Wakatobi photos

Hi All,

I just updated my webpage with some photos from my latest trip to Wakatobi. You can find them under 'recent'.

Just curious to hear your opinions, but please don't kill me...

cheers, Udo

Hey Udo, love the site! very clean and a nice colour scheme.

and the shots you posted of wakatobi are excellent, that crocodile fish eyeball is killer with great details

Thanx for your kind words Mike! Hopefully i can go back once for longer trip...

Udo,

I like your site too. And BTW I find your "cold-water" stuff most interesting!!! Especially the lobster on the bottom, very cool!!! I like unique creatures and unique shots.

Your Wakatobi ones are nice too. I especially liked the lighting and "two-color-scheme" look of the pygmy seahorse and the colors of and around the hawkfish.

Did you use the 105vr for both the seahorse and hawkfish?

VR on or off?

Any user suggestions for using the vr (that haven't already been covered by Alex of course...... ) I'm looking for more different personal experiences with the lens.

I appreciate it cause I'm setting up my camera with the 105vr for the first time tomorrow and taking it down deep for a test on Sunday.

Thanks so much for posting and the info!

Best, Carol

Hi Carol,

Thanx fo your kind words! On Wakatobi i only used my 105 VR and my 10.5 mm FE. All other lenses i did not use the except the 50 mm on one dive. In most cases i have the VR on, not to use longer shutterspeeds but only for a slightly more quit view through the viewfinder. It helps me to make the composition more easily. Although i can imagine that some people experience it the other way around, it looks a little bit like you're drunk with the VR on... i guess it's part of the pleasure for me since i don't drink alcohol... !!

With the VR the battery of the D200 is finished more quickly but i change batteries at least once every two or three dives.

I find your "cold-water" stuff most interesting!!! Especially the lobster on the bottom, very cool!!! guiness.gif I like unique creatures and unique shots.

I do a lot of diving in our own murky Oosterschelde. The lobsters are quit common here, but in most cases they prefer to sit inside their holes, except at nights. I can appreciate cold water a lot as well and hopefully i'll be able to do some more north-west atlantic photography which it not in the Netherlands this year (Ireland/Norway/south-west England) so if anyone can advice on spots where i should go, i'm open to it!

Well, good luck with your baptising your 105VR tomorrow and hopefully you like it.

cheers, Udo

BTW, you use the Patima BC don't you? i tried to attach one to my setup as well but i can't find i proper spot on my housing where i can attach it to, so i'll return it and i'm affraid i have to get used to my heavy rig. Do you still like yours as much as you descibed previously?

Well, good luck with your baptising your 105VR tomorrow and hopefully you like it.

 

cheers, Udo

 

BTW, you use the Patima BC don't you? i tried to attach one to my setup as well but i can't find i proper spot on my housing where i can attach it to, so i'll return it and i'm affraid i have to get used to my heavy rig. Do you still like yours as much as you descibed previously?

Udo,

Thanks so much for all the 105vr info!!

I do like the Patima BCs! I use 2 of them and although it sounds bulky two of them are actually more out of the way than one because I attach them to my inside, 8" ULCS arms and they just sort of float along there minding their own business....... Sam told me that is what a professor who teaches u/w photography in Korea does, uses two with macro setups (105 and 200 lenses) and it works for me. I should get a picture of my setup this weekend u/w, I think someone else will have a camera to take a photo of me u/w. I would hang onto that Patima BC if I were you as it can help offset a lot of weight. I'll post a pic too of how I attached one to my housing, but I didn't like it as much as two. One of the reasons for the "test" at 100 feet tomorrow is to see how much buoyancy the Patima BCs lose at that depth with the 105vr lens. They will compress but they won't compress as much as say a "physics balloon test - atmospheric pressure at depth and all" because the neoprene and bag design will always retain some buoyancy.

I know I will always use the Patima BCs because I can't handle the negative weight of the housing. The question is if I'll have to use anything in addition to the Patima BCs. I wish the Stix arms would offset enough weight but I don't think they will - plus I want to know for sure that they have held together for others on many, many dives before I'd try them.

I hate the fact that I have to use drastic buoyancy measures at all with such an expensive rig and investment, but there is nothing else I can do about it right now as I would lose too much $$$ selling the rig and might have to use buoyancy solutions on something else also?....... So I've decided to have "fun" with it....... , like you would with a lift-bag or any other piece of dive equipment. You have to admit the "Addiction of Underwater" lettering on the side of the Patima BCs is pretty cool, especially since we don't imbibe much in the "other" liquid stuff......

I'll post what happens from tomorrow's test next week.

Take Care and Thanks, Carol