Pictures from Cozumel last week

[driftin' by]

Another great trip yielded a few keepers. This was my third trip out with my G9 in Ike housing. Earlier this year I added the DS-125 for our trip to Bonaire. Before this trip, I upgraded my Ike arms for Inon w/ULCS connectors to provide a longer reach and easy adjustment and double handle tray. But most importantly I added an Ike wide angle lens which I shot almost exclusively mainly because I was afraid of dropping it while taking it off in addition to not having a caddy for it. So on my wish list before our next trip is a caddy and a pair of macro lenses and maybe, just maybe, a second strobe.

Aside from some cropping to cut out the black corners caused by not zooming in a bit with the WA lens, no other post processing was applied to these.

This Spotted Drum is my favorite. He was out in the open with a nice back ground as opposed their usual dark cave and he held still for a few breif seconds.

Worked on some sunbursts and this was about the best I could do. Still pretty happy with the results of this Flamingo Tongue.

Could not get this Longsnout Seahorse to sit up straight and proper with the stiff current blowing from behind him but still a cool find in Coz I must say.

Same with this Pipehorse.

Saw a lot of Porcupine Puffers either nesting or sleeping in some turtle grass during a shore dive.

Saw a lot of Splendid Toadfish as well but what would a trip be to Cozumel without seeing one?

Nurse Shark closeup.

Yellow Stingray closeup.

Saw 2 Lesser Electric Rays this trip. Never seen one before.

Scorpionfish

Conch with a cool shell. Which I could get up and under to get the eyes better but I'll settle for some eyes and cool shell.

Best Blenny I got... I really need those stacked macros!

 

[driftin' by]

Continued....

Coney

Lots of Yellow Moray Eels but no Green Moray's this trip.

Of course, a fair share of Tortugas were found.

No shortage of Arrow Crabs either.

Wicked looking Clam.

Finally some more Juvi's in addition to the spotted drum above.
Juvenile French Angelfish.

Juvenile Yellowtail Damselfish.

Finally, what I consider the Holy Grail of all Juvenile fish, the Smooth Trunkfish. My best effort in a killer current on Punta Tunich but far from perfect.

 

[fairybasslet]

Nice shots. You can do shore dives at Fiesta Americana? I was at Scuba Club Cozumel in Feb and they had some pretty nice shore diving.

 

[gypsyjim]

Nice pics! Thanks

 

[driftin' by]

You can do shore dives at Fiesta Americana?

Absolutely, you bet! They drop pod people off at the Money Bar to snorkel the site daily. Not much coral and tons of fish and a dream for a photographer with little current and no DM hurrying you along. The Arrow Crab, Conch, Scopionfish, Damselfish, Blenny and Yellow Stingray above were all taken on the one shore dive we did. There were other great sightings not worth posting including Yellow and White Spotted Eels, Balloonfish and Flounders just to name a few. Granted it was nearly a 2 hour dive but still very diverse and plentiful.

 

[fairybasslet]

Thanks. I'm going to keep that in mind next time I go. To be honest, the shore dive at SCC was less than stellar.

 

[Where2Next]

Great photos! I am feeling even more super excited for our upcoming coz trip! Thanks for sharing.

 

[deeper thoughts]

very nice

 

[under water]

Very Nice Pix Josh. I have the same setup ie.. G9 in Ike housing with DS125 & DS51. I don't have vignetting with the INON WA lens. Are you using the short port?
Can you share your settings (TTL)? The colors (WB & Saturation) are fantastic for no PS processing.

 

[driftin' by]

Thanks all

Very Nice Pix Josh. I have the same setup ie.. G9 in Ike housing with DS125 & DS51. I don't have vignetting with the INON WA lens. Are you using the short port?
Can you share your settings (TTL)? The colors (WB & Saturation) are fantastic for no PS processing.

How is that DS51 working out with the DS125? I was thinking about going that route.

I do have the short port. I really don't have a problem with vignetting especially in the photos I posted. Do you think otherwise? It is a very fine point that you have to zoom too to keep it from happening. I found that zooming to far will cause it. Not zooming at all will show black corners of the lens such as un-cropped Eel photo above. I'd just forget to zoom in a bit after changing the camera's battery as it would reset it back to fully wide and it would be difficult to see on the 3-inch screen.

I don't know about you, but when I set the manual white balance on this camera it is oversaturated with reds so I just shoot with the Underwater WB mode and I'm pleased with it. I shoot in Aperture Priority mode adjusting the f-stop based on the subject with an occasional yank on the compensation and let the camera do the rest for TTL, ISO and shutter speed. I should have included the settings with each picture. Now it would be a pain to do so especially since I cannot edit the original posts but here's a few examples:

Spotted Drum: F/8, 1/60 sec, ISO-200, exposure -.3 ..Probably could have used a faster shutter.
Yellow Stingray: f/3.2, 1/251 sec, ISO-80, exposure 0
Seahorse: f/8, 1/60 sec, ISO-80, exposure -.3 ..Probably should have opened up the apature a bit.
Electric Ray: f7.1, 1/79 sec, ISO-160, exposure -.3 ..Looks like an aberration with the red saturation on the sand or perhaps a shadow cast from my strobe?

Let me know if there is a specific one you'd like the settings for.