sp-350

[shark.byte.usa]

So I got my 350/PT housing wet for the first time today at a local lake, here are some of the pics I took. I used the presets mainly [ UW Wide 1 and Wide 2 ] and onboard flash, not much life out in the middle of the day to play with the macro. Colors were touched up in photoshop just using the Auto levels, contrast and color. I took a few RAW shots but haven't messed with them yet. But I'm happy with the results, it can only get better as I learn.

Garrett

 

[Amy B]

Oooh, nice pics! Took my camera out yesterday for some land shots, not had chance to get it underwater yet... Did you take the housing down empty before you tried the camera?

 

[Larry C]

Nice first shots, SharkByte. You'll find that especially in California water, macro is useful for a lot of shots. Anything where you can get within two feet of a fish will work in macro, and in our dark green waters will give you a lot more color and clarity. Those blue rockfish that follow us around just look like a profile at 5 feet in wide, but from 1-2 feet in macro make a nice shot. You can also get some real nice in your face close-ups. The only downside is you won't shoot as fast as with the preprogrammed 15ft. focus UW wide 2, so you have to be a little stealthy.

 

[Amy B]

Larry - how did your hosuing break? Just curious.

 

[shark.byte.usa]

Oooh, nice pics! Took my camera out yesterday for some land shots, not had chance to get it underwater yet... Did you take the housing down empty before you tried the camera?

Thanks, yes I took the housing down empty on the 1st dive, what a pain; it was so positive without the camera in it, even with the counter weight, but not as painful as a flood. Larry, yes I was expecting to use Macro to shoot some crawdads, which were all over this particular site last time I was there, but none to be found, so I stuck with the Wide presets, I couldn't remember on my dive what the difference was between the two, so I was switching back and forth. Hopefully I'll get it wet in the lake one more time, before heading to CA for the 4th.

Garrett

 

[shark.byte.usa]

Larry - how did your hosuing break? Just curious.

Not his housing, his sunpak g flash is broke, I believe.

 

[Larry C]

Quite correct. The housing has been absolutely trouble free doing 2-3 dives per weekend since January with just basic maintenance of occasionally lubing the o-ring, taking it out and fingerwiping it every 6-7 dives to get any salt crystals off and constantly checking the o-ring and opposite surface in bright sunlight for hairs, fibers, sand specks, etc. before closing it. The only hiccup I've had is once the shutter button stuck briefly in the open position during a dive. I suspect a little salt crystal on the shaft. After pulling out on it, it freed up and after my usual half-hour post dive soak in fresh water and fiddling all the buttons for 5 min. or so, it's been fine ever since. The Sunpak is a whole different story. See strobe thread for that one.

 

[netmage]

What seems to be the best option for batteries...?

I burned through the provided CR-V3 in ~6 dives - got good life out of it. When I picked up my camera - I got two sets of AA NiMH rechargables.... supposed to be 2500+mamp - we'll see how they work out... Oh yeah- had to do the firmware upgrade..., wouldn't last 3 seconds on the rechargables -had to throw in some duracell's long enough to load the fw...

Took a look at the RCR-3V... It's Li-Ion based... I seem to recall something bad about Li-Ion and water...?!?!?!? (Well - yeah - I suppose ANY flood is bad....)

 

[Larry C]

The R-CRV-3's work great. I get at least 2 dives plus viewing and editing time on one charge. There are big differences in the quality of AA nimh's. I've heard good things about the batteries and chargers from Thomas Dist., but no personal experience. I like the 3+volts available with the CRV-3's, and you can't put them in wrong no matter how blind or stupid you are.

 

[LindaBluedolphin]

The R-CRV-3's work great. I get at least 2 dives plus viewing and editing time on one charge. There are big differences in the quality of AA nimh's. I've heard good things about the batteries and chargers from Thomas Dist., but no personal experience. I like the 3+volts available with the CRV-3's, and you can't put them in wrong no matter how blind or stupid you are.

I orderd a R-CRV-3 charger kit and extra battery got them very quickly. Will let y'all know how they work out after my Florida trip. I may even have some photos to post. I will need to find out from the operator how they handle camera handoff's on live drops (will be diving in WPB)