There is a God......

[DDT uk]

.....but he hates me!

Ventures down to Swanage on Sunday. Just managed to miss Tazzie who left just before we got there.

Viz was so so. 2 to 3 metres unless someone swam by in the approximate area or a boat started up. First dive was OK. 100 minute run time. Finally found the secret of where the blennies hide and so shot away. Apart from a pipefish that was pretty much all we saw.

Second dive a little while later. Try to take a picture and the camera locks up. Turn off, turn on. Fires with no flashes and then locks up. Lights are on but not on the ttl converter. Assumed the battery was dead in which case there will no flashes. Then we find the cuttlefish. Camera friendly. Maria fires away whilst I just have to look on. They pose, tenticles up, tenticles down, hovering, hiding in the sea bed. Then the wrasse suddenly start hangering around. We have more blennies. A shoal of what look like glass fish.

Being a happy chappy by now we head back. This is when I notice the water droplets appearing inside the sealed unit that is the ttl converter. And we notice the crud where the water has left bits as they have flowed down from the top.

To add to that, I now need either another converter, a new duo sync lead, or a splitter (£350, £105 or £180 respectively).

A good day

[Tazzie]

Aw man, an up and down day for sure! Are you going to post your pics? And did you find the tompot down the end of the pier in the scaffold pipe?

[KenByrne]

Try claiming the convertor on your house insurance. It's worked for me in the past.

[DDT uk]

Originally Posted by KenByrne

Try claiming the convertor on your house insurance. It's worked for me in the past.

I am rather hoping that Sea and Sea will replace the part. It is less than a year old and it is meant to be a sealed unit. The leak it coming in at a part that is screwed shut with an o-ring inside.

We'll see how we get on.

Tazzie

I did find the tompots. It seems that every pipe has one at either end! I can't believe that I haven't seen them before.

I will post some pictures when I upload them. There are some backscatter issues. I'm not sure if it is my strobe placement or just the about of debris in the water. There are problems with my bendy arms not allowing me to get the strobes where I want them. I've been toying with the idea of getting some new arms and so they may have to move up the agenda.

Daniel

[Tazzie]

The Tompots are fab aren't they that's why I was so ****ed off about my fins / drusuit!!!!

I've been having probs with backscatter so I positioned my strobe quite differently on Sunday, seems to have worked... But then I really was the first person in the water, the world and it's wife were heading in after me! In conclusion having just thought about it I now don't know whether it was the new strobe position or the lack of stuff in the water!



I just wish I'd have gone back in now and gotten a little lower on this shot!

[DDT uk]

How was you positioning them? I had been trying to have them both facing forwards parallel and next to the port. Not sure how we it worked because of the amount of debris.

For some of the tompot shots I was putting one aiming straight down the pipe and another straight above it. The trouble is that I can't remember which shots were where!

I'll post a couple of shots tonight when I get home. I have transferred them to the PC.

Daniel

[Tazzie]

I only use one strobe so it's fairly simplistic, and also I'm not the greatest at strobe positioning!! However, listening to Martin Edge he doesn't "point" the strobe at the subject at all and uses the edge of the strobe's coverage to light the subject.

I'm guessing this is what most people do?

Not know what the viz was going to be like I had my little torch on the top of my housing so I'd be able to focus if it was dark and sh*tty, and the strobe was then positioned above that so probably 10cm behind the port and about 20cm above the port facing straight out.

I moved it to one side of the port at one stage but got a big shadow to the left of my pipe and no benefit in colour...

[whacky]

I have a sea & sea ys-110 which has a built in spotting/focusing lamp so some one must use them for direct lighting. But lighting is something I am trying to perfect and something i am hoping martin can help with.

I am off to swanage on saturday for a boat dive and a dip off the pier.

[simonmort]

You dont seem to have much luck with camera gear, Daniel. You must of been really bad in a previous life.
simon.

[Tazzie]

Originally Posted by whacky

I have a sea & sea ys-110 which has a built in spotting/focusing lamp so some one must use them for direct lighting. But lighting is something I am trying to perfect and something i am hoping martin can help with.

I am off to swanage on saturday for a boat dive and a dip off the pier.

Yeah that's the same as my Inon and to be honest why I've been pointing the strobe at subjects more in the past.

It's a tricky one, was I just really lucky with the viz (doubtful given the way I was thrashing around in my new fins) or does positioning the strobe away from the subject really reduce the back scatter that much??

More experimentation necessary...