My 2nd trip with my D70/Sea and Sea housing.

[ssra30]

I just came back from another one day trip with my D70, Sea and Sea DX70, dual Ikelite DS 125 strobes. I used 70-180 macro zoom lens with Nikon 5T diopter and occasional wetmount diopters as well. I think I am getting a bit more familair with the setup. In comparison to my old Oly 5050, Ikelite housing set up, I still occasionally forget to take my eyes away from the viewfinder and check the picture on the LCD monitor for exposure. One good thing for point and shoot camera, there is no need to switch between viewfinder and LCD monitor. I also missed being able to see where the camera and strobes are pointing as my eye is glued to the viewfinder so occasionally the strobes placement is a bit off.

The dive was done at Pattaya, a little over an hour drive from Bangkok. Viz there is usually very poor, and today was especially worse as there were a lot of algae bloom in the water as you can see in some pictures but I guess it is ok for macro.

F22, 1/100s, ISO 200, focal length 95mm

F16, 1/200s, ISO 200, focal lenght 150mm

F16, 1/250s, ISO 200, focal lenght 110mm

 

[justleesa]

WOW! I love the NUDI! How did you spot that one??? (I'm nudi partial....lol)
The others are great too! When does your class start??? I'd sign up in a sec!

 

[Gilligan]

Very clear photos. DSLR is very tempting.

 

[kdietz]

I really like the clarity and sharp focus in the 3rd picture....very nice

Karl

 

[Dee]

Love that last one!

 

[fpoole]

Yeah, the last one is really kewl..
So all in all, you like the set up... I was thinking along the same lines, from an Oly 4040 rig to a D70... and was thinking it might be an "overkill" in trying to learn all the stuff.. but heading towards it... just curious as your overall thoughts.. and on the housing???
Great photos... and I dove Pattaya several times, out a the Blasted Rock?? they said not to pick up the shells, how nice I thought, Conservationist.... but they were talking about Artillary Shells... and sure enough, they were all around...

thanx much..

 

[ssra30]

fpoole, I went from Oly 4040 to 5050 and eventually to D70. It is a good progression, I think rather than and overkill (however it might have been accelerated since I started with C4040 in November 2002). I think once you are comfortable with all the manual setting on the 4040/5050, if you find the extreme a bit too limiting ie super macro or really wide WAL then it might be the time to move on.
As far as Blasted Rock is concerned, I assume it is Koh Rin. Unfortunately it is one of the best site to dive in Pattaya but it belonged to the Thai Navy and it is one of their main site to practice their artillary skill (or whatever it is that they suppose to practice) from their ships. Wish they find some other places to practice instead.

Here is a picture of a Sea Moth also from Pattaya. Never seen it at other places in Thailand beside Koh Sak.
The 70-180 is not quite wide enough. I wished I had a 50mm lens instead as visibility was pretty bad so I did not want to back out too far from the Sea Moth.
One major disadvantage of dSLR, I supposed.

 

[justleesa]

Wow, that one almost looks like a humming bird....cool

 

[fpoole]

As far as Blasted Rock is concerned, I assume it is Koh Rin.

Yes, that's the one.. heheh... kewl dive, but my dive buddy, Boat Assigned, kept picking up the shells..

That pic you have, looks somewhat like an "Elephante Fish" or something like that, only slimmer.. really interesting...

re: 50mm I think I'll start a thread on that, as I'm lost on what lens are what..
Thanx for the pics, looking gooood...

 

[ssra30]

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