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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
 Posted - 06/11/2007 : 9:48:13 PM
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When I was planning my most recent trip to Hawaii, I really wanted to bring an underwater camera. Besides a disposable film camera, virtually everything was $400 or more, since I would have to either buy an underwater camera or buy a camera and a housing, each about $175. After much searching, I bought a refurbished Nikon S5 point and shoot camera and a 'field jacket' cover, which is waterproof to about 12 feet.
It works great! Truly amazing photos. The viewfinder is huge and fully visible through the housing. Just snap the camera in the case and go swimming. I put a one gig card in the camera and chased turtle around all day.
The downside of this simple solution is that you cannot get a superwideangle lens which can give you that spectacular National Geographic look. That requires a 'dome' port housing and an SLR with a superwide lens. That housing would cost about $1800 minimum.
The S5/housing combo can be had on Ebay for about $130. I will post photos when I get home.
Jesse Tinsley
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Podagee57
Lokahi
USA
280 Posts |
Posted - 06/12/2007 : 04:13:01 AM
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| Aloha Jesse. So you have to tell us, how was your vacation? Did you find good snorkeling for the kids? I seem to remember you were taking your mom to a Kemehameha reunion and hoped to jam with an uncle? Was that you? How did it all go? |
What? You mean high "E" is the TOP string. No way dude! That changes everything! |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 06/12/2007 : 07:01:09 AM
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Eh Podagee! I've been dying to post about my trip (I'm on Kauai right now) but my only connection to the net is my PDA phone and I am getting carpal tunnel just typing this! I've seen some great music and yesterday we went snokeling at Tunnels on Kauai's north shore. Amazing.
I will post more when I get to a real keyboard.
Jesse Tinsley |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 06/12/2007 : 07:06:06 AM
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| Cool, I also look forward to hearing about your adventures. Thanks for the "field jacket" idea. I never thought about that. The one time I took photos underwater was with a waterproof disposable camera. Not bad but the disposable camera's range is not very good. |
Andy |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 06/12/2007 : 9:23:49 PM
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You can get a refurb Nikon S5 for about $80 and the field jacket separately for about $20. But add shipping, a couple batteries and charger, an SD card and misc. accessories and you're up to $150 or more. But the cheapest full-on underwater housing I could find was around $125 (for a point-and-shoot) and I would still have to buy a camera to match it. As they say in the Mastercard ad, "...pictures (and video) of your kids swimming with a sea turtle, priceless."
Plus the S5 is a high-quality 6mp pocket camera with a HUGE viewing screen. I was concerned about not having a long lens (I'm news photographer by trade) for flora and fauna, so my next purchase was a Minolta Z3: 4mp, 12X optical zoom, image stabilization and it takes AA batteries. Used on Ebay it was $99 plus shipping. Works great for birds and flowers, as well as surfers.
Both the cameras I bought were older models and I gambled on Ebay and saved a bunch. I also have lost cameras on vacation so I didn't want to risk my digital SLRs in the field.
I'm thrilled with both purchases.
Jesse Tinsley
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 06/20/2007 : 10:22:20 PM
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As promised, some photos from my cheap underwater rig: A Nikon S5 point and shoot camera with a simple plastic housing called a "field jacket".
A turtle and a follower
Small reef fish feed en masse
Fish feed furiously when a diver drops some fish food
The elegant, but slightly annoyed, honu
Divers follow the honu around at Ha'ena Beach
A photo of me tooling around the bottom
Tiny sea urchins at Po'ipu Beach Park.
The camera worked best in bright sunlight in the top 3-4 feet of water. The photos were best when the camera was operating at 200 ISO or slower.
If everything came together, the pictures looked great, but again, some kind of superwideangle would have been helpful.
Jesse Tinsley
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 06/21/2007 : 02:52:38 AM
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Jesse, those pix are superb, given your rig. The Nat Geo, and the best ID books, gets its great pix with lights - as you noted the light drops off fast in water, and it turns blue, too, as the other colors get absorbed.
The fish with the Honu, and those being fed (not really a great idea, BTW) is a Nenue, Brown (or Striped) Chub. The "reef fish" are Maikoiko (Whitebar Surgeonfish) and Manini (Convict Tang) [Tangs and Surgeonfish are related]. The Manini got its popular name (probably) because it has so little meat, but it was a favored food fish in "Old" Hawai`i (and had lots of kapu IIRC).
...Reid |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 06/21/2007 : 07:08:36 AM
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Thanks for the IDs, Reid. I have my official Snorkel Bob fish chart around here somewhere, but I knew these were the most common fish so I didn't even bother to look them up. My mother said that when she was small, her relatives would cast nets for the surgeonfish, then dry them whole in the sun for eating later. She said it was salty and crunchy, but not very satisfying.
The recipe for good underwater photos seems to be high quality camera/lens, super clear water (no current or wave action at all), good light and cooperative fish. I didn't realize that if visibility got down to 50-60 feet, many of my pictures wouldn't be usable, even if my naked eye could see adequately. Once the shore rollers came in, even just a few inches high, visibility dropped off quickly. That's where the super wideangle lens could come in, reducing the working distance to the subject and improving the image quality because there is less water/murk between the lens and subject.
Like Reid said, good lights make all the difference, but the best photos are a combination of artificial light and natural light. My dad was a diver back in the 1950s in California, and he used to use a dark red filter to balance the blue/green color. Combined with 100 ASA film and giant steel housings, it's amazing they made any pictures at all. He said the ocean off the SoCal coast was much clearer in those days.
I didn't do any fish feeding, but when I saw a guy doing it, I snapped a few photos. I only saw one person feeding in the four days we spent at the beach, which I assume is less than in the past. When we were snorkeling at Hanauma Bay in the early 1990s, everyone was feeding and people have wised up about the effects.
Jesse Tinsley |
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Podagee57
Lokahi
USA
280 Posts |
Posted - 06/21/2007 : 07:20:43 AM
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| Great pics Jesse. Thanks for sharing them. Really makes me yearn for some vacation time over there. |
What? You mean high "E" is the TOP string. No way dude! That changes everything! |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 06/21/2007 : 08:01:36 AM
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The Haunama Bay fish have gotten super peculiar because of feeding. A needlefish there attacked Sarah and kept striking at her lower body, for no reason at all, until I kicked it away with my fins. Needlefish are normally very quiet, meek, small surface schoolers and don't mess with anything. But, their beaks are sharp an can cause serious damage. For a while, people would feed fish there thawed frozen peas, which would kill the fish. But, chumming occurs all over the world, including places like Cozumel, where ever there are large numbers of humans who want to see large numbers of fish. I certainly prefer the fish to the humans.
...Reid
PS.
BTW, there are surgeonfish and there are surgeonfish. At a Hilo "farmer's" market, we saw an Achilles Tang for sale that weighed in at around 2 lbs. Gorgeous colors still bright - probably caught an hour or two prior. If we hadn't had other plans, I would have bought it for supper.
Tonight will be grilled fresh Atlantic sardines, with garlic and sage infused extra virgin olive oil, and lemon slices and my own roasted red peppers. Tomorrow will be super fresh squid, probably "blasted", "a la planxa", with fettucini coated with my own basil pesto. Appropriate wines, of course :-) |
Edited by - Reid on 06/21/2007 08:08:16 AM |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 06/21/2007 : 08:44:27 AM
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Whoa, fancy grinds, Reid!
The extent of my cooking is pork, infused with hulihuli sauce. Appropriate fruit punch, of course! Yes, I will die young.
My mom said the ones she had to lay out for drying were no larger than the palm of the hand. She didn't eat them unless she was really hungry.
Jesse Tinsley
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 06/21/2007 : 09:28:46 AM
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| IGreat pictures, Jesse. I love the honu pictures. Closest we came to fish was at the Aquarium, but I got to see puhi and sea horses. And nice wala`au with one of the staff about some weird disease that infects reef fish and gives those who eat them some terribly painful, itchy illness. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 06/21/2007 : 2:49:31 PM
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Thanks, Wanda. We were on a tight budget on Kaua'i, but the ocean provided many hours of fun.
Jesse Tinsley |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 06/24/2007 : 1:34:36 PM
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Glen, among the several other things I am (you decide), I am the best chef in CT for a meal for 8 people and under. I have selected and cooked fish all over the Western world. At the only *real* fish store in my area, we have a regular contest going on about who can select the fish (whole or cut) to the nearest .01 lb. It *always* happens that we get exactly what we want. I was looking at that Achilles tang with my regular glasses,and I *know* it was around 2 lbs. and it would clean out to 60% of that. That's why it was at that market - it was unusual.
As for curling when cooking: that is because you left the skin on and fried or blasted it. I often cook a fish with skin on when the skin is tasty or, at least, edible. The trick is to brown the skin-on filet flesh side first, with minimal oil, in a heavy big cast iron skillet, and keep the fire on high (I have a gas fired Viking that is about 75% of restaurant heat). Then, at the last minute - you *must* watch and never leave the fish (for gosh sake it takes 6 mins tops)- you flip the fish with some more high burn temp. (canola is good) oil in the pan and sear the skin. It *will* curl then, but you don`t care OR you hold down the filet with a potato masher - restaurants use a specially designed weight (they also use that for bacon).
BTW, I would *never* filet a reef fish and cook it on the stove top. I would either broil it whole with my 1500 deg. IR topside broiler or "bake" it on a bed of onions, herbs and other aromatics with white wine. If in Pyrex, 20 mins tops at 450, maybe less. If broiled, brushed with extra virgin olive oil and 3-4 mins per side.
I can tell when any material, animal, vegetable or mineral :-} is "a point", as the French say, simply by look and feel. (Do you ever touch cooking food for "bounce" - I do). I have cooked for 40 years, and I take food and drink, very, very seriously.
Planxa is the Catalonian (Catalunyan for those separatists among you) spelling for French/Spanish plancha. It means to cook a fish or crustacean on a super-heated plank - usually cedar, but most often a cast iron surface. It is an ancient technique that sears with little oil and crusts the surface with caramelized proteins and never sticks the fish or meat to the cooking surface. Throw a little bit of Kosher salt onto the cooking surface first and I guarantee great results IF you have the surface hot enough. My test is to wet my finger with spit or wine and wipe the cooking surface with my finger quickly and hear the proper sizzle. I have a friend in Catalunya who we visit regularly and I became convinced long ago (by eating head-on gamabas a a la planxa that that was a superior technique) BTW, our friend is a bit squeamish, and when I sucked all the gush with garlic and olive oil out of the heads, he said "Reid, you are an Ahhhnimal" But, he had never eaten Ortolan, which are small birds that are eaten whole and uncleaned, except for feathers - delicious.
You may fish well, but never, ever, leave fish cooking and walk away and play guitar and drink beer when cooking it. A fish cooked on a stove top more than 6 minutes is a travesty.
Ciguatera is a world-wide problem and we have blooms here in New England regularly. I hawk the news during the summer and select accordingly.
You fish and I will cook them for you.
...Reid |
Edited by - Reid on 06/24/2007 1:54:59 PM |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 06/25/2007 : 12:51:44 AM
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I once tried out for Jeopardy. Didn't make it. WAAAAAY too dumb for those folks. I didn't know any 18th century British literature or some of the other obscure categories they had. Had 10 seconds to read the answer on the screen and write down response on answer sheet. Then got to meet Alex Trebec, one tiny little dude.
Plenty fish around here that nobody eats....sheephead; carp; bowfin; them WAY BIG channel cats...matter fact hot weather, no one eats cat fish ...tastes icky. Plus also gotta watch out for mercury content in fish from pollution. But do have good walleye and lake perch...yummy. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
Edited by - wcerto on 06/25/2007 04:39:49 AM |
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