G9 in Bonaire

[Mel Moncrieff]

just got back from a week in Bonaire with my G9 and Ikelite housing and dual 125 Ike strobes. I got this package to do TTL and the TTL did not work. I called Ike and they said to loosen the screws on the back of the TTL box because sometimes wires get pinched. I did that, and it worked for a while, then cut out again, and I could never get it to work. However, the strobes did work well on manual and I got quite a few shots that I liked:
http://www.pbase.com/mtmel44/bonaire_6-08&page=all
However, not having TTL and having to adjust the strobes made me miss some great opportunities. With regards to the LCD and battery life, I found that my camera would run out of power on the 3rd dive and when you're diving all day and don't want to have to crack open the housing, this can be a little bit of a problem. My solution: I set the image stabilization and autofocus to only work when shooting--this causes a little bit of a delay in start-up but seems to help, and I don't try to take a picture of everything that swims by (probably a good habit anyway

Mel

 

[diverrex]

Great photos Mel. Looks like you saw a variety of morays, and more of them than just their head poking out. Aside from the ttl issue what are your impressions of the G9 and Ikelite housing? I'm still considering the G9/Ike upgrade. I really like the small size and ease of use of my Canon housing for my A620 but feel limited by not being able to add a WA lens. What lens did you find yourself using the most?

 

[kerryw]

Hmm I'd almost bet the frogfish was on Mi Dushi...

Nice photos

Kerry

 

[Mel Moncrieff]

Hey Rex:

Haven't we been diving together at Santa Barbara Island? I like the G9 a lot, and on this trip I used the Ikelite wide angle lens the whole time I was out. I thought about trying to focus on macro, and will do so at least part of the time on future trips, but I really enjoyed having wide angle capabilities for the first time. The pictures from the G9 with 12 megapixel reveal details within details. Many of my shots, especially since I was using the wide angle lens, were cropped before I posted them, and still had plenty of detail to make nice prints.

On the other side of the equation, the rig is expensive and heavy, and, so far at least the TTL is not reliable. If my TTL gets fixed, and works the way it's supposed to, I would give this setup a definite thumbs up, but if not, I'd look into getting one of the Olympus cameras that has wide angle capability and costs a lot less.

Mel

 

[diverrex]

Thanks for the info Mel. I know that there are a lot of G9 fans out there, but it's good to hear a perspective from someone I know and trust. I think I could live without ttl, I'm really getting used to adjusting my flash manually. But I really want WA and RAW, so I'm trying to figure out the best way to get that.

 

[Adriaan557]

Awesome photos Mel!!! Bonaire is definately on my list!

 

[Mel Moncrieff]

Thanks Adriaan, your photos were awesome--I especially liked the blue-spotted ray.

Mel