Nudibranch photos from catalina

I did 3 dives yesterday at Catalina Island in California. It was my 2nd time using my new Nikon D80. I used my 10.5 fisheye for the 1st dive, these shots are from the 60mm I used on the 2nd and 3rd dives.

wow, the difference from my Fuji F10 is amazing, I'm really enjoying the detail you can get from a dSLR. the fast focus is nice too.

enjoy the photos!

Janolus barbarenis Nudibranch

Juvenile Sheephead

Cockerelli's dorid

Blue-banded goby with front dorsal fin erect, a warning posture

Juvenile Scorpionfish

A very small x-mas tree worm

Phoronid worm

Janolus barbarenis nudibranch, closeup

Mantis shrimp, not wanting to come out of his hole

Juvie Triopha maculata nudibranch (1 inch long), bryozoans and small scaly tube worms on kelp

sgietler, that is quite an impressive variety of macro to find on Catalina! What dive sites were you at? I'm pretty sure the nudi's weren't from the dive park.

What housing/strobes are you using? My first dSLR housing purchase is coming up this month and I want to be sure to get it right.

Once again, love your shots!

Beautiful colours; great job with your new camera.

thanks guys!

Pat, the nudies on Catalina are picky, they usually like it cold and deep... they are also seasonal, I usually don't see them in the summer, but you'll see them now, 50ft-120ft deep. Even in the dive park! you have to look at the Valient or on the SueJack.

I have a lot of practise, so I know where to look. These were found at bird rock, sea fan grotto and eel cove.

I got the Sea & Sea housing + TTL converter + 2 YS-90DX strobes. the housing decision was tough, they all have their pros and cons, good luck with your decision. I do like the housing, although I have nothing to compare it to. Its a little heavy underwater with the macro port, but not as heavy as the D200 + S&S housing. Also, the TTL converter is not working well, indoors is fine but underwater unless the subject is close, and fairly well lit, I just get a black screen. I need to follow up with S&S about this, it might be that these strobes can't sync fast enough for a 2-preflash sequence on the D80, but I'm not sure.

Scott

I love the photos. For a moment, I was really jealous when I thought that you found all of those at Casino Point. I was diving out there a week ago and took these photos with my D80 and Ikelite. After looking at how close you were to the nudis, it seems that I can probably get a little closer to my subjects.

Did any of your wide angle shots turn out? I have a Tokina 12-24 and an 8" dome but I really haven't gotten a chance to try it out. I'm going out on the Bottomscratcher in a few weeks and hope to do some wide-angle shots of the sun slanting through the kelp.

This is my post last week on Scubaboard:

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Dove at Casino Point in Catalina on Saturday. I was hoping to do some wide angle photos of the kelp (using my new 8" dome and 12-24 lens), but the water was quite trashy, so I shot macro. Temps were fairly cold (53-54 deg F) and vis was 20 feet. I didn't see anything too noteable, accept for a Porter's Chromodorid nudibranch, one of the things that I had never seen there and was hoping to find.

Now to the photos.

Here's the Porter's Chromodorid. He was a little fella, about the length of a black-eyed pea. After shooting him, I realized that my aperature was only f/5.6, so I didn't get very good depth of field. Dang.

Also for the first time, I saw a couple of juvenile Tylodina fungina, a type of sea slug with a nearly transparent shell, particularly when they are young. This first one is a juvenile

and this is his little brother who was a foot away.

The third slug of the day was a fat Navanax.

Last, here are a Bluebanded Goby (about the most common fish out there)

and a close-up of some polyps on a Red Gorgonian.

These were all shot with my Nikon D80 in an Ikelite housing, with a Ikelite DS125 strobe, a Nikon 60mm lens, and occassionally a Woody's diopter.

David

Great shots.

I have narrowed my list down to the D80, I'm happy to see someone having such great success with it.

That first nudi shot is killer. I would have used f16 or 22 for a little better DOF but overall great shots.

Fantastic shots, thanks for posting!

Hey:

Great photos! I"m going to Catalina in june, can't wait to get the camera wet there aftere seeing yourphotos. D80 in S and S housing.

Bill

Sgieter, Nice shots. Love that twin x-mas tree worm. Would look very striking against a black background.