Back from Indonesia.... reluctantly

Hey y'all.... I just got back from Indonesia and I really did NOT want to come back, but short of living on the beach the rest of my life I supposed I have to come back sometimes.

I left in early September with the Jonah Housing and my Canon 10D and I took over 3500 underwater pictures using this rig. I am working on an in depth-review, but suffice for to say that I was EXTREMELY happy with the performance of the housing.

I was shooting macro primarily, mostly using my 100mm but also to a lesser degree with my 50mm. I got some really unique shots - including a Bobbit worm, a pregnant pygmy seahorse, and we think I have discovered a new species.

The Technical Stuff.....

I was shooting with two S&S 90DX's and I had absolutely zero problems shooting in manual mode. (For those of you who dont know, I had considered picking up a Nikon D100 and buying Nikon lenses just so I could continue to shoot TTL using the Fuji S2 Pro.... MAN am I glad I decided to just go back to shooting manual!!!!!)

I have a LOT of work to do in compiling my notes and moving through these images to pull out the top 25 or so. I will post some soon, maybe as early as tmrw.

I LOVE MY CANON 10D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can't wait to see it all!

Cheers

James

Want to know about the bobbit worm ASAP!

Wow-- welcome back CDesperado!

It's funny, you talking about wanting to stay in Indonesia forever. I was born/grew up/am a citizen of Malaysia, and spent my first 18 years there wanting nothing more than to go live in the U.S. Now I've been here 8 years, posts like yours make me want nothing more than to go back there and live on the beach

I knew there was someone who had gone for the Jonah 10D housing, just couldn't remember who! And you've been gone all this time while I've been making the housing decisions

Post your pictures soon, and I'd appreciate any tips/advice/warnings for another 10D/Jonah shooter. Mine's still at the dealer for various problems

Whereabouts in Indonesia were you? Check your PM, I sent you a few questions.

Thanks!

Yeang

P.S. Forgot to ask -- did you shoot only RAW or only JPG or a mix?

I'm sold on JPG for topside photos even given the slightly narrower dynamic range, simply for the extra shots one can take to bracket various things, but I guess one's limited by strobe recycle time UW anyway, so this might require a paradigm shift on my part...

Yeang

Hey guys, I am processing images on another PC as we speak and I will get some posted as soon as I can. These will not be color-manipulated in any way, although some of them have been adjusted using the exposure control within CaptureOne (this feature brightens or darkens the image).

A few quick thoughts for YChng... I am shooting RAW, both top side and underwater, but my needs may be slightly different than yours. However, DO NOT shoot JPEG underwater as you will have major problems when trying to adjust the light balance or color within your images later.

I heavily recommend using a 1 Gig card. I am using Lexar cards right now and will probably stick with those even though the Write Accelerator technology does not work with Canon cameras. At a minimum, get a 1 gig and a 512 card.... and leave the 128s at home.

Go to the store NOW and buy at least one extra camera battery. Here in Texas, they cost about $50 and are well worth it. I already have two extra and am probably going to go buy another one later.

As far as tips, I am working on a review of the Jonah housing and am hoping to finish it by this weekend. Overall, I am extremely happy with this housing although there were a few minor design issues I am talking with Dr Kim (the owner) about.

Great -- thanks for the tips CDesperado. I guess the color balance issues make RAW a must underwater.

I already have 2x 1 gig CF cards, got them for $141 each from Dell with a coupon. Got the cheapest Sandisk types since as Rob Galbraith shows and you point out, it doesn't make a difference with the 10D

Don't spend $50 on the Canon battery. I got a clone (Lenmar I think) for $25-30 that I use in my BG-ED grip with the original battery. I almost think it lasts longer than the Canon one when used alone (it's rated higher).

What design issues are you discussing with Dr. Kim? It would be nice to know so that I can prophylactically work around them.... does one of them happen to be the * button? The D100 housing has the lever for one handed activation, but not the 10D housing.

I'm having the dealer fix a coldshoe mount for a modeling light on the top of my Jonah... what did you do for focusing/modeling lights on your setup?

Yeang

After talking with my friend Woody (the Nexxus Woody), I decided to invent my own modeling light set-up. The "professional" modeling light set up would have cost me about $250 - I made my own for about $40.

Overall I am very happy with my little invention, but I am sure eventually I will build something a little more professional looking.

I will take pictures of everything and post them in my review....

Here is my "amateur" modeling light mount. It goes on the port, not the housing:

Cheers

James

Interesting. I have heard some mention they do not like to mount on the port as it can potentially cause some added stress, especially in current, and possibly increase the risk of the dreaded "leak" through the port.

I do not know of this happening but, it made some sense to me.

Interesting. I have heard some mention they do not like to mount on the port as it can potentially cause some added stress, especially in current, and possibly increase the risk of the dreaded "leak" through the port.

 

I do not know of this happening but, it made some sense to me.

Those people probably wouldn't like the Inon ring flash then.

But would the ringflash not equally distrubute the weight areound the port whereas James example appears top heavy.

LOL... if you think his looks topheavy, wait until you see what I made!!!!

The only downside to mine is that you have to be real careful as the mount for the modeling light could easily act as a lever that could turn the port loose and cause a leak.

It almost happened twice, actually. But fortunately, I was VERY lucky and got away with it.

Aquatica put a little set screw on the flat port for the A5000 housing and a small little metal piece that stops the port from twisting off if the set screw is screwed down towards the port.

Maybe there is a way to fab up something like that?

Btw... the pics are coming. I have about 500 more I want to go through and THEN I will start the final cuts.

LMAO OH MY GOD!!!

I'm looking for THREE pictures!!!

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that some of the people who are really really getting involved in shooting digital tend to exhibit some obsessive/compulsive traits?

Hey Jason,

I'm looking forward to seeing the photos, but I'd like to hear about where you stayed and where you dived.

I'm planning a trip to North Sulawesi next year and trying to get as much info as possible. I'm trying to decide whether to focus on Lembeh, split time between Lembeh/Manado, or I might just do the Ocean Rover, which covers all the areas.

CDesparado,

How's the review of the Jonah housing coming? I can't wait to read it! I have been waiting for a review of the C10 housing for quite some time now. Andi, from digideep was suposedly doing one but I think he got bogged down.

Beilieve I will purchase a Jonah soon. I have a couple of questions. Can you tell me what port(s) you used for wide angle. I have a 17-40 F4L that I will use for WA and am trying to figure out if I can get away with using the 4 inch port with and extender. James mentions in his review of the D100 version that the 4 inch port may work for both the 60mm macro (50 for the canon) as well as for the 24-85. He states that more testing needed to be done. Since the 17-40 becomes a 27 on the 10d, and the 4 inch port is for up to a 20mm lens, I'm wondering if I can get away with buying only that port and use it for both macro and WA. Your experiences/opinions would be appreciated.

Andi mentions in one of his posts that the S6 bulkhead was wired incorrectly...any knowledge?

Glad to hear you were pleased with the housing overall. Hope to join in on all the fun with one of my own soon.

Thanks,

Scorpio_fish,

I went to North Sulawesi earlier this year, so I could provide a little information about your options. We only spent a week there, so I don't have a lot of information to give you, but we were there long enough to want to go back. We stayed the whole week at the Tasik Ria resort south of Manado, and dove with EcoDivers. We liked this operation a lot. Even though they are located further away from Bunaken marine park than most of the other local outfits, they have the nicest boats by far - the only ones with real heads and lounging space. They also have a great house reef, which I was skeptical about at first but after a couple of dives there I was hooked. They are about an hour boat ride away from most of Bunaken, versus 15-20 minutes for outfits like Thalassa, but the boat ride was enjoyable, and we didn't mind doing it. Bunaken had some really great diving, and I would heartily recommend it over some other, over-rated destinations such as Sipidan, which we also visited on that trip.

We also took a day trip to Lembeh, and wish we had been able to dive there for longer. I don't usually like muck diving very much, but this was far, far more interesting than any other muck diving I've ever done.

I would suggest doing a two-week trip to Sulawesi - one week diving Bunaken, and one week diving Lembeh. We heard that a side trip to the Bangka Islands was worthwhile, but we didn't find time for this.

I don't know anything about the Ocean Rover, so I can't give you feedback on that.

Hi guys, sorry for the delayed response.

The Jonah review has been written but we havent posted it yet because we are trying to decide which pics to publish. I have just been running around like crazy since I got back and I am hoping things will slow down this weekend.

I Have selected the best of the best pics now and will be posting them soon. Very soon...

24 hours in a day, 7 days a week. Where does the time go?

As far as North Sulawesei, we didn't dive that area on our trip. I can put you in touch with a man who is very familiar with it though. Email me privately and I will track down my contact and try to get you two in touch.

I'm also interested in the use of 17-40L on this camera - i think it would be a great underwater option if the Jonah has a port with zoom gears for it. I'm not sure if you could use the same port you'd use for the 16-35L, which is physically quite similar in appearance.

I reckon Jonah, 10D, 15mm Sigma, 17-40L and 90mm Tamron macro would be a great combo - at least that's the way I'm thinking.

Looking forward to the Jonah review with bated breath.

Also looking forward to the release of the Ikelite 10D housing, as besides the Jonah that's about the only one I'm likelyy to be able to afford this lifetime!