liquidguru

For broadcast, when asked if my footage is available, I always reply 'Yes, of course I license it for broadcast' then give them a rough idea of my rates and ask them what purpose they need it for. If it is purely non-commercial or educational (Uni asking for use in a lecture), I usually am happy to give it for free. For anything else, if they tell me they cannot pay or pay me in the form of a credit (!!!!!!!! Yes, that helps feed me, please listen Daily Planet, Discovery), I politely tell them that if they, as the researcher, and their editor and their technicians are all getting paid, then I, as the content provider, also need paying.

December is a great time. At Dive into Ambon your can dive both the traditional muck sites in Ambon Bay, and the sites out of Ambon Bay. We find a lot of critters out of Ambon Bay that aren't found in it.

I agree on the interview. Footage for Broadcast is harder to price. A lot depends on the usage and format. For single use, non-exclusive, 1080, I think anything from USD40-USD50 per second is the most you might get, again depending on amount of seconds required. 4K you would get a lot more. Public Broadcasters usually want to pay less. Exclusive (5 years or perpetuity) would put the price up again. At the end of the day, it's up to you get get whatever you are happy with. For some Public Broadcasters I've given footage away for free (or nearly free). For extremely unusual footage I sometimes charge more. I usually give a discount for over 30 seconds used.

Looks like a Lionfish, maybe a Scorpionfish, to me. Definitely not the Rhinopias filamentosus we get in Ambon.

I looked at gaming laptops. I settled on MSI, got a laptop with top end dedicated graphics, 32GB RAM, three hard disks inside, with my operating system on a SSD (I swapped the optical drive for a hard drive), HD screen etc etc. I'm totally happy with it, way better value than a MacBook with specs that a MacBook can't match. However, I've always been a Windows users. This makes the choice easy for me.

Looks like a juvenile Blackbelt Hogfish, Bodianus mesothorax

Probably a Gardiner's Banana Nudi, Aegires gardineri

I wouldn't buy L&M SOLA lights. Down the road you will find the batteries don't hold a charge and then you have no option except throwing them away, as you cannot replace the batteries. Lights are always a good investment. If you change your rig you can still use the lights from the old rig. It's best to go for the best you can get, so most power plus changeable batteries, in your budget range.

You can't have too much light. All the powerful lights have variable power settings, so you can max them out for your wide shots, and dial them back for closeups.

There are many options. I would recommend that whatever lights you get, make sure they have replaceable batteries. I used to use Light and Motion, but have had so many problems with batteries dying after a year of use, that I now use Keldans. Many people find the FIX lights are a very good option too. At the moment, among my video mates, Keldans or FIX lights seem the most popular.

It's a Cigar Jelly, Olindias phosphorica https://vimeo.com/53780834

I honestly think it makes no difference what BCD you use. I personally prefer a BCD without the corrugated inflater hose. I use a Aqualung Dimension i3 BCD. It's incredibly comfortable, doesn't have the stupid inflater hose dangling down, very easy and intuitive to inflate and deflate without changing your body position. It doesn't have a cummerbund either and I do not miss it at all. For my reg and I prefer small and lightweight, with Miflex hoses. Less jaw-strain and I only really dive in tropical waters, so the seal isn't important. I think whatever you go for, you will enjoy after getting used to it. Try to pick something that seems to suit your needs.

My good friend Mickey Charteris, from the other side of Roatan, sent me the following: Blackbelly Blenny, found and shot by a friend of mine here. Never found one myself, but got it identified (Stathmonotus hemphillii) See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwNfb-EJ3L0

I've used a big gorillapod for the last 5 years. My first lasted 4 years, onto my second now. I could not live without it for macro, it's essential. I like the gorillapod, as you can either stand it on three legs, or push two legs forward to balance your rig that way. What setup are you using?

It sounds dead unfortunately. This won't help you right now, but I recently solved all my Sola problems by switching brand. I've gone through 4 Sola 4000s in three years and enough is enough. I will never buy a main light again which has non-replaceable batteries.