Dumaguete Loving

[ssra30]

Well, if Sea and Sea delivers as promised, I should have my housing sometimes this week for my D70. I have been using it quite a bit on land just to get used to the camera. Might try the mandarin fish again next month in Lembeh Strait. Beside Dumaguette, I also tried to get a shot with my Oly in Mabul, Malaysia but never had any luck. Hopefully with the 80-170mm lens, I will have better luck.
I was told that if you put some red gel or whatever to make the focusing light red, it will not bother the mandarin fish very much and they will not shy away from your camera/light as much.

 

[Natasha]

I'm so glad I found this thread.
Fantastic shots!
Thanks for sharing them.

 

[marpacifica]

Karl,

I used a Nikon 105 mm for the macro and most fish shots. Shot only a few underwater with the Nikon 12-24 DX, mostly b/c vis was poor and I liked photographing the small critters. I don't have a focus light so had to rely on my buddy to illuminate things on the night dive. Those are the only lenses I have. Sometimes I wanted a mid-size lens, but I prefer the 105 b/c it is really sharp and if I need a fish shot I just back up a bit, lower the f-stop, and give a full dump on the strobes.

Leesa and Natasha, glad you liked the shots. I had a great time taking them.

Ssra, I heard the same thing about the red filter. You can also cover the flashlight beam with your fingers to let only a small sliver of light through, and that didn't bother the mandarins. That's what we did, but of course you'll need to have a cooperative buddy for that. I found the mandarin fish at Atlantis house reef much easier to approach than the ones at Sam's in Palau. I think it helped that we were there at the right time of the month -- just after the full moon.

 

[ssra30]

I don't remember what time of the month I was there but it was nowhere near full moon since I remembered that it was very dark after 6pm and beside a few lights at the resort, it was absolutely pitch black all around. All I remembered was seeing several mandarinfish darting in and out of the coral. It was a bit frustrating with the Oly setup. My dive buddy used a Nikon F90 (I think) and thought he nailed it since he found one mandarinfish out in the open and it was actually motionless for a good half a minute. He pressed the shutter released button continuously and got a good 15-20 shots off but forgot that the YS90 strobe did not recycle fast enough so most of his pictures came out completely black :-(

I also just heard from my Sea and Sea dealer that my housing is now at the airport's custom and they will pick it up today. Hopefully I will have my housing tomorrow just in time for my quick weekend trip this coming weekend.

 

[marpacifica]

"He pressed the shutter released button continuously and got a good 15-20 shots off but forgot that the YS90 strobe did not recycle fast enough so most of his pictures came out completely black :-("

Funny, but I ran into the same problem during my whole trip. Thought I had a good shot then when I checked it was black as tar. Which strobes do you use? I'm thinking about getting the Inon Z220 with the focus light.

"I also just heard from my Sea and Sea dealer that my housing is now at the airport's custom and they will pick it up today. Hopefully I will have my housing tomorrow just in time for my quick weekend trip this coming weekend."

Who says you can't have more than one birthday per year? You must be really excited. Please post photos as soon as you can. I think you'll be one of the first with a housed D70 on this or any other board.

Best regards

 

[ssra30]

I have an Ikelite DS125 which I like very much. The second one also just arrived and is waiting to be cleared by custom. Needless to say, with the new strobe and housing, I am absolutely broke this month :-(
At this rate, it probably should count as a birthday, Chrismas and New Year combined (over here we have the advantage of celebrating Thai, Chinese and Jan 1st New Year so we get quite a few New Year per year).

At full dump, the Ikelite will recycle in 1s. The
D70 in sequential mode will do 3 fps for 4 frames, once the buffer is full, it will shoot at about 1fps which is just about the right speed for the Ikelite. 2 of my divebuddies are going to use the Inon Z220 with their new D70/Sea and Sea housing.

I think someone on wetpixel had already beaten me to posting underwater pictures with D70, using Ikelite housing.

 

[adshepard]

Some wonderful shots there. Particularly like that frogfish. Gallery is outstanding!

DSDO

Alan

 

[chippy]

Great pics Marlo, I especially like the moray, fabulous lighting!!!

 

[reefwreck]

Very nice images ! I really like the Juv. Red Frogfish. The sharp focus on the lure is awesome.

I was in Dumaguete in early May and I think I actually recognize many of those same fish! I did most of my dives with Glenn who is an awesome critter finder !

The Mandarinfish dive for me was probably a once in a lifetime experience, but like SSRA30, I came away with only one lousy shot. The Atlantis rules, as explained to me, were that a photo could only be taken once the Mandarinfish reached the Apex (climax?) of their dance. Too bad, because I probably could have taken about half a dozen clear shots of single Mandarinfish looking for a mate. Nevertheless, it was still an awesome experience.
Cheers.

 

[marpacifica]

Alan, Chippy, and Reefwreck, thanks for the praise. It was my first time to see baby frogfish and that was a treat. I saw a volleyball size black giant frogfish on my first trip and on this trip, but its color just sucked up light and I couldn't get a good shot for the life of me. Chippy, the moray was actually a little guy, no more than an inch in diameter. With the 105 mm he looks huge. His mouth was thumbnail size when open. I was really pleased with the lighting that a single strobe gave for macro shots -- gave depth and shadows. Well, actually, I got there by accident b/c one of my strobes I didn't set up right one time and was forced to get by with the other, with pleasant results. RW, yes, Glenn is the master of macro. And if your avatar is the "one lousy shot" you mentioned, that's one heck of a lousy shot! I wasn't aware of the Atlantis rule on photographing the mandarins at the apex only. Nobody ever told me about or said anything when I was taking shots of some of them cruising the staghorns for mates.