Comments for Underwater Photography Guide

Comment on Underwater Settings for the Sony RX 100 by florini

florini — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 17:32:31 +0000

thanks
This kind of articles about specific cameras are great, I'm going to Cozumel with my brand new RX100 MkII and this is just what I needed. I'll post pics when I return :) keep up the good work!

Comment on Canon S90/S95/S100 G11/G12 Settings by tysonroy

tysonroy — Sat, 07 Dec 2013 11:29:35 +0000

I am trying to get crisper
I am trying to get crisper photos and less blue. I've read numerous posts but typically end up confused. So I'm looking for a simple way to get better photos, but still be able to take video. music weather widgets for android

Comment on Sipadan History and Upcoming Underwater Camera Ban by elasmobranch

elasmobranch — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 18:12:26 +0000

Sipadan
I would like, just as an aside, to correct Travis Ball on some of the points he refers to in his article as it is a little inaccurate.
So just to set the record straight. I was one of the partners of a dive business on Sipadan, we owned the last dive business to go onto Sipadan back in 1995. The time span for the closure of Sipadan and the reasons for it’s closure that Mr.Ball states are wrong.
I was part of the group of dive businesses that fought tooth and nail to prevent Sipadan from being closed and losing our considerable investment.
The Malaysian govt first made moves to kick off all the dive businesses in 1998 or 99. High ups in the Malaysia with connections to the govt had set their heart on what they saw as the vast profits to be made by the ‘gold mine’ of the diving business.
It is true that there was some environmental damage happening both on the island itself and to the reefs. But this was not the reason the Malay govt wanted everyone off.
First there was damage to the natural water table on the island. Too many tourists, sometimes over 400 per day, were then visiting the island at the six dive shops. This seriously affected the fresh water supply and sea water began to encroach into the water table turning the fresh water slightly brackish. One dive shop had the ‘bright’idea of installing an RO system on their well to get clean potable water for showers and drinking water but they pumped the ‘dirty’ salinated water from the filtration system back into the land thus making the fresh water table even more brackish.
Not much damage was occurring to the corals, made by divers, but there was some, the main damage to the marine life was the uncontrolled fishing done by local Baja tribes people and fishermen from Semporna and Tawau. The corals were more damaged by Bumphead wrasse eating the hard ones and turtles eating the soft ones.
In 1997 the forest fires on Borneo proper started and this ‘haze’ seriously affected tourism. This was followed in April 2000 by Filipino muslim terrorists kidnapping a bunch of divers and staff from our resort and another nearby resort. We were the resorts nearest to the pier.
The first move, after the kidnappings, by the Malay govt was force the 6 rival dive shops to form a condominium so that they could deal with the whole as one group. This was done, with considerable difficulty, by the foreign owners that spoke fluent Malay.
Next they reduced the the number of dive guests to 300 per day then a 6 or nine months later to 180 per day. Then a ban on foreign dive instructors and DMs working on the island was put into place. Basically they hoped that this would force the majority of businesses off the island as they all had a lot of none Malaysian DMs and instructors. When everyone hung in there they then reduced the divers from 180 to 120 and banned foreign nationals from working on the island all together. This included a number of Filipinos working as maids, cooks and boat boys.
The haze and the kidnappings were nails in the proverbial coffin. Anyhow the Malay govt eventually forced everyone off the island in 2002 not 2004 as the article above states. All the dive shop owners lost their investments. We were all forced to dismantle our dive shops and cottages and restaurants and remove everything from the island and no compensation was offered by the Malay govt whatsoever. Our guest longhouse was commandeered by the Malay army and police as accommodation for their men.
The whole island closed to divers for a couple of years while the ‘high ups’ in Malaysia tried to make moves on it. However all the dive shop owners were mightily angry about this and made a huge fuss in the media and to their connections, the Datuks in Sabah.
We made so many protestations to the Malay govt in Sabah and mainland Malaysia that the ‘high ups’ and their cronies in mainland Malaysia were unable to take over the island. The Malay govt thus, magnanimously, made Sipadan into a marine park and a protected area.
Although all the owners were bitter about the closing down of the island and the way it was done, with the hindsite I believe this was a good thing for Sipadan and the marine environment, as well as the nesting turtles and the Nicobar pigeons. Despite the fact that we all lost tens of thousands of US dollars of our investment.
As for banning divers taking U/W photos I don’t really think it’s such a big deal. I have had hundreds of dives around Sipadan and I never took any photos, but I have a life time of memories.
People who want to see the wonder of Sipadan will go, they can take photos elsewhere. Mabul or the old Oil Rig for example. When you have your eyes focused entirely through your camera you miss a great deal of the awesome beauty of Sipadan anyway.
Keep going to Sipadan, it is awesome diving, you will not regret going there.

Comment on Fascinating Fluoro Photography by miles_away_

miles_away_ — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 13:10:44 +0000

Fluro Video
Fluro Diving with a video camera can also yield some fantastic results. The video below was shot on just one dive. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcEu5AGPSEM

Comment on Pacific Northwest by dpcoburn

dpcoburn — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 04:20:45 +0000

I would recommend the
I would recommend the Rendezvous Lodge and God's Pocket when diving off of Vancouver Island. Great accomadations with even better diving!

Comment on Sony RX-100 II Review, Specs & Photos by interceptor121

interceptor121 — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 17:46:36 +0000

Hi Scott
I would agree this
Hi Scott
I would agree this is not a major upgrade but between the base ISO of 125 for the original RX100 and the 160 of the M2 there is only 1/3 of a f-stop so really not much
On the RX100 you could shoot ISO80 in RAW and now you can shoot ISO100 really not much difference to say this is bad news
On the movie side the 24p is very welcome and will make using this camera for video a breeze
I have one on order and I should have it in a few weeks

Comment on SeaLife DC1400 Review by angrybadger

angrybadger — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 21:11:51 +0000

Save your money and buy a
Save your money and buy a higher quality product. Sea Life cameras are not very high quality and they offer no service outside of their warranty. Our's failed with less than 100 dives. We followed all the service recommendations and the camera was never flooded or dropped. It just stopped recognizing sim cards. The really bad part about Sea Life is that they offer no long term service for their products. By the time you buy a camera, strobes and unique accessories you have a substantial investment for a product that can not be serviced and is not very high quality. Ikelite will service their products and you are much better off buying one of their housings with a quality camera.

Comment on Muck Diving by Bethany Coldham

Bethany Coldham — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 04:50:52 +0000

My friends and I loves to
My friends and I loves to dive and we are now planning to visit this diving place you shared as we finish here in cebu diving club for few days.

Comment on Best Dive Destinations in the World by Katelynmead

Katelynmead — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 06:18:00 +0000

Since I am from California,

Since I am from California, I've been to Diving Catalina Island in California which I enjoyed so much watching those colorful living creature during our underwater adventure. I really had fun capturing them.

Comment on Acquapazza Sony RX100 Housing Review by sipadiver

sipadiver — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:11:40 +0000

Looks good. How does it
Looks good. How does it compare to the RecSea and Nauticam housing (Sony RX100) ? YMC