All about diving May 2013

I'm always excited when someone mention about diving...arghhh!! I can't get enough of it.
I packed my gears and fly straight to manado cocotinus resort this may. Hy convinced her fren jamie to come along. She had a bad start on her open water course at tioman and hopefully with the professional dm, she will gain back her confidences.

Cameras up!!! Shoot shoot shoot!!!

1/125 , f8, iso 200, 60mm macro

Comparing the details, I got ten times more than what I expect. I can even see the shrimps eyes in the eggs. Awesome!!

1/200, f6, iso200, 60mm macro
I was about 50cm from seahorse and yet the picture turn out ok. Pardon the back scatter. Heehee.
I'm still amateur at this.

I took many shots on this fish and really couldn't focus on its eyes. Sad, but overall nice picture.

1/200, f6, iso200, 60mm macro

1/160, iso200, f9, 60mm macro

I caught this cute little cleaner fish on the puffer. Lucky shot!

Sorry to flood macro shots. I suck at wide angle, partly you need duo strobe to do good wide angle.

Guess what, she is pregnant!

! I heard from follow divers that mandarin fish are very shy and was instructed not to shine the torch or flash at the mandarin fish. Not true!
Off we went to the mandarin point, we waited patiently for the sun to set and boom! Saw my very first MF, one, two then four!!! I couldn't take any pictures without a focus light. I can't take it anymore, I on my torch and started taking pictures. Surprisingly, they are not shy at all, they even mated in front of my lighted torch. I guess they are pretty horny! Hahaa. I must say that our first dusk dive is magical and romantic.

Crabs...

Leaf scorpion fish. Beautiful!!

Olympus OMD EM5

Hi guys, I'm kelvin. I'm an addict. I will go around talking to the divers that I don't know and check out their dive pictures. So far, I have always been successful.
I stumbled upon canon G12 and sony nex 7, both have better macro shots than my S95, but nex 7 is a class above.
I was so impressed that I'm motivated to get it or something close to that kind of picture quality. A picture of Sony nex 7.

Back in Singapore changi airport, I wasted no time and got into dfs shop and started asking questions about nex 7. Unfortunately, the sales staff didn't have must product knowledge, so I continue my research online.
It was amazing how detailed the discussion was on the various dive forum.
Brands like Nauticam and recsea were among the reputable ones for UW housing.

Knowing that I need to spend close to 5k sgd on a nex 7 setup, I move my attention to the new canon G15. Read many praises about this baby and I'm quite certain I'm going for G15 with recsea setup at about $2800 with strobe arm and floats. I went to one of the shops at simlim square, I took out my S95 and start shooting on my 10 dollar bill to compare the macro quality between S95 and G15. I wasn't impressed and acknowledge that a person who wish to upgrade from a S95 will not go for a G15. The quality improvement was very little and is not worth spending the $$$$. Disappointed and lost, I decide to read up more about other cameras. ATTENTION!!! do not consult the sales person with very little product knowledge especially when most of them don't have underwater photography experiences.

Let introduce you to my new friend, the new olympus EPL5. I spent many nights reading about its capabilities. Most attractive part was the UW housing Pt Ep10, it's affordable and light. I just need to spend $2500 for camera, housing and 60mm macro lens. I couldn't wait for the IT show in the coming weekend so I went down to Cathay photo at peninsular plaza. First touch feel goooood....looks good, quality is awesome, flip panel was awesome but after using the functions, I realize there a not enough dials for right hand use on the EPL5. Duncan, the smart sale person doubtful expression and quickly took out the higher end olympus OMD. Wow!!!! Impressive. Check it out.

2 dials on the right hand and 2 customized function button. there is a quick record button too.
Yes!! Picture was taken in my house! I bought it!! Until now, I have no regrets. Check out my setup.
- Olympus OMD
- Olympus Pt Ep08 with front port.
- Inon S2000 strobe
- Inon mega float arm
- light weight metal tray
- OEM SP look alike torch.

Very excited about the pictures it can produce underwater. I'm going back to manado in may. Till then. Feel free to left a comment.

Omg!!! While I'm playing with my omd last night. The dial fall out!!!! I want to faint already. Brought back to the shop and they promise to help....fingers crossed....

I went to look for a torch holder over the weekend. Went to 5 hardware shops and find nothing.
Knowing my late father like to keep parts of anything, I found useful aluminum plates for the holder in his stash. I even dig out some stainless steel nuts and bolts. Amazing!!! I check out the final look of it with inon shoe base.

A good look after I installed it on my housing. Sweet!!!

Chinese new year 2013!!

Yo!!! Sorry to keep you waiting! My last trip with my new toy was awesome. Having a strobe is really very different for underwater photography. I've learned how to play with the shutter speed and F stops. Lower F stop allowing more light into your camera so you can set your shutter speed higher to give you a sharper picture. Check out my favorite picture of the trip.

It look as if I was shooting during a night dive but it is actually a day dive. When i set the shuttle speed around 1/800 and F4.0, it only capture the light within 12-15inch.

Candy crab about 2-3cm in width.

Our first dive, I was trying all the different setting of the inon S2000 strobe. It was really fun doing all those experiments. My very first shot of the lion fish.

It was raining almost everyday in manado but it didn't affect our dive at all. In fact, it prevented us from getting sunburns.
I took a shot of our dive regulators.

Ok now, less talk and more pictures.

Sorry. I have to comment about this baby looking coral. It is really creepy. Anyone know what is it ?

I really must thank my awesome camera S95 with inon S2000 strobe. Thank you and feel free to leave your comments. I'll be saying goodbye to my current setup and will be getting in the Olympus OMD..