Introductions (original thread, now closed)

[apete 1]

Hi all,

 

I’ve been diving for 20 years. During most of that time I owned a Nikonos IV and a Sunpack Marine 32 (manual) flash together with a set of extension tubes for macro shots. It was a great camera!

 

Last September (2002) I decided to go digital, and bought a Canon PowerShot S40 with a Canon WP-DC300 housing. I’ve never been more enthusiastic about taking photos. Technically my current equipment is not as good as what I used to have, but I take so many more pictures now I get more good shots anyway. Getting instant feedback (seeing the picture) is great for learning!

 

I deliberately started my digital venture with a not-too-expensive camera, and I’m currently investigating what to move up to.

 

All photos in my online album are taken with the Canon S40.

 

http://homepage.mac.com/anders_peterson/

 

/Anders

[divegypsy 22]

Hello everyone,

 

I use divegypsy as my "handle" as it best describes my lifestyle. My real name is Fred. I am one of those "full-time" underwater photographers whose pictures you've probably seen, but never tooknotice of who took them. I dive and travel about 8 months per year. The other four I need for slide processing, editing, labeling, and business. Diving and underwater photography is my life. I miss diving and the marine animals terribly when I am "marooned ashore".

 

I currently shoot with with Nikon F5's in Seacam housings as my primary tool, and use Hartenberger strobes for lighting. I use three zoom lenses 17-35, 24-85, and 70-180 for about 90% of everything I shoot. But have and use a full range of lenses from fisheye to 200mm, sometimes with converters. My favorite subjects are the cephalopod molluscs - octopuses, cuttlefish, and squids - because of their intelligence, their ability to change coloration and texture, and their complex behavior.

 

For me, digital is mostly a toy, an experiment, right now because I don't know any digital camera/housing combination that can match the capabilities of my F5 yet. But I believe it will come into its own and already has several advantages over shooting with film - most significantly number of shots per dive. And because I want to know more about digital imaging, which is why I've started visiting the Wetpixel site (and DPreview) after finding it via Google. I recently bought a Fuji S2 and an Ikelite housing to put it it, my first digital camera of any kind.

 

I believe that virtually all underwater housings are inadequately designed to take full advantage of the cameras they house, and as a result I enrich the proprietors of several machine shops on a very regular basis modifying my housings to make them more usable. And building other equipment. My Ikelite/S2 housing has the most extensive modifications I've ever done and include making numberous controls operable from the handgrips, adding a totally new control that allows me to change focus points from the handgrips, and allowing it to use the same zoom lens gears and ports as my Seacam housings.

 

I visit Wetpixel on an irregular basis as I am frequently too busy diving or not within easy internet reach. When possible I'll weigh in with a "pro's" point of view on various topica and am willing to share almost any technical info.

 

DG

[craig 0]

Welcome, Fred. It's nice to have another 70-180 user here!

 

I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on Seacam and Hartenberger here. We only have a couple users of that equipment and more experience is always good.

 

I'd also like to hear more about the way you modifiy your housings and who you use to do the work.

[Craig Ruaux 0]

Hello all...

 

I've just been through this whole thread, and realised that I never have introduced myself. That is highly remiss of me, so here we go.

 

I'm an Australian expatriate, living in central Texas and working at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University. I know more than you or anyone else wants to know about the mechanics of measuring the concentrations of proteins in the feces of dogs and cats . I spent a decade in private veterinary practice before seeing the light and returning to the comfy halls of academia.

 

I started diving as a way of filling in the time while writing up my PhD thesis, and was certified in the slightly brisk waters of Moreton Bay, Brisbane, Australia in 1998. I have subsequently gradually slid my way up the ladder of dive certification, and am currently a divemaster, I help train the up and coming divers in the TAMU recreational sports program.

 

I have been a hobbyist photographer above water since I was about 8 years old. My first serious camera was a Canon AE-1, followed by the AE-1 program, some Minolta bodies, Mamiya medium format SLR, Toyoview view camera... Then I took the red pill and went Nikon. I started underwater photography with an Ikelite Auto35 and external strobe on a trip to Cozumel with my then-girlfriend-now-wife in 1999. Being badly bitten by the bug when I picked up this print:

 

 

I started spending far too much time and money on underwater photographic equipment. I progressed to housing my N6006 in an Ikelite housing, was happy with this for a while, then upgraded my camera body to an F100, sold the n6006 and housing, and at the time of writing don't actually have a housing for any form of SLR, digital or otherwise. I have and use a poky little Olympus 3040 in a pt-10 housing, and have been able to borrow/beg some very nice wideangle equipment (Nikonos V, 15mm lens, that sort of stuff) from a friend as I need it, which keeps me shooting while I vacillate about which dSLR I would like.

 

I'm a member of the Houston Underwater Photographic Society, and manage to attend about one meeting in three.

[deluca2799 0]

Hello,

 

I have been diving for about three years now. I enjoy UW photography. I started with a Sony DSC-85 w/ ikelite housing and DS-125 strobe. I have dabbled with some of the Canon Rebel cameras and housings, however I am waiting for Ikelte to release the housing for my Canon 10D (hopefully in January).

 

I enjoy reading all the great info on this board and hope to maybe contribute a little myself.

[james 0]

Welcome to Wetpixel guys and gals.

 

Cheers

James

[d33ps1x 0]

B)

 

So far I have only owned my little Canon S230 with the Canon housing for it and used it in Mexico and at various sites here in Ontario, Canada.

 

I now own an EOS 10D, a Speedlight 550EX flash and so far a 24-70mm F2.8 lens.

 

I really enjoy taking natural light photos with lots of contrast and character. Looking forward to getting some of the faster wide angle lenses available for this thing. Just need a sugarmomma first. Any takers?

 

Seriously though I am looking forward to learning a lot about underwater photography from all of you and I may have some pretty dumb questions.

 

Until my next foolish question....

[jong@seaotter.com 0]

Hey all. My name is Jon, and I have been shooting underwater for about 2 years now. I started with an Aquashot, and moved from that to a Kodak DC290, and then to a Canon D30, and I'm now shooting with a Canon D60 in a custom ikelite housing, with my eyes on a 1Ds and a shiny new Seacam housing. Unless Canon announces something else at PMA...

 

I've shoot almost exclusively in the freezing northeast pacific (west coast of the US and Canada, from southern alaska down to about Monterey). I'm looking to expand my travels a bit in the near future, with Fiji, south Africa, Antarctica, and the Red Sea destinations at some point.

 

I've got a little marine ID site called www.seaotter.com (that is badly in need of an update) and I'm working on a gallery for my other work at www.h2ophotography.com.

 

I guess my background is carpenter/network security troubleshooter/divemaster.

 

Anyway, hopefully I'll get to know a couple of you as time goes by!

[frogfish 5]

Let me re-introduce myself.

 

You may have known me here on wetpixel as just "rdelfs" - with a little fang blenny as an avatar. But long ago, on a diving board far far away, I used to be "frogfish", and I decided I liked that better.

 

So I asked, and the administrator agreed to change my name, but it's still me.

 

I've been shooting underwater for about five years, film until last summer, when I acquired a digital camera and housing. Currently, we live in Indonesia, which is a very nice place to dive. If you haven't been here before, I heartily recommend it.

 

Robert Delfs

[shark8matt 0]

Hello everyone - new guy on the block here -

 

my name is Matt Potenski. I am currently living in Hollywood, FL and finishing up my masters degree in marine biology. I am a graduate research associate for the Guy Harvey Research Institute an the Oceanographic Center of Nova Southeastern University. In March 2003 I purchased a Sony DSC-F717 camera and and Ikelite Housing. I tested the set-up on a trip to Belize the following April (South Water Caye). I moved to Grand Cayman in April 2003 to complete my masters research on southern stingrays. I am looking to compare the populations of stingrays that are fed by tourists to wild rays to determine what type of effects the feeding may have on them. 5 months and over 3000 shots later I have resettled back on the mainland. I hope to finish my masters and proceed to more work with sharks. Up until 2003, for three years I made trips out to Bimini to work at sharklab for Dr. Sam Gruber. My time there has brought me in contact with lemon, nurse, bull, tiger, caribbean reef, blacktip, and sharpnose sharks. I also have been to the marquesas keys (FL) for Doc. Additionally, I have made 2 trips to Utila, Honduras with Shark Research Institute to tag whale sharks. Now that I have my camera, I can't wait to revisit these locations. I like the look of ambient light and do not use strobes - I think it looks more like the images I recall from the actual dive...I hope to post some of my work and use feedback to improve my picture taking...

regards...

 

- MP

[cor 0]

Hi all, my name is Cor Bosman, and my gf and I are both underwater photographers. She's bella on this forum. We live in the Netherlands but about 3 months a year we move to

St Croix, US Virgin Islands.

 

We've been diving for about 10 years, and doing serious photography for about 5 years.

Both of us started out on Nikonos V. This year im starting on my first housed camera,

a D100, in a Subal D10 housing.

 

Besides underwater photography I like other forms of photography (land, astronomy),

traveling, and my other main hobby is fiddling with anything technical.

 

I work for a dutch ISP that I co-founded named XS4ALL.

 

See you all around on here

 

Cor

[jerome@gasava 0]

hi everybody, I m Jerome from France.

I ve just discovered this great site (I heard about it in november in Antibes).

I m DM for 2 years and paramedic.

I made my first pictures underwater 4 years ago , beginning with a nikonos ( RIP flooded ! ), then with an ikelite housing , then a subal for my F100 and now a fuji S2 pro with its Subal housing .

I dive 2 or 3 times a year in Egypt, I m just back from a safari to the Maldives , but for me , the best dive trips I ve ever made were in the moutain lakes in Austria.

Next year, we'll go to the Baikal Lake

'hope I'll bring you back some great pictures ......

[jocko 0]

Hello All,

I am an exiled Scot living in Sunny California, I have been diving on and off since I was 20, which is too many years ago to mention Up until late 2003 I had been using a Sea & Sea MMII EX Pro and YS-60 strobe and managed to get the occasional photo worth keeping. With my deep love for gadgets I decided to sell all my photographic equipment (land & sea) and go the digital route, I bought a Canon 10D, Jonah Housing, YS-90DX strobe and a few associated lenses. I only recently found the wetpixel site and I am glad I did. The wealth of information is enormous and for a rank amateur such as myself it is an invaluable resource to have.

Thanks to all who post,

David.

[jaybizzzzz 0]

Hey everyone -

 

 

My name is Jason Heller and I'm a digital uw photography addict... I've recently made the switch to digital, and I'm (almost) never going back. I shoot with a D-100 in a Nexus housing.

 

My site is geing updated at the moment, but to see a bunch of my digital shots from a recent trip to indonesia, go to http://www.underwaterphotos.net/wak1.htm

 

Most of my time and energy is spent running an Interactive Advertising Agency in New York that I co-founded called Mass Transit Interactive http://www.mass-transit.com, but I try to go diving as often as possible. Most recently I spent 3 weeks in Wakatobi and Bali Indonesia. Truely amazing places...

 

I look forward to sharing ideas with other digital uw photographers!

[edddash 0]

Hi everybody,

 

my name is Daniel, I'm from Germany and I'm glad that I found this very useful site.

 

I'm quite new in u/w photography, started one year ago with my Nikon D100 in an Ewa-Marine case, and just ordered a 'real' housing, which will be delivered soon.

 

I'm here to learn a lot and to get hints to improve.

 

Topside I use lenses up to 400mm, u/w it will be the Nikkor AF-S 24-85mm and a Sigma 50mm MACRO for the beginning. The housing for the D100 and the SB-80DX will be the Sealux CD100-GD.

 

Regards,

Daniel

[Simon K. 0]

Hi Daniel,

 

welcome to Wetpixel. Nice to have another "Kraut" with us. ( We are growing stronger) ;-)

 

where are you from exactly?

 

Simon (Frankfurt/M)

[edddash 0]

Hi Simon,

 

I just updated my profile, so you can see I'm from Krefeld at the nice lower Rhine area, but far too far away from the beautiful and warm diving spots. So I have to test my new housing in the cold and muddy german lakes, when it is delivered.

 

Gruss,

Daniel

[divingkam 0]

G'Day

 

Kristy from Cairns, Australia. I have been diving for 15years, my Dad got me into it at 11. Gave me a Nik V for my 15th birthday and a ticket for us to head of too Guam and Truk lagoon, so i have loving underwater photography since then. WOrked in the Solomons for a year and a half or so straight after school, then off to Derawan Island and Kalimantan, then joined the Australian Navy for 5 and a half years, so continued diving all around. I currently work fo a wholesale underwater camera company so i use a mixture of equipment whatever we have new at the time and we need to know how it works to give honest sales advice...

 

Off to Fiji with my 2 year old son and best mate for two weeks in March, looking forward to some great diving and relaxing times, rather then all work more work and you guessed it more work...

[Donovan 0]

Hi,

My name is Don Kincaid. I am currently owner/captain of a 54ft. sailing catamaran named Stars & Stripes, that does history/ecology snorkel tours in Key West Fl. We teach guests how to get close to critters with their UW cameras.

I started shooting and snorkeling in the Philippines in the mid 50's and was certified in 1963. I published my first UW pic. in 1966 then became an Army filmmaker. I switched to photojournalism and began covering Formula 1 races and later studio product shoots. Most of my diving during this time was on historical shipwrecks. In 1971 I started shooting Mel Fishers treasure search and got a contract with National Geographic for that project. I also worked on projects concerning whale beachings, life in the Gulf Stream, mangrove islands and other shipwreck sites from 1554, two 1622 sites and a 1701 wreck.

My partners and I work on feature films as marine coordinators. My pictures and films have been in a number of books, magazines and documentaries. BBC , Discovery, Natl Geo, and most recently two shows on the History channel Deep Sea Detective series.

I got a D100 a year ago and have been having a blast. I have a housing and 10.5 mm lens on order. Digital has made shooting as much fun as when I first got started with a camera.

Go to Adventurekeywest.com to see some of my work.

Splash,

Don Kincaid

[james 0]

Welcome you two!

 

Kristy - you should put off your trip until May and do the Digital Shootout! Eric and I will be there.

 

Cheers

James

[Mega1Gator 0]

Hi, my name is Brian, I have been diving for 30 some years since I was 15. I started out with a Nikonos II and flash bulbs, then Nik V's and our moderator convinced me that digital is the best, and with good reason. I just took the plunge with a Fuji S2 and a 60mm macro and shoot with an Ikelite Substrobe 100a. I recently was in Key Largo for my fist dives with my new rig, had a connector short on me (Aquatica housing) I think due to an old o-ring on the connector but all is well now. Aquatica is very responsive with assistance and advice. It is interesting when you see your strobe start flashing without hitting the shutter, the darn thing kept firing even when the camera was not hooked in. Oh well, I got to eat a lot of lobster, drink beer and meet with my photo instructor, Larry Gates, in Key Largo. Anybody who wants some Nikonos and/or underwater photo training, Larry is great. Now my 15 year old son is underwater photo certified by Larry and is using my Nik V's.

[divingkam 0]

James - Wish i could but i have a contract to meet in March...but it is only 30,000 frequent flyer points for me to fly Cairns Brisbane Nadi return....something to aim for, don't think i could get the extra time off, wouldn't mind testing out two of our new housings though before the Australian dive show. BTW - our shop bought the Calypso i asked about it is the French version, the Calypsophot - lovely condition, the grandaddy of the cameras looks very neat next to digital setups in our display cabinet.

[james 0]

Nice!

[Kelpfish 15]

I have been browsing these sites for years, including other forums. What has intrigued me from day one is what people do for a real living.

 

I learned that one guy's main job is designing musical instruments for famous muisicians, yet his underwater work is top notch. Some are industry pros, but most of us are interesting critters ourselves. This may not be appropriaate for this forum and if so, I apologize. I just think it would be very interesting to briefly share what the main contributors to this forum do for a living.

 

Although I am new to Wetpixel, I have been around since for almost 30 years.

 

So, (not that I matter) I have been in the diving thing and have authored about 30 articles since 1995 in Skin Diver and a lot of other magazines. I have a degree in marine technology and an MBA. I have done a lot in diving, including a member of the Southern California Whale Rescue Unit and volunteered as a photographer for the Boy Scouts of America. I have done a lot of field work in the marine biology field and have done a bit of research diving and kelp transplants here in southern cal.

 

BUT, I don't do that for a living today. I am an engineer at Behr Paints and run their Kaizen program, which is a way to figure out how to do things more productive without making the jobs harder. So, I work in paint, and find time to participate in the diving industry in several ways.

 

It makes my life a lot easier knowing that I am one of the privelaged few to share in this great activity of photography and diving in general.

 

I don't expect all of you to do provide this much detail, as this is only to give you an idea of what I think will be an interesting thread.

 

Joe

[Helge Suess 0]

Hi!

 

Let's reveal another critter.

 

I love to play around with small gadgets and technical stuff in general. Diving opened another field of possibilities to me ;-) I wrote DiveProxyCE and TravelTrakCE, software to view your (Uwatec) dive computer data on a PDA and store it for later use on your PC at home. In the meantime I've got a nice collection of dive computers (even ones, you can't buy yet) and didn't have to pay for them ;-)

Divers are a strange folk. I designed a few bits of dive wear to point it out properly too (a neoprene rubber cap for lazy dives and a bow tie if you go for a night dive to have lobsters).

I'm also member of "triton" (Austrian Society for Underwater Archaeology) and try to solve technical problems that arise during excarvations or research. As a passionate photographer I'm also documenting findings and research activities.

 

In contrast to diving I'm a rock climber nearly from my early beginnings. Doing both enables me to enjoy all heights and depths of life ;-)

 

I went to a technical school and later on studied computer science, anthropology and lots of other interesting stuff like archaeology, biology, Chinese language, a dissection course at the medical department and some more (you call that a "studium irregulare", which is an official excuse for being curious about lots of things).

For a living, I'm now developing software. I'm trouble shooter for critical software projects in our company and this most often means stress and sometimes working all night long.

 

Whenever I'm touching rock or feel the water closing above me, my brain is like wiped clean. There's no thought on work etc. anymore. there's just me feeling nature. That's why I'm doing it.

 

Helge ;-)=)