Morrison Springs dive report and pics 7/28/09

[SeaYoda]

Bill - Using spotfocus or centerweight? Seems like the camera would pick up if you used center spot focus and just shined a bright light directly at the camera from the opposite side fo the cavern, plenty of contrast for the focus motor to detect.

I use center spot all the time. I'm not sure how the camera would react to focusing on a light shined toward it. I've tried the autofocus in the cavern with your dive lights pointed at something and unless I zoom in it has a hard time. Same thing happens in chunky, bland Gulf water - it hunts focus and sometimes doesn't lock. The old 5050 would lock on something pretty easy but you never knew what it was going to pick . I'll give the direct shine a try on the next run.

 

[Puffer Fish]

I use center spot all the time. I'm not sure how the camera would react to focusing on a light shined toward it. I've tried the autofocus in the cavern with your dive lights pointed at something and unless I zoom in it has a hard time. Same thing happens in chunky, bland Gulf water - it hunts focus and sometimes doesn't lock. The old 5050 would lock on something pretty easy but you never knew what it was going to pick . I'll give the direct shine a try on the next run.

Don't think that will work...I've seen the manual focus done by first doing a series of test shots in bright lighting underwater, and then marking what setting = what distance. The other option is to divide the total travel up into segments and just take one at every step.

Also for lighting...use a bunch of strobes... you can borrow mine for a starter..just daisy chain them together.. allows for some really neat lighting effects. Have not done it in years, but the neatest is to put the strobes all the way over against the walls, so the flash does not produce any backscatter...learned it from a national geo photographer many years ago.

Oh, and what chunky bland gulf water?

 

[SeaYoda]

...Oh, and what chunky bland gulf water?

Sorry, must have been another Gulf .

The dome port and virtual image is what is making this hard. The dark of the cavern is the other issue. If I can light up enough of the cavern at the right distance, I can get an autofocus shot and switch to manual to lock it in. I'll be at F11 so it will be difficult to get a distant patch light enough to autofocus on. The next best chance is in OW if there is enough light. I think I can set the shutter speed longer to "fool" the sensor. I don't care if there is motion blur in the shot since I'm just trying to set focus not take an actual picture. Time to experiment is what I really need!

 

[Puffer Fish]

Sorry, must have been another Gulf .

The dome port and virtual image is what is making this hard. The dark of the cavern is the other issue. If I can light up enough of the cavern at the right distance, I can get an autofocus shot and switch to manual to lock it in. I'll be at F11 so it will be difficult to get a distant patch light enough to autofocus on. The next best chance is in OW if there is enough light. I think I can set the shutter speed longer to "fool" the sensor. I don't care if there is motion blur in the shot since I'm just trying to set focus not take an actual picture. Time to experiment is what I really need!

Your best bet on doing that is to move the lights all the way to the wall and then light it up.. the light will only have to travel half as far. Also, if you have a large black and white target to focus on, that also helps a lot.

A nice roll of fiber optic cable should do the trick with strobes then. Just checked, looks like fiber optic cable goes for around .20 -.30 per meter....so 40.00 would get you two cables around 30 ft long.

 

[Fox-Cousteau]

My son and I will be in the area on Thursday (8-13) I'm cavern cert, he is a cavern student. are you interested in joining us at Morrison? I dove it in 1990 but haven't been back since. It will be nice to see the changes since then.

 

[Wogs]

Did my 4th and last OW cert dive there today. The visibility was crappy until you dropped to the platform....once you are in the drop down its crystal clear, but there is basically a wall of muddy water all around the hole. Kind of boring after diving the jettis in Destin yesterday haha

 

[SeaYoda]

My son and I will be in the area on Thursday (8-13) I'm cavern cert, he is a cavern student. are you interested in joining us at Morrison? I dove it in 1990 but haven't been back since. It will be nice to see the changes since then.

I've got to work and Puffer doesn't live in the area so you might want to post a thread in the trip section to see if anyone else is available.