Drysuit has returned

All fixed now hopefully. Seatec were very apologetic, paid for postage and re-glued the wrist seal very quickly.

Now to test it out in the coldest water this year. 10c in my semidry was not fun last Thursday. Brrrr!



This is Jan measuring her beloved hydroids at Popes Eye.

Drysuit repairs

I'm really not happy about this.

The drysuit has just returned from Seatec in Sydney for replacement of neck and wrist seals and general checkup. It took 6 weeks to come back to me and this happened on the second dive.

The seam has just peeled open. No torn neoprene, just glue letting go.

I'm waiting for Seatec's reply.

Macro at Blairgowrie

Recent gale and even storm force winds have restricted diving and the water temperature is in free fall. Down to 11c now.

However calm conditions on Friday meant we could head over to Blairgowrie to look for nudibranchs and the soon-to-be-named hydroid.

I was armed with the 60mm macro and naturally found a good wide angle subject as soon as I flopped out of the boat. This small keeled octopus hung around for just long enough to get a few shots. Lighting was difficult due to poor vis, strong current and lack of contrast between octopus and sand.

Here are some more shots of hydroids and nudis.

Fibre Optic recording indicator

Here are the latest tweaks to the Stingray housing.

The previous magnet record switch was somewhat unreliable due to alignment and flexing issues. It was also very difficult to hear the camera beeps so I was never really sure whether it was recording.

Handles and a flexible loc-line strobe arm have been added.

The magnetic switch now works by pushing or repelling a "finger" through the housing-back and I have added a fibre optic "light pipe" so I can see when the red record indicator appears on the LCD screen. This fibre optic bundle comes from a $10 fibre optic lamp found at Toy Kingdom in Geelong West.

More photos here

Magnetic record switch

Here's what I came up with to stop and start recording underwater. The magnets came from Jaycar, a magnetic handy strip for less than $15. This plastic hanging strip contains about 8 magnets encased in a long plastic strip which can be cut to length.

An external magnet attracts the internal magnet operating the right angled lever. More photos here.
Works like a charm, if everything lines up properly.

The camera beeps to let me know if it's starting or stopping record mode.

UK light cannon 100 as video light

I adapted a stingray housing to fit my Canon MVX430 DV camera, which worked pretty well, but it really needed a video light.

These excellent HID dive torches are available for around $300 posted on ebay from lightcannontoys

Here is a 5 min video from Cottage Reef showing the Light Cannon in action.

I'm now working on a magnet switch to operate the record button while underwater. At the moment I have to start recording before the dive and just let it run for 1 hr. Makes editing a pain.

Photo book

After my sister Viv suggested we create photo books instead of buying presents for Christmas, what a brilliant idea, I started looking around at what was available.

Photo books are offered at most printing outlets now like Camera House, Office Works etc.

The business I decided to try was Snapfish
You go to the website, create an account and upload your images, then start laying out the book.

As a first trial I created a 10 page, that's 20 sides, A4 hardback book choosing a variety of image sizes and backgrounds.
The book arrived less than a week later and I was amazed at the printing quality. The images looked just like they did on my iMac screen and were printed using proper publishing quality offset printing. Just beautiful!

The book cost $39.95 with about $5 post. If you order more than one at a time the subsequent copies are 20% off.
I'm now trying a 20"x16" poster print to check their normal printing quality....watch this space.

+4 dioptre investigation

Flickr contact Rikke Lind commented that it would be interesting to see a comparison of DOF, zoom level etc. with and without the +4 dioptre and I had to agree. I have always wondered whether dioptres actually magnify or just allow closer focus, so here's a series of images showing what happens.

The tests show that adding a +4 dioptre.......

Set focus of 1m reduces to 38cm and Infinity changes to 39cm.
Closest focus of 24cm reduces to 22cm, giving 1.44x mag.
So the focus range Infinity - 24cm changes to 39 - 22cm. Interesting, I thought the closest focus would be a lot closer not just by 2cm.

If the camera stays in one spot, the +4 gives a little bit of magnification, resulting in slightly reduced depth of field,
But if the camera is moved back to keep the image size constant then the depth of field is not reduced.
Note: Depth of field only depends on image magnification, (and aperture and sensor size) not which lens you use.

At 18mm zoom, aperture 3.5, the +4 changes barrel distortion into pincushion distortion and reduces corner blur and vignetting! Didn't expect that.



The reason we use dioptres underwater is mainly to enable your lens to focus on the virtual image created by the dome port, many lenses cant focus close enough on their own.
Or, as with my 18-55mm, to bring the closest focus to about 10cm from the dome for our rich but murky sub-temperate water.

18-55mm with +4 dioptre

I bought a Hoya +4 dioptre 52mm to try with the kit lens and the results are excellent. I can now focus 10cm from the dome. Perfect for our murky sub-temperate water.

Behind the 6" dome this lens gives reasonable macro magnification with useful wide as well.

Of course it's not as pin sharp or as fast focusing as the 60mm macro or Sigma 15mm Fisheye but it's definitely a useful middle range zoom lens.

It means I wont need to buy a Sigma 17-70 and 8" dome to fill the gap.

On this dive I photographed nudibranchs and sharks, however the nudis were big and the sharks small!

Cuttle colours 18-55mm

These shots were taken at The Springs near Pt Lonsdale. Vis was only 3m with heaps of sand stirred up by the strong current and swell. I was surprised at how little backscatter showed up with the strobes out wide and balanced background exposure.

This is the same giant cuttle over a fun 15 min interaction. Wonderful inquisitive critters.

I used the 18-55mm kit lens with a +2 dioptre behind a 6" dome. Will try a +4 dioptre for closer macro as soon as the wind subsides.

Fix LED mini focusing light problems

Reports are surfacing on Wetpixel about unexplained floods of this little focus light and I have to agree.
Mine partially flooded but was rescued by spraying the electronics with WD40 but 2 mates have not been so lucky.
Theirs have been ruined with no replacement being offered by the supplier.

So I now wouldn't reccommend buying one. Unfortunately there does not seem to be an alternative focus light available for the same price with the light quenching feature.

Strobe arm floats

The housing and strobes are still quite heavy underwater especially with one strobe positioned for rim or back lighting.

To add a little buoyancy I cut 80mm sections off a pool noodle ($3.99 from Rebel Sports) and slipped them over the strobe arms. This made the rig much easier to handle underwater. The foam does compress a bit with depth but works beautifully for shallow dives. Could be improved with even longer foam sections.

This photo also shows the white velcro strips used to hold the sync cords to the strobe arms and the green lanyard and clip for hanging the rig from my shoulder d-ring.

The flags in the map behind mark Portsea Hole, Portsea Pier and Blairgowrie Marina.

Inon repair

The strobe has returned all fixed, no charge.
Yay Sea Optics, my new best friends.

Inon sync socket replacement

In a previous post I mentioned that one of my Inons needed a replacement sync socket.

The problem probably originated 4 yrs ago when I bought one of the first Ikelite to Inon sync cords. The finish on the Inon end of the cord was awful with razor sharp edges and vice crimp marks. I brought this to Ike's attention and they replaced it no questions.

However the damage had already been done. The few times I used the original cord had scratched the o-ring sealing surface of the Inon. I smoothed and polished the scratches fairly well but I guess over the years enough salt water seeped through to cause corrosion of the contact pins.

This came to a head in Tassie when I didn't undo the sync cord for maybe 36 hrs and the photo shows the result.

Anyway I sent it off to Sea Optics for a replacement. Total cost was $330 including $135 for the socket, $127 labour plus o-ring kit and pressure test. Way more than I expected but this ain't a cheap hobby! Strangely the socket was installed 180 degress rotated to where it was, meaning the brass locating pin was at the bottom.

It worked well for the 10 or so dives since but then the socket started to rotate when screwing and unscrewing the black plastic locking collar on the sync cord. Apparently the socket must have sustained a knock or I have tightened it up too much (neither of which I am aware of) wrenching the locking pin out of it's hole behind the socket.

The strobe is now holidaying again in Adelaide and I shudder to think what the bill will be.

So that's why I haven't posted many images lately.

Housing handle knob

When you put the housing down it balances precariously on the knob at the bottom of each handle.

I guess these knobs are for attaching accessories to the tray. The handles are secured by a thin nut not the knobs, so I removed them and now the housing sits on the tray base and is much more stable.
The blue covering is heat shrink tube just to cover the sharp thread. One day I may add a second nut just for peace of mind.

I also fixed the slipping control wheel problem.
I pulled off the slipping rubber ring then stuck it back on using thick, strong, foam backed double sided tape. This means the rubber ring now pushes harder on the camera control wheel.

D80 sunburst

Digital cameras generally don't capture sunbursts as well as film cameras. With just a little overexposure you end up with a big ugly cyan blob around the sun.

To get this image I had to reduce exposure as far as possible.

iso 100
1/200th
f/22
Sigma 15mm at 5m depth
Mid morning sun in about 5m horizontal vis.

Brain issue of the day: Just realized that because I wasn't using flash I could have used a shorter shutter speed. Fool!

Housing issue: The dial that operates the front control wheel has started sliding across the wheel rather than turning it. Will have to give the rubber ring more grip somehow.

New year, great vis

Well it's 2008 and so far the diving has been excellent. Vis has been better than average everywhere so I've been giving the Sigma 15mm quite a go.

I've also changed the colour mode from Vivid to Custom (sRGB 3a and normal saturation). Looking back at some of my earlier shots I realized that they looked a little too saturated, now they are looking more natural.

Popes Eye photos

Ripview Classic Swim 2007

This has nothing to do with the D80 but it is ocean related.

I competed in my first ocean swim today. 1.4km (current assisted) from The Springs to Pt Lonsdale with about 1200 swimmers.
My goals were first to make the distance and second not to come last. Even though I wore the wrong brand of wetsuit and goggles I achieved both and even picked up the pace after the halfway buoy and passed a few of my fellow 44 - 49 age Black Cap Masters.

I staggered back onto the beach in 23min with the leaders doing it in just over 14 min. Even got to ID a few fish along the way.

Next year I move into the Grand Masters 50 - 55 group.

Coolpix 5000 in the surf

My nephew Caleb's class teacher wanted some shots of their surf class and I was volunteered. I thought that surf was not the place for my precious D80 with it's push and clip port system, so the cheaper and more robustly housed Coolpix was dusted off and charged up.

I fitted the wide adapter and screwed on the dome port, set the focus manually to 2m, the exposure to Aperture priority f/8 for max depth of field and the ISO to 200 for shorter shutter speeds and the shutter release to high speed continuous. I could take 3 or 4 shots in quick sequences as the kids stood up on waves.

The day was very grey and dull with poor surf but the results were great. I smeared saliva on the dome port to reduced water drops but that produced some patchy blurring. May have been better to dip the camera under between shots.

This is an example of downgrading to get the results.

Coogee Wreck and Castle Rock

I was invited to dive on Freediver, Alan Beckhurst and Mary Malloy's excellent dive boat.

Surface conditions were not inviting at all with up to 20kn SW and rain on the forcast. There was a nasty short steep swell with wind chop making the heads quite exciting.

I used the 18 -55mm kit lens because I didn't know where we were diving. Should have used the 15mm FE in the wonderful blue 15 to 20m vis.

Many of my wide shots were underexposed using 1/60th and f/8 at ISO200 but salvagable. Could have increased the ISO and aperture maybe.

Camera issue of the day: At 32m I found one of the buttons was stuck down preventing any speed or aperture changes. I was probably a little narced so it took a while before I found the offender and freed it up. That was the main reason for underexposed images.

Technical issues on the Tassie trip

Had no problems with the D80 and my lens choices were perfect. Just the 60mm macro and 15mm fisheye.
But how to store and backup 10 days worth of images. I considered buying more SD cards, an image storage device or an iPod/camera connector but found that basic laptops are so cheap these days that there was the obvious solution.
I bought an HP Compaq C710 for $750 and with the current $150 HP cashback that made it $600. It only has 512 RAM but that was fine for saving images and running Photoshop Elements 2.0. The laptop became hot property after each dive as everyone gathered round to view images.

I found Vista to be a very nice, almost Mac like OS. This PC wont be connected to the net. On return I slotted in 2GB RAM for $130 and it runs better than my iMac 20" G5 now.

Now here's a list of gear problems on the trip:
Virg's Aladin Sport wrist computer went "ERR" - meaning Trevor had to borrow one from the dive shop.
Leaking drysuit chest valve - got wet thermal tshirt and jocks every dive. Drysuit needs valve overhaul.
Leaking Inon Z220 strobe socket - now realize this has been going on for a while so the strobe is getting the socket replaced at Sea Optics for $88 plus labour
Port o-ring sucked into the housing - after opening the rear door on the boat to switch back to autofocus. Glad I saw this as it would have meant a severe flood. So didn't take the camera in for this dive at Waterfall Bay split and enjoyed it so much I called this my best dive ever.

Eaglehawk Neck - Tasman Peninsula

After Bicheno we traveled down the east coast to Eaglehawk Neck dive centre to link up with the taxonomists.

The diving here was on spectacular walls beneath towering cliffs and in enormous caves and splits. Big swells and surge are the norm and sites had to be carefully selected by Mick the skipper.

We found numerous new nudis, hydroids and pycnos and had a wonderful 6 days.

The accomodation was a bit cramped and basic with a big group but the spectacular diving made up for it. The dive lodge needs more cupboards and benches and that Tongtel TV needs to be dumped. Oh, and the electricals need an upgrade to stop the regular circuit breaks whenever the fridge started up.

Even though we were only 1hr from Hobart there was no Optus or 3 mobile coverage but Telstra mobile still worked.

Photos here.

Bicheno Tasmania

Well I'm finally getting organized and have some images to show.
Just from Bicheno at this stage, Eaglehawk Neck to come.

Bicheno is a small fishing village on Tasmania's mid east coast with spectacular rocky coastline and kelp covered boulders underwater.

Water temp was around 14c and the weather was a perfect 20c most days with cool nights. We were woken nightly by noisy male fairy penguins returning to the nests, some of which were in our front garden.

Saw mother and calf humpback whales swimming only a few hundred meters off the beach.

Sometimes we were diving in a thick soup of salps and comb jellies.

Photos here.

Back from Tasmania trip

Just returned on the ferry this morning from 10 days diving in Tasmania.

We split the trip into 4 days at Bicheno, just myself, Trevor Mc and Richard M,

then another 6 days on the Tasman Peninsula at Eaglehawk Neck Dive linking up with Jan Watson (hydroid taxonomist), Bob Burn (nudibranch taxonomist) and Dave Staples (pycnogonid taxonomist).

Right now I'm tired to the core, have no clean clothes and have to go to work in about an hour so that's it until I can sort out some images.

Oceanic Shadow frameless mask

I've been keen to find the best mask for looking through the viewfinder and settled on the Oceanic Shadow after asking here.

This comparison shows the problem, you can't see the whole frame when composing the shot. Even without a mask this is about as much as you see. So you need a mask that does not make it worse by placing your eye too far from the eyepiece.

My Mares X Vision is a very comfortable wide view mask but the glass slopes forward at the top (to give better down view when diving) which puts your eye to far away.
My old Oceanic mask was better but has a deepish frame in front of the glass which clashes with the knobs and protrusions on the back of the housing.
The Oceanic frameless has a lower profile silicon rubber lip in front of the glass and one big wide glass lens. This means the you can put the glass right on to the eyepiece and even move around a bit to take in the whole frame. The black silicon blocks out light from the sides also. Mask photos here.

18 to 55mm kit lens

Conditions were good enough to give this lens a decent tryout. Blairgowie marina is a site where you can spend hours underwater being shallow but choc full of macro life.

As this collection shows it is a quite useful closeup and mid wide lens and works well enough with the 6" dome. The aperture sequence shows that at f/5.6 and f/8 the extreme edges are very soft but smaller apertures give acceptable results.

Camera issue of the day: Occasionally the image does not show on the screen immediately after shutter release. The image has been saved but for some reason doesn't appear automatically. I suspect it's actually a second very underexposed frame recorded due to my holding the shutter down for longer than necessary. Maybe I need to set the shutter to single shot.

Cottage wide angle

Strong northerlies, 30c, nothin else to do. Let's go to Cottage by the sea Reef.

Swell was up a bit and vis was bad at 3m, and slack was late so we had a bit of current to battle at first.

Didn't expect any decent shots but by putting the strobes out as far as they could go and keeping them well behind the port, backscatter wasn't too bad a problem. Photos here.

Also there is much less sand in the water under the ledges.

FIX LED mini focusing light.

Ordered one of these from Yuzo last week and it arrived yesterday. Cant believe how good the service is from this business.

Anyway I made up a bracket to fit the Ikelite arm extention and took it for a dive at St Leonards. Vis was, you guessed it, bad again at 2-3m. Photos here.

This little light, which takes 4 AAAs not AAs like it says in the blurb, is bright enough for night macro and sped up the autofocus under the darker sections of the pier. The D80 handles low light levels very well but the light just made it better. The light also momentarily switches off when the flash fires so does not affect exposure.

Wide angle settings 15mm Fisheye - Cottage Reef

Strong N wind and early high slack meant Cottage was the site for today's dive. Cottage must be dived when the tide is ebbing. The flood tide creates dangerously strong current here.

The water was flat enough but vis was bad due to continuing strong winds which stir up the bay. However it was a beautiful warm sunny day so there was no stopping Trevor and I.

With wide angle you can open up the aperture to about f/8 - f/16 and still have heaps of depth of field. Camera shake is less of a problem so slower shutter speeds like 1/30th - 1/90th can be used.

All of this means lighter sunlit backgrounds and water can be captured. You have more scope to balance the background exposure with the flash lit subject in the foreground.

Ideally you need good vis for wide angle so today was a struggle.
Strobes need to be placed further out from the lens to avoid backscatter. Not many keepers from this dive.

Issue of the day was .... loading the camera into the housing with the shutter release lever rotated 180 deg. This meant the shutter could not be operated. Had to pull the camera out and rotate the lever into the correct position. Lucky I tested it before leaving home.

Macro settings - St Leonards

St Leonards Pier. Strong off shore (W-NW) meant flat water and good vis for a change. New buddy John Mc checked the vis earlier and gave the thumbs up.

It was a real nudi finding day with 6 different species and one of them new to me, some sort of Polycera maybe. Have a look here.

The 60mm lens aperture can stop down to f/32, way smaller than the Coolpix f/8. This means much more flash power is needed. To increase flash power I have removed the diffusers from the Inons and turned them up to -2 or -3. With the Coolpix I was struggling with too much power at the minimum -5 power setting even with diffusers.

My standard macro settings are 1/125 sec, f/22, ISO 200, WB Auto.
To lighten the background water I might use 1/60th and for really dark subjects I'll increasing the strobe power.