Wet & Wild

[Dirty Dog]

No, not THAT kind of wet & wild...

With all the pros here, I've hesitated to post my amateur stuff. But I hope to improve, and suggestions from those with more knowledge are always helpful, so here's a few...

These were shot diving off Cancun, May 2009, using an Intova I-600. I know, it's a cheapo. I do have an Olympus E-410 dSLR, but I've not been able to justify the $1500 or so it would cost to get a housing. Photos were shot in 30-60 feet of water using ambient light or the totally inadequate built in flash. We're going back in a couple weeks, and I've already bought a red filter, so that ought to improve the colors for my next batch.

Perspective is always difficult under water. For reference, the little box fish is about 3" long. The stingray is about 5 feet across the wings.
I didn't get any pictures of the 6 foot Black Tip shark who swam with us for a while. I was too awestruck to think about the camera.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Sweet. I want to do some underwater work, but there's not much to see near me it seems.

 

[MBuzzy]

awesome pics - it seems like a big expenditure to get the underwater equipment and I would feel comfortable taking any of our professional equipment down no matter how good the waterproof kit.

 

[Carol]

I LOVE the pics Dog

 

[Dirty Dog]

Sweet. I want to do some underwater work, but there's not much to see near me it seems.

There's not exactly a lot here in landlocked Colorado either. We run up a few frequent flyer miles traveling to dive sites. Sue and I joke that when we win the lotto, we'll move to Cozumel or Hawaii and teach SCUBA during the day and Tae Kwon Do at night. We love them both, but matching our current income at either (or both...) is unlikely.

awesome pics - it seems like a big expenditure to get the underwater equipment and I would feel comfortable taking any of our professional equipment down no matter how good the waterproof kit.

It doesn't HAVE to be expensive. My little Intova was only a couple hundred bucks, and the bubble is tested to well beyond the limits of recreational diving. But you get what you pay for, and the Intova certainly is not as good as my Olympus. Depending on how much difference the red filter makes, my next purchase will be either a good slave strobe, or a housing for the Olympus.

The housings are actually the biggest expense. You can get a good dSLR for $500 (maybe not professional, but good). The housing for it will cost upwards of $2000. So if it DOES fail, you're out the cost of the cheapest part of the gear.

Failure is unlikely, however. All that is needed to maintain the housings is a periodic touch of silicone grease to the o-rings. If you can't manage this, a failure of the camera housing is far less worry than drowning because you can't manage to deal with the only slightly more complex maintenance of the SCUBA gear.

Actually, considering the cost of SCUBA gear and traveling to dive sites, the camera gear is really cheap.

 

[ShelleyK]

I have yet to explore the world of underwater photography! Lucky you!!!

 

[MA-Caver]

I'd love to try scuba-diving myself but unfortunately I cannot withstand the zones of pressure the deeper one gets. Apparently my sinuses and ear canals are damaged to the point where if I dive below the first atmospheric pressure zone it hurts like hell and I have to immediately surface before my head explodes (it feels like it will).
So it's looking and ooh-ahh-ing at other photos that other people have taken. Thanks for sharing. Looks like a great spot to dive.

 

[Dirty Dog]

I'd love to try scuba-diving myself but unfortunately I cannot withstand the zones of pressure the deeper one gets. Apparently my sinuses and ear canals are damaged to the point where if I dive below the first atmospheric pressure zone it hurts like hell and I have to immediately surface before my head explodes (it feels like it will).
So it's looking and ooh-ahh-ing at other photos that other people have taken. Thanks for sharing. Looks like a great spot to dive.

Have you seen a good ENT, preferably one who is familar with diving? Difficulty equalizing, such as you're describing, is not at all uncommon, especially at first. But it can usually be overcome. Often, all that is needed is a slower descent, with more frequent equalization.

 

[Jade Tigress]

These are great pics! I really love the second one.

 

[clfsean]

I'm heading down to Playa del Carmen in 3 weeks. I wont' be doing any SCUBA diving but I will be skin diving & have a little Olympus 550WP I'm taking.

I'm wanting to set up shop down there so bad it's silly. If I could make money to survive down there, I'd go in a heart beat. BUT.... responsibilities here...

I'll post any pics (worthwhile) I get when I get back.

 

[Dirty Dog]

I'm heading down to Playa del Carmen in 3 weeks. I wont' be doing any SCUBA diving but I will be skin diving & have a little Olympus 550WP I'm taking.

I'm wanting to set up shop down there so bad it's silly. If I could make money to survive down there, I'd go in a heart beat. BUT.... responsibilities here...

I'll post any pics (worthwhile) I get when I get back.

We'll be staying in Cancun May 4th-13th this year. We're planning most of our diving off Cancun, but we do plan on going to Cozumel one day for some drift diving, and we'll be down by Playa del Carmen one day as well, for some cenote/cavern diving. Mostly reef dives, but there are a couple WWII minesweepers off Cancun we plan to dive.