Taking pictures at 100m

Ladies and gentlemen I need some advice..

There is a requirement to take some photos at about 100m.

The only camera that I have that I could bear to risk is my old F801 in a Subal Miniflex N8 housing. I also have a Subal FE2 fisheye port with a small surface blemish on the glass that I'm prepared to risk.

My plan is to send the port and housing to Sea Optics for a service and get them to pressure test them to 110m. I expect that they will cope OK with a static test like this.

The N8 housing controls are all lever arms; there are no "push in "buttons so hopefully controls sticking won't be a problem.

Any other suggestions? I have calculated that there will be about 3 metric tons of pressure exerted over the port area although I figure the dome design will cope with this a lot better than a flat port.

Well, I sure wouldn't want to be next to it!

There's a good thread on TDS that covers this. You'll have to sign in to read the stuff, though.

Here's the link

All the best, James

Interesting link but I'm not too worried about the housing imploding :-)

What I'm trying to do is get as much information as possible to increase the likeleyhood of successful photography on this dive.

If anything I expect that failure would amount to controls stopping functioning. Ike in another link suggests that his polycarbonate housings fail between 300 and 500 feet and then it's usually the port.

I would hope that cast aluminum ought to be at least as tough.

What I'm after is any practical advice forum members can offer. There must be people on this list that have done this.

Sorry about the misunderstanding Andrew!

I'm not sure if you're diving cave or wrecks in OW. I'll pass on my experience from OC (not RB) with wrecks.

>Make sure you have an understanding buddy. Let them know that you can't give them the attention you normally do at depth. Some DIR guys have issues with this. If it's up front that you'll need some attention, and part of the plan, so much the better.

>Shoot single strobe. Two big strobes and long arms are okay as long as nothing goes wrong. I'm assuming you are wearing a light on a goodman, deco and travel gas, etc. Anyway, single strobe is all I feel comfortable with (or coordinated enough) in these conditions.

>Have a boltsnap attached to the housing. This way you can use both hands to shoot a bag, or whatever. My housings hang pretty nicely from the left hip; it fits under a single 40, and would be tight under two. I've tried the scooter ring and the right hip...nope.

>I carry an extra bag, just in case I need to shoot the housing to the surface.

>Add .15 to your SAC for gas planning. I'm working in cubic feet.

>Mindset that camera is very disposable. If I have to donate the longhose, I'll drop it in a heartbeat if I need to.

That's all I can think of. Have fun...with that depth, are you thinking of the Blue Hole? If so, I'm jealous!

All the best, James

Andrew,

I haven't been in 100 meters with my camera, but have done few 50-60 meter cave dives with my camera. Few notes that might be helpfull.

The most likely part not to function isn't the housing or the dome, rather the springs for the controls. With great pressure all the controls are pressed down making the camera usage impossible. Even the housings that are rated to 100 meters usually need special springs if taken that deep. I've never had spring problems with my Ike housing, but my old 30meter rated Olympus housing would seize to function below 45 meters as all the buttons were pressed down.

Other thing to remember is to plan to shoot only few scenes, trying to to get too much done on a time-critical dive will ruin all your photos. Communicate your plan clearly to your buddies and you'll save yourself from lot of frustration.

Usually in deep there is no ambient light and if you shoot with one strobe your photos will look flat. What I typically do is to have one or two of my buddies carry a slave strobe. This way your buddies also feel that they are participating and are more co-operative With slave strobes I keep my camera strobe dialled down, just enough light to lit the diver, the slaves are set to full power and their function is provide light for the background.

Few examples:

http://www.slps.net/slps/pictures/2005/red...0/dscn6719.html

http://www.slps.net/slps/pictures/2005/fin...0/dscn5857.html

http://www.slps.net/slps/pictures/2005/fin...0/dscn5802.html

http://www.slps.net/slps/pictures/2005/fin...0/dscn5760.html

http://www.slps.net/slps/pictures/2005/fin...0/dscn5646.html

BR,

Sami

These are very cool pictures Sami! I do a bit of cave photography too and the idea of giving strobes to your buddy is an excellent one that I shall have to try.