Nov. 5, 2008 Ogden Point photos

[MarkH]

breakwater7

 

[CLEAR BLUE]

Very nice pictures!

 

[DaleC]

Swanky I've gotta tell you, I'm impressed.
I've been looking through your webspace for a while now both because I like your photos and the layout. A couple of Q's if you don't mind.
1. What format is the web page. Is it a blog, a free webspace or have you paid for it? I have a Blogspace but I can't get it to look like that.
2. What type of camera do you use. I like the quality. I'm looking to buy a quality camera and am debating which one or whether to go for video instead. Interested in your thoughts.
3. When you are taking those shots from the side with you in the frame are you extending your arm and shooting back on yourself. If you are I find it interesting how there is the perception of greater distance.
Anyways, Good stuff. Thanks for sharing.
Dale.

 

[MarkH]

1. What format is the web page. Is it a blog, a free webspace or have you paid for it? I have a Blogspace but I can't get it to look like that.
2. What type of camera do you use. I like the quality. I'm looking to buy a quality camera and am debating which one or whether to go for video instead. Interested in your thoughts.
3. When you are taking those shots from the side with you in the frame are you extending your arm and shooting back on yourself. If you are I find it interesting how there is the perception of greater distance.
Anyways, Good stuff. Thanks for sharing.
Dale.

Thanks for the comments.
Answers: 1) The program I use to create the pages is called "Webdwarf". It's an older program you can download for free. I don't know much HTML code, but you don't need to use it with this program. It's pretty straightforward. There are lots of features on it I don't know how to use, but I like to keep my site simple anyway (no flashy graphics or animations, etc.). I use Awardspace as my hosting site. They have paid packages available, but I use the free hosting package. This is one of the only companies I know of that doesn't force you to put their ads all over the free sites. Many of the free hosting companies really try to screw with your site to try and get you to upgrade to a paid hosting package, but Awardspace has left everything alone. I'll probably upgrade to a paid package with them soon for some extra space and to "reward" them for being surprisingly ethical.

2) I use a Canon Rebel XT digital SLR. The pictures from more than 2 years ago were taken with an old, manual Minolta film SLR and a 17mm lens or a Nikonos III with extension tubes for macro. On my "new" Rebel XT, I use a manual 16mm fisheye lens made by Zenitar (Russian or Ukranian? company) for wide-angle. On an old film camera or a full-frame digital slr, this lens would give you a 180-degree view, but since the sensor of my (and most) digital SLRs is smaller, the lens only gives me a 90-degree-or-so view, which isn't really as wide as I'd like. It only cost $120 (compared to $800 or so for a proper wide angle lens) so I'll use it for now. For the close-up pictures I use either a Canon 50mm lens with close-up filters or the kit lens that came with the camera since it can focus so close. These lenses cost around $100 compared to a real macro lens which would be about $500. The strobes are various $10-20 E-bay finds or home made contraptions. You may have realized by now that I'm pretty cheap. My camera housing is an old Ikelite SLR housing that was $35 on E-bay. The proper housing for my camera from Ikelite would be about $1600. So I guess if I was to buy my underwater setup like a normal person, it would run about $7000, but being cheap, I scrounged it together for about $1000 including the camera and lenses. As for video, I used to use one quite a bit (I posted a bunch on Scubaboard years ago), but for some reason, I prefer still photos. I don't know why.

3) The photos with me hovering in the background were taken using a timer (about 10 seconds). The ones with me closer up were taken with me just holding the camera out and pointed towards me. The wide-angle lens does make everything seem farther away. This can make the visibility seem much better than it actually was.

I'd better get going now or I'll miss the slack at 10-Mile.

 

[DaleC]

Thank's for the excellent reply. I too am cheap (though I prefer the term "frugal") and usually look at a piece of gear and wonder if I can build it myself or get away with used. Perhaps it's just being Scottish?
I am planning to head over to Vic in the new year to do the breakwater. I'll give you a heads up and may be if it works out we can do a dive.

Dale.

 

[MarkH]

Sure thing. I'll be gone though for part of Jan. and Feb. Other than that I'll probably be in the water.

 

[askdjasd]

Nice website.
havent been to tuwanek? highly suggest checking it out, sunshine coast.
50-60' vis.

 

[MarkH]

Nice website.
havent been to tuwanek? highly suggest checking it out, sunshine coast.
50-60' vis.

I'd like to get out to the mainland more, but with the ferries, it's cheaper for me to take a boat charter to Race Rocks or the Nanaimo wrecks than to do a single shore dive at Porteau or Whytecliff. It's a bit of a mental barrier for me.

 

[r2t]

Mark anytime you what to come over to the mainland for the weekend let me know, your more then welcome to stay with us.