Islandbound

I have no trouble with the G7 in very close macro mode. Works well!

I must apologize for the dark photo. I was trying out a Kenko 1.4 TC on a 60mm and only had one strobe on the camera for the day. I was unable to light the fish very well as a result. These fish were inside a limestone cave about 30 feet. At first I did not notice they were upside down until after I had taken some photos. They were remaining motionless along the base of the walls and would swim away as I approached, all upside down. What are they?

The second fish was in a hollow in the reef and didnt allow for any special angles or composition photos. This photo is from the side and under the ledge the stonefish was hiding under. The sharply defined mouth angle can be seen clearly in this photo.

Scorpionfish here in Okinawa are very common and can be found on almost every dive or snorkel outing. For the most part a scorpion (ragged or tassled) is easy enough to recognize. I do have a question however on two specific ones I took pictures of that I want ID'ed. This is the first one that I have posted before which I believe is a Scorpionfish but my son believes is a Stonefish based on a report he wrote and studied for in middle school. He feels it is a stonefish as the mouth has the pronounced downturn as opposed to the more horizontal mouth of a scorpionfish. The following pictures are from yesterday. I am pretty sure this is a real stonefish.

Hey, your gonna be on my little island! When are you heading here and what are you looking for? We have whale sharks to humpbacks, turtles to snakes and almost everything is a shore dive. Plenty of gear here as well and lots of free air! There are festivals of all sorts here, it just depends on what month(s) you might be here. As for culteral hotspots they range from 16th century castles to dragon boat races. The dining itself is about 90% ocean based on fish and seaweed with the most common "standard" meal either yakisoba or soba. Some of the nicest places to stay on the ocean are facilities owned by JAL or ANA along the West coast of Okinawa. Its actually a very low key and laid back island where not a lot happens. Details?! If you havent dived here before there is one spot you might consider. There are a number of ruins that lie almost 100 feet down that have defied any archeological description that makes sense. The problem of course is that they are so deep that the ocean level plays a problem on how and when they were built. There are a number of websites about them such as this one http://www.morien-institute.org/yonaguni.html .

No problems here Lndr! I enjoy the discussions about these little critters as it makes this hobby just that much more enjoyable! I have found 3 of these little crabs so far, all the same color and all living on the same species of coral. They are living on an isolated reefhead (large rock) that measures about 60 feet long by 30 feet wide and sticks straight up out of the sandy bottom almost 50 feet to end just 6 or so feet from the surface. If anyone would like specific pictures I am pretty sure I can find one again and ask it for specific poses or maybe I can tug on its hair to see if its really algea? Just kidding, I wouldnt do that!

Thats funny about the orangutan name, when the crab is "standing" on the bubbles it looks very much like some sort of ape with over long arms dragging its knuckles. I went back to the same section of reef and found a much larger one today and took its pic. The larger one is less than 2 inches across its widest area.

I thought at first that this was a piece of algea that was moving in the current as I was looking for little shrimps nearby. Finally I noticed that it moved every time I moved and then I saw the eye stalks! What is it?

I have been using the YS110 from Sea and Sea fired through the Ikelite sync cable and like it alot more than the DS51 I have. The amount of light it puts out is significantly more than the DS51 and allows me to shoot in manual with a high shutter speed and at f8 almost all the time. Your photos are very nice and do capture the subjects nicely!

Well, I finally learned to scuba and got my Open Water Cert and this is from my first dive! Eye contact Freedive photo: Probably not a great photo but these little guys are truly bizarre!

On our little island of Okinawa there is an ongoing practice of "reclaiming" land from the ocean. Thousands of cubic meters of dirt are simply poured 20-30-40 meters or more from the shoreline outward to create more usable land space. This has been going on so long that there are places on the island where successive remnants of seawalls are visible showing the progression of the land creation.

Great photos! I ran into what I think is a juvenile cuttlefish on Saturday and Sunday at the same reef, same coral and had a great time "communicating" with it. I would approach it within several feet with my hand hanging down from my chin and wiggle my fingers and the cuttle would respond. Lots of fun!

Fairly small and short nudibranch found offshore in Okinawa. The body is fairly translucent and small irregular white sphere shapes are visible inside the fleshy portion of the nudibranch body. Are these any particular body organ or just coloration?

Thanks Leslie! I tried to do a search on Saron shrimps and came up with a few photos of other color patterns. Unfortunately I dont have the Debelius book.

It would look like this guy! I was trying to sneak up some anenome shrimp at about 25 feet or so and happened to look down and this little guy was literally between my elbows looking at me. This as far out of the rocks as he would come so I couldnt get a better photo. Love the paisley pattern though...! Anyone know what kind it is?

I read the info you linked Leslie and am amazed that the Polychaeta group is so large. Is it becoming a dumping ground for random critters which defy classification or are there really over 8000 Polychaetes that are so well related? Oh, also, does this mean I found a worm for you?!

It has little legs though...?

Very small and fairly quick too. As I approached the little critter would move onto the other side of the arm to avoid me.

You can use the C1 or C2 settings to preset a Macro mode of your choice and a WA mode of your choice for changing on the "fly".

I wonder if Ikelite will just make and sell the mounting part of the housing to mount the G9 into a G7 housing?

If you are going to shoot in the AV mode (TTL exposure) then the DS51 or DS125 would be the obvious choice. They allow a much easier photo to be taken and keep the coloring and light exposure quality very high. Blimbo, did you take any test photos by any chance with the longer port and the Inon lens?

If I get a chance tomorrow I will swing on by a camera store and see if the camera/housing is available off the shelf here in Japan. My normal store is not a dealer (I believe) for the camera but I will check anyway.

I have never had the Ikelite G7 housing fog up, ever. Where I live it is over 90 degrees with the same in humidity almost year round. The water is well over 85 degrees in the upper 10 feet and can drop into the 70s below that easily.

Don I have a YS-110 which I use as a second strobe being fired via optic cable by the now-flooded DS51. I was considering replacing the DS51 altogether with another YS110 ( they are about $490 US here in Japan) and then using a cable from the Ikelite housing to trigger both the YS 110s.

Carlos, my experience while flooding is almost exactly like your dive. I am still perplexed why the strobe flooded. The strobe was sent off yesterday to Ikelite and hopefully it can be fixed.