge. I was told that Subal used a plastic that was too hard for some of them, and that their was a "stealth warranty" on them.

I have not been there since the Hurricane sat on the island several years ago and ruined all the scuba. I have not heard how much it has recovered. I used to stay at the Colonial hotel right in town http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g1..._Peninsula.html I liked being able to walk around town and eat anyplace I felt like instead of being locked into a resort meal plan. I also like the ability to walk around town and talk to the different dive shops to see who I liked most. The only draw back is that when you stay in town you get on the boat first and have the longest ride before you get to dive.

Thank you Leslie. It will be great when I have the correct keywords with everything.

Indeed it is, thank you Matt.

This is another shot from my 3-22-2009 dive at the Giant Clams dive site in Sabang, Mindoro, Philippines. When I was taking the shot I thought it was a nudibranch similar to a Ceratosoma alleni. If I had been willing to touch it I am sure I could have got better pictures, alas I refrained, and this is the only shot that shows what I thought might be rhinophores. Reviewing the pictures I am questioning my on the spot judgment that this was a nudibranch, I have not been able to find any like it online.

Seen on 3-22-09 in the Giant clams dive site in Sabang Puerto Galera.

I currently shoot a D-200 in a Subal. The ergonomics of the Subal are wonderful. The viewfinder is out of this world. I have done somewhere between 300 and 400 dives with it. So if I paid, $3,000 extra that would be $10 per dive. Do the better ergonomics and viewfinder let me get a extra $10 worth of pictures each dive? Sometimes I think they do. Sometimes not. Another thing to consider is how you travel and transport the rig. I take most of my international dive trips on NWA and with their generous carry-on allowance 40lbs plus a 20lbs personal item I can carry on the housing, camera, lenses, ports, substrobes, and laptop. The Ikelite is bigger and heavier, something I carry with me now would have to go into checked luggage. The D-200 is getting long in the tooth. Soon I will have to make all these decisions over again, hopefully with a D-700x.

My Subal port is 7-3/4 inches. Reef Photo's website says the Zen is 8 inches. It seems odd that you would be comparing the zen to a smaller Subal.