Bonaire bound...any last tips?

[Jetwrench]

My gear:
Sony DSC-P10 w/sony housing, u/w filter. No ext. strobe or lenses. Simple as that.

Knowledge review:
Have read the manual, played with the camera topside, and have a basic feel for the manual setting options and what "not" to do. Limited u/w experience with camera(all previous shots w/auto mode). Still an infant at this.

The trip:
Two weeks in Bonaire with my buddy, Tom. Dive til we drop, have a cup of coffee and a deep breath, then do it all over again.

The plan:
No holding up my buddy and make him bored while I fire off pic after pic. How RUDE is that! Go after creatures I have yet to capture and get as many shots with different settings as I can. MWB is limited to a menu(no cal. option), so I'll just play with ISO/macro/flash/...etc. Enjoying each dive comes first, photos come second.

Why this post:
Now youz guyz and galz get to add your 2 cents for suggestions and advice so I can go down there armed with more knowledge than I have . All replies are welcome and encouraged, especially those with experience w/Sony cameras. I gotta believe the quality shooters on this board will have some input. :god:

Dive Safe!

Jetwrench

 

[herman]

1. Get a lot closer to your subjects than you think you should.
2. Shoot LOTs, I found myself in film mode being very careful what I shot to save "film"
3. Take me with you. I will carry equipment and find stuff to shoot.

Have fun, I can't wait to get back myself.

If you are not taking a Laptop, take some blank CD's. You can rent some computer time and down load them at the Chat and Browse by Sand Dollar to free up your cards.

 

[Gilligan]

Have a safe trip and take lots of photos.

 

[Jetwrench]

1. Get a lot closer to your subjects than you think you should.
2. Shoot LOTs, I found myself in film mode being very careful what I shot to save "film"
3. Take me with you. I will carry equipment and find stuff to shoot.

Have fun, I can't wait to get back myself.

If you are not taking a Laptop, take some blank CD's. You can rent some computer time and down load them at the Chat and Browse by Sand Dollar to free up your cards.

I know Micheal at Chat and Browse and he says he can take care of me no problem. I'm a little wary of it though because one of my buddies lost several pics while downloading them there. Micheal never did find them in his puter.

 

[Cecil]

Agree with above but have a lot of experience with a Sony so I'll stick to that advice. My last trip I lost a whole stick of pictures with Jake's help (my fault though), so don't be to hard on Michael.

I have a DSC-P5, your's should be very similiar. Make sure you have a lanyard as the Sonys are slightly negative. You do not want your last view of your camera being it sinking into the deep at Karpata. On this note most shots are at arm's length so make sure it's long enough.

The settings I use are as follows, Flash on low (anything else is to hot), macro on (be ready to toggle), and all other settings on auto. You can preview UW and if you then hit the zoom you can zoom in on the last shot to check the focus.

Make sure you seal the camera in an air conditioned room and be very carefull with cleaning the o-ring. Make sure the LCD is set to full information mode (you can not toggle in the case). Do not use the anti-fog solution (the only time I used it the camera fogged for the whole dive). The other issue is to minimize how long the camera is left on UW, this will cause fogging from the heat. My procedure is to turn it on, take the shot turn it off, and slip back under my BC strap.

Don't stress about keeping up with your partner, two reasons, one it will make him slow down which is the way to go in Bonaire and two you can always catch up with the great visibility you will see him.

When you get back and have all those wonderful pictures there will be a lot more work in post precessing. You will be amazed how a bad picture can be make great. Here's a tip I wrote for this.

Editing Tip

Best of luck and make sure you show us the shots. I love Bonaire.

 

[Cecil]

I forgot a couple of things, one is that red filter is not very usefull and will probably hurt more than help. To get you in the mood, here's a Bonaire Slideshow from last year with a Sony.

Slideshow

Download from this site, fairly big (19 megs) and will not work on a Mac.

 

[herman]

No fair Cecil, that Slideshow is pure torture. PBD baddddd.

 

[louisianadiver]

My advice: Think small. Most of Bonaire's best subjects are miniatures, and you should be set up for macro on most dives. Look for orange-ball corallimorphs at depths of 30-45 feet beneath overhangs at least an hour after the sun sets. The gallery at http://claycoleman.tripod.com/id78.htm was mostly taken at the house reefs in front of Buddy Dive (and Habitat on Curacao), and the gallery at "more Bonaire" was from the Buddy Dive/Lions Dive/Habitat house reef just a few weeks ago. Have a blast. -Clay

 

[Jetwrench]

Thank you Cecil. I'll be playing in macro but didn't know to turn dowm the flash. Good info. As far as Micheal goes, I'd never be hard on him. He's good people. Also, I've heard the filter is mostly useless so I'll just shoot a few pics with and without so I can compare results. What I have noticed with the P10 is even in macro the focal length is still quite far away from the subject compared to other cameras, so I'm going to concentrate on that and maybe use a little zoom(not too much) to try and compensate. Thanks to all for your comments! Every little bit helps.

Jet

 

[NevadaM]

Cecil,

In your "sharpening 101" document, there is a picture from the Polebridge Mercentile. You're the first person I know of who might even know where that is. I've driven by it, (but doubt I could find it now). Pretty neat place if I remember right. Hasn't changed much from the mid-70's.

I'm headed for Bonaire in December. I use an Oly C750 with the PT-018 housing. Last trip I just used Auto or Action modes. This time I'm going to learn more about setting the WB and see if that does any better. I also want to learn more about adjusting photos with software later. I don't have Adobe, but have a version of Print Master and Print Shop. Maybe they will work, or the Camedia software that came with the camera.

I appreciate your input on taking UW digital pix.

Nevada

Agree with above but have a lot of experience with a Sony so I'll stick to that advice. My last trip I lost a whole stick of pictures with Jake's help (my fault though), so don't be to hard on Michael.

I have a DSC-P5, your's should be very similiar. Make sure you have a lanyard as the Sonys are slightly negative. You do not want your last view of your camera being it sinking into the deep at Karpata. On this note most shots are at arm's length so make sure it's long enough.

The settings I use are as follows, Flash on low (anything else is to hot), macro on (be ready to toggle), and all other settings on auto. You can preview UW and if you then hit the zoom you can zoom in on the last shot to check the focus.

Make sure you seal the camera in an air conditioned room and be very carefull with cleaning the o-ring. Make sure the LCD is set to full information mode (you can not toggle in the case). Do not use the anti-fog solution (the only time I used it the camera fogged for the whole dive). The other issue is to minimize how long the camera is left on UW, this will cause fogging from the heat. My procedure is to turn it on, take the shot turn it off, and slip back under my BC strap.

Don't stress about keeping up with your partner, two reasons, one it will make him slow down which is the way to go in Bonaire and two you can always catch up with the great visibility you will see him.

When you get back and have all those wonderful pictures there will be a lot more work in post precessing. You will be amazed how a bad picture can be make great. Here's a tip I wrote for this.

Editing Tip

Best of luck and make sure you show us the shots. I love Bonaire.