tubino

Looking for a Nikon D800 alone or with Ikelite housing.

I admired a traveler who used a very sturdy box to transport video camera, housing, fins, wetsuit, etc. Apparently it is called a Balikbayan box, but I can't find a seller in the US. These folks in the Phillippines produce both a wheeled box, and a cover with handles that can be used on a 20" x 20" x 20" box: http://www.lugmaxbags.com/travelbags.html The wheeled box is especially cool, with corrugated plastic instead of cardboard. I'm sure I'm not the only one who might have some moist gear on the return trip... Does anyone know where to get such items? Double-wall corrugated boxes in the right size is of course easy: http://www.pkging.com/Doublewall-Boxes-20-20-20-275 Check this out:

Les Wilk looked at the photos and thinks it is a female sailfin blenny with a weird lip. So much for my hope for discovery of the mustache blenny.

Maybe it's a cross-dressing female sailfin blenny wearing a mustache disguise...

I was just getting in the water at sunset when I spotted this one sort of "walking" on the sand. Pictures were taken before I had time to adjust strobes and camera settings, unfortunately. Lots of green and blue in the fins. It was certainly dusk/dark at this point, so there could be night coloration changes going on here, but that lip! I'm pretty sure this one pushed a female sailfin blenny out of a hole to hide...

Seems like whether you're looking for glasses to protect from UV, or buying the commercial alternatives from Nightsea or Glowdive, you get yellow plastic. (acrylic? plexiglass?) I bought a couple of Rosco gel sheets to use as barrier filters above water, just to get a sense of it when using blacklights or filtered strobe as UV source... I can post some photos I took with the gel in front of the lens, but I am not sure how to DIY the barrier sheets. Maybe ordinary plexiglass is fine? The gel sheets come with data on the pass bandwidth, so I thought I could narrow down color that way, then get plastic sheets. OR... if the gel sheets were particularly good, I could sandwich between two pieces of clear plastic and seal all the way around with silicon, and make some to hold in front of (or clamp on) masks, ports, etc. Look at the amazing gel options: http://www.rosco.com/us/filters/roscolux.cfm http://www.fullcompass.com/category/Gel-Fi...Theatrical.html Here's another thing I didn't mention yet. I bought a couple of Rosco dichroic glass filters that only let UV pass through (aka Woods Glass). The small rectangular one is almost a perfect fit for a Nikon SB-900, so I attached it and tried some shots. I think the pass bandwidth is low and very narrow, so not much of the light from the flash actually gets through. If the results had been more promising I would have adapted a homebrew snoot to put the 2" circular one in front of my Ikelite strobe. Instead I think I'm better off with the tried and proven royal blue filters I see others using. Maybe Rosco 80 is the right part of the spectrum to put in front of the strobes... I'm sure I'm plowing through ground others have covered, and I'd love to hear from them. If I lived close to some salt water I could do some trial-and-error, but...

I am about to order some parts to try my hand at DIY LED lights, but before I do, I thought I’d post to learn from others. I want to build cheap high-powered LED dive lights for both the normal light spectrum as well as specifically to excite fluorescence underwater. “Cheap” here means recycling some obsolete dive lights I own, with incandescent / halogen bulbs but useable shells. It occurs to me that the original Princeton Tec 400 is a good candidate for this conversion because it is made for a medium size reflector (about 52mm), has a mechanical switch that can be modified to work, and has the capacity for two 18650 lithium-ion batteries, which gives the possibilities for 3.7 or 7.4v (parallel or series). This 52.7mm diameter module (LED, reflector, driver board) puts out >1000 lumens, and includes a regulator board to handle a lot of current: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/5-cree-r2-120...-8-4v-max-35241 If that is TOO bright, here's one that is a little less bright (800 lumens), a little cheaper, but much the same thing with less bright LEDs: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/5-cree-p4-wc-...-8-4v-max-26127 Both are brighter than I want unless used with a multi-mode board to allow dimmer settings, but for a UV light, I see potential to use them at the high setting. To make a light to activate fluorescence, rather than put a filter over a light designed for white light, it looks to me like either one of those modules might be pulled apart to solder in 5 DIFFERENT LEDs that are easily sourced (Newark, Digikey) and would cover a spectrum: 365nm UV, 395-405nm UV, and then three more (purple, blue, green) to cover the rest of the spectrum that activates fluorescence. Carry one light, make everything glow that can! I haven't seen anyone do it, but it seems like a good idea. It would be fairly easy to tape over one or more LEDs to see which is doing what... To make this work with the 5 LEDs in parallel, would require LEDs with similar voltage and current parameters, and adding up to operate in the correct range for the regulator board, but this does not seem overly difficult. I would figure on buying one, measuring current output from the board, and then spec’ing the LEDs based on that. Another alternative: I have another old light, a Sabrelight that used 3 C cells, so it too could be modified to hold two 18650 batteries. If the batteries were hooked up in parallel, and if I can modify to work with a spring-loaded contact switch that turns on with a couple of twists, it could power this UV module: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/1w-390nm-450n...3-6v-4-2v-16694 I'm pretty sure that they have a typo, and mean 390 - 405 for the wavelength, not 390-450. And then on the smallest easiest end of the spectrum, I found I can make an instant UV dive light by using an ancient Tekna light as a shell to hold an entire UV light powered by 3 AAA’s, with just some foam in the bottom to hold it against the front! I hope to learn from others on this before I order more parts. I got my feet wet on this DIY LED stuff by ordering a CREE XML LED and 2800ma current regulator board. I put it together with a heatsink in a big light (not a dive light) with a sealed lead-acid battery, and it works fine. Soldering SMDs on a tiny board is a challenge, but it's something I can manage a bit.

I have taken my elderly mother snorkeling at Eden Beach and at Buddy Dive. Both have stepladders to make entry and exit easier. Neither one has a lot of coral or sponges close by, but have something to offer. Before the hurricane damage a few years back, there was a fair amount to see in the shallower water at Oil Slick Leap (still kinda deep), but I can't name a place now with a lot of coral or sponges in less than 12 feet -- with possible exception of Andrea II. There you have big dense structures with very large parrotfish and more. You can go down by truck and park close to an easy entry. A good snorkeling time can be had at Tori's Reef, though, and if they can swim out a little they can see nice coralheads close to the cut. Other coralheads can visited close in at Bachelor's Beach.

I'm very impressed when people focus on getting a particular critter or behavior. I haven't done much of that, but I *did* recently set out to get these shots: ------ On a recent family vacation in Bonaire, I started paying attention to the numerous jawfish right in front of our place at Eden Beach. On one of our last days there I had a chance to do an afternoon dive and determined to do my best to get photos of one with eggs in the mouth. I had to hang a while at 82 feet before this one ignored my presence, but eventually crept up to about 16 inches with him not minding my bubbles or strobes at all. 105mm Nikon on D300s, f20 at 1/160. Housing control slippage wouldn't let me change f-stop, otherwise I might have shot this at f32 or thereabouts. If had had a few more days there, I believe I would have gotten some photos of one with eggs about to hatch -- but that's for the next trip.

That's an interesting thought, but I think it would mean the hogfish was wasting its time (in addition to messing up the eel's chance to surprise small prey), because I do not think a cleaner shrimp was anywhere in the vicinity. And the steady rate of the hogfish's movement makes me think it was not going to get any shrimp latching on...

On a recent trip to Bonaire I was lucky enough to catch a sailfin blenny doing some dramatic displays. As I waited I would take glances over at a spotted snake eel, whose head stuck out of the sand. More than once I saw a Spanish Hogfish swim in a very tight circle around the eel's head, brushing against the eel. I took a few snaps. As the pictures show, the fish was stirring up some sand as it made its passes. Has anyone seen that before, and if this happens regularly, does anyone know why it happens? Sorry if this is out of place here -- I don't know of a better forum, but would be happy to learn of one.

Many of you have probably seen Keri Wilk's article on UW Snoot Photography. I found it persuasive enough to make a trip first to Home Depot and then to Lowe's to copycat. The good news for owners of Ikelite 125 or 160 is that there is a readily available piece to pop on and off your strobe without hardware, even underwater, and it seems quite snug once in place. A 3" to 2" flexible coupling piece will press into place and give you the desired size reduction too. From there you have lots of off-the-shelf options. I added another coupler and a 38 cent coupling piece and a telescoping 3/4" piece. You can use with or without the telescoping piece, and the telescoping lets you further narrow and focus the beam. Pull it out and you get a very focused narrow beam. I tried it in the pool and it seemed a good route, and it’s fairly easy to mount and adjust underwater. Yet... kind of heavy in the luggage. So I looked for a lighter weight solution still based on the first snap-on 3” to 2” piece, and came up with these routes for 2" and 1.5" tubes: Resulting options shown below mounted on the strobes. I can do a bit of trimming to reduce excess plastic / weight. The black plastic tubes, cheaper and lighter than PVC, and even easier to cut, can be used in various lengths and diameters to control focus. For those skilled in snootonian physics (heh), there are probably equations of length and diameter, but the empirical approach seems adequate to me. All snooted up and ready to shoot: A little tip: teflon tape (PTFE Thread Seal Tape) costs about $1 for 520” in ½” width. A few winds around a tube can make a smoothly sliding but tight seal. I plan to take at least one setup with several tubes on a liveaboard through the Banda Sea next month. It seems to provide an appealing spotlight effect from side or top, with a little front fill optional with a second unsnooted strobe.

For an upcoming trip to Indonesia I just purchased a Samsonite 28" Flite upright, $116 shipped to my door. At David Haas' suggestion I bought the Pelican 1625 foam set that is designed for the 1620 case (~ $150 from B&H) It looks like it will work VERY well. (Thanks, David!) Luggage dimensions are 28" H x 20" W x 11.5" D, and weight is under 11 lbs. With the pelican dividers I can put an Ikelite housing, two Ikelite DS-160 strobes vertically, an 8" Ikelite dome upright (!), with loads of room for lens, ports, cables, flashlights, tray, handles, arms, clamps, and chargers for everything, mask, and a keeper box for o-rings etc., still well under 50 lbs. It rolls well, looks very ordinary (in a good way), and is very stable when upright. I'll post a photo with text indicating what fits where. I bought it from this place, which shipped very quickly (but out of stock as I type this). Really, I can't think of anything significant that I would change on it. Maybe another handle? The great thing is that it is deep enough to put so many things on end, using the full height/depth of the Pelican foam set. There is enough room outside the dividers to put all the really dense tough stuff (tray, handles, arms, flashlight & batteries) at the end that is on the bottom when turned upright, which makes it very stable and easy to roll when upright. I've got a rolling duffle (5 lbs empty) for fins, wetsuit, booties, BC, regulator and clothes. I'm using a Lowe backpack (CompuDayPack?) for carryon, with laptop, camera & 18-200 lens, and travel essentials. With a photo vest I could make it very light if need be, probably even getting both pieces of luggage to 20kb/44 lbs if I really had to, and of course a second piece of luggage may cost me, but if there another flaw in this scheme, please let me know. It has all the useless perfection of a plan that has never met reality.

Bruce, I am just now making travel arrangements to Sorong for next May. It looks like I will probably have an overnight in Denpassar, and was thinking of adding a day/night there to have a full day of sightseeing and jetlag recovery. Is Denpassar a reasonable place to spend a day? Great photos you posted!

I'm going to be in the Seattle area in October, and found this interesting REEF weekend in the beautiful San Juan Islands: Naknek Charters, REEF ID weekend I have a very good feeling about this, and plan to participate. I talked to someone there today who explained that I can choose to do 2 dives Saturday, 2 dives Sunday. WHY I AM POSTING: If anyone has experience with the REEF course, this outfit, or diving in the Friday Harbor region, I'd like to hear about it! Also, I may go up a day or two early to do some additional diving. Is shore diving an option, if I pay attention to tide tables?