I am back, feeling poorer, colder and sick. Yes, age is catching up for sure. Between 9 to 14 August, under Orpheus Dive, I brought a total of 24 divers to Bali to dive with the much talked about, much heard about and much brag about - Mola Mola and Manta Rays.
For those reading this and wanting to look for a broadband connection, RULE pacific internet out. Not only do they have a billing problem, the line is THE MOST UNSTABLE LINE I have ever experience.
It is 4am in the morning and I am rushing out work and realise that I can surf all Singapore IP sites and use MSN but NOT other websites. No google, no yahoo, no searches of any sort.
What is wrong with them?
Ian gave me a call and inform me that he was about to get married and it is gonna be in all done and prepared in one week. My attendance was needed. In Singapore, couples take as long as 6 months to prepare for a wedding. 1 week is almost impossible. Ian's dad apparently suffered from a stroke and Ian had to wed soon before it is too late.
Well, I offered my photography skills for him. As this is a last minute thing, getting a photographer printing out an album for him was rather impossible. So armed with my new Nikon DSLR D200, on wednesday (the day he was doing his ROM), I took couple of shots and rush back to the shop to get them printed out nicely and placed them into a new album.
Okay, finally back from a back breaking dive trip, 26 divers!
Well, most of the divers are from NUS doing their open water diver course. As many people know, I am never fond of doing open water diver courses. Yes, the girls are hot and the guys are hunky, but the profit margins are way too thin. We only made about $40 per person! Yeah, pathetic right?!?!?!
Well, for most of us, thinking that we have a prosumer camera, housed in an Ikelite housing, got a couple of strobes and wet lens, with a couple of nice composited photos and we think we are underwater photographer, think HARD again.
I came across this posting while googling D200 underwater images
I am an amateur underwater and nature photographer in every sense of the word and enjoy taking pictures as one of my hobbies.
Jennyfish…some of my stuff
Well for those still using Ixus, Sony and other point and shoot, the new word for you guys are "Amateurs Wannabe". Hahaha, I am feeling so inferior now.
So here is the new rating
users of ixus, sony, pentax, canon point and shoot = amateur wannabe
Poison users of prosumer cameras ONLY = amateur almost there but not so
users of prosumers with complete setups = amateur not there not here
Geof has always been my favorite student/instructor. Why? It is the easiest to tempt him:) And if you are reading this damn entry, you have already been poison SO DEEPLY that there is absolutely no cure for you 
What do instructor like me do on a Sunday morning. Well, we wake up, get breakfast, send the gears to the pool. I was too tired to do laundry on Friday evening, and refusing to let the laundry pile up to next weekend, decided to do it today since I am awake. So rather than wasting time watching the washing machine does it work (it can actually be quite therapeutic watching the washing machine spine), I decided to do a search on underwater settings or experience of the D200.
This is the same way I learned how to operate the Olympus C5050 when I first purchase it. The good thing about learning over the Internet is that you cut the learning curve by more than half, learning from the experience of other divers using the same system or identical system. I found this blog of a diver - who is 38 year old photographer and adventure guide based in Cape Town, South Africa, and his experience with his D200 and a Sea&Sea Housing. (more…)
New task, new work. Now to learn how to enable galleries for all the images in a fast and efficient way. The only problem right now is that I work on a mac and I need to find a utility that zip up files.
Mac uses other compression techniques that are far more SUPERIOR than Windows. Yeah, I know what you PeeCee users are saying while reading this. It is true that Mac do not suffer from Blue Screen or the Sudden Screen of Death, we are not limited to Windows Player that is tied to Original Windows, neither is Mac OS X being sued by Europe on monopolizing the OS platform.
Decided to do a search on which housing is good and affordable for Nikon D200 or Fuji S5Pro (both uses the same body). A quick google shows the following brands
Subal, Sea & Sea, Aquatica, Ikelite, Nexus , Light and Motion, Hugyfot, Sealux, Fantasea, Seacam and UK Germany
My decision factor is pretty simple. The housing must allow me to use both TTL and Optic fiber strobes.
Subal -Â Does not meet my requirements
Sea & Sea - I like the sexiness of this housing and the total look and feel. But does not meet my requirements
Aquatica -
Ikelite - Price wise this seems good. It meets both my needs and best of all, it is really affordable. I am currently using an Ikelite housing for my C5050. However, the fact that the housing is made of polycarbonate, it means “be very careful with it or say bye bye housing and hello cracks and scratches”
Nexus - The new Nexus D200 housing now comes with two Nikonos type bulkheads and two Optical bulkheads ( for TTL operation with Inon Z-240 Strobes and Optical Cables). Chris has bought the housing. The only thing that I do not like about it is the handle which I do not really like, even though, Azman seems to love it. So this is a strong contender.
Light and Motion - The housing is too kiddish and also, it supports only TTL strobes. Bye bye L&M
Hugyfot - Reviews has been quite negative towards this brand
Sealux - I did not like what I saw on the website
Fantasea - Couldn’t find any information off their website. Even some divers claim that they do make housing. I dun trust companies that dun update their websites.
Seacam - Nothin on this yet
UK Germany - Nothing from this company
