Digital Underwater Photography - First Dive Trip

In June, 2003, I made my first dive trip with my underwater digital SLR setup. I dove out of Little River, South Carolina with members of my diving club, Metuchen Underwater Divers . We went out with Coastal Scuba on the 45' long Safari IV. The first day was thirty miles offshore in 104' of water on the wreck of the Hebe . I don't normally like diving this deep because I don't have a lot of bottom time to take photos. As soon as I started taking photos, I realized that this new system would take some getting used to. I had to use my Ikelite 200 strobe in the manual mode as it does not operate in the TTL mode with the Nikon D100. I watched the histogram on the LCD screen and adjusted strobe output levels and lens openings to suit. I was shooting in Aperture priority mode. I would set the lens opening and the camera adjusts the shutter speed. My first mistake was not noticing that my film (sensitivity) speed setting was at 400 and not the 200 that I planned. This did not cause any problems in the finished pictures. I just had to dial in the right lens opening and strobe output. On my first dive, I shot approximately 45 photos - nine more than I normally could. This was great. I can no longer count on running out of film before bottom time. I have to be more vigilant of my gauges. I used a 60mm macro lens for all my dives during the two days. With the digital multiplication factor, the lens is actually a 90mm. This is due to the camera chip size. All lenses that I use will be 50% longer than they really are. For example, my 17-35mm lens will be a 25-53mm lens. I found myself shooting more photos of the same subject from different angles. I didn't worry about running out of film. I deleted some images on the bottom but did not do this continuously. I knew that I would have limited time at this depth and I could delete on the boat. The sand perch, blue angelfish, thorny sea star and the ridged slipper lobsters below are a couple of photos from the first and second dives.
Bank Sea Bass	Ridged Slipper Lobster
Juvenile Blue Angelfish	Thorny Sea Star
On day 2, we were scheduled to dive the Governor, which is twenty miles offshore in approx. 82' of water. Unfortunately, rough seas kept us closer to shore. We dove an artificial reef site named Barracuda Alley in 62' of water about ten miles offshore. On my first dive, I spent close to 50 minutes on the bottom and shot a staggering 97 photos. I couldn't believe it. The downside was that visibility wasn't so great and there was a surge on the bottom which put a lot of particulate into the water. That didn't stop me from taking another 65 photos on the second dive. One of my favorite is the yellow cheek wrasse below. I also photographed plenty of sea urchins, both boring (shown) and variegated.
Yellowcheek Wrasse
Boring Sea Urchin
I took two 1-gb compact flash cards with me and I had to change cards between dives. It was exciting to be able to take so many photos at one time. I didn't find two many problem areas. There were times when the camera did not seem to focus fast enough. I really missed the TTL and I will upgrade to a TTL strobe when one becomes available. I got a little nervous at the end of the second dive on the second day. I didn't know if my strobe battery would last after shooting all the photos that I did. Next time, I will bring a spare battery on the boat. While I was hanging on the line at 15', I found myself looking at photos on the camera LCD. That makes the hang time go by fast. At the beginning of July, Veronica and I will be on the Nekton Rorqual for a trip off Cuba. This trip is going to be all digital. No film! Actually, I am bringing five rolls and a Nikonos V just for jellyfish. The Nikonos extension tube macro system is the best for shooting transparent jellyfish. I will update this section as I continue to use the digital equipment.

In June, 2003, I made my first dive trip with my underwater digital SLR setup. I dove out of Little River, South Carolina with members of my diving club, Metuchen Underwater Divers . We went out with Coastal Scuba on the 45' long Safari IV. The first day was thirty miles offshore in 104' of water on the wreck of the Hebe . I don't normally like diving this deep because I don't have a lot of bottom time to take photos.

As soon as I started taking photos, I realized that this new system would take some getting used to. I had to use my Ikelite 200 strobe in the manual mode as it does not operate in the TTL mode with the Nikon D100. I watched the histogram on the LCD screen and adjusted strobe output levels and lens openings to suit. I was shooting in Aperture priority mode. I would set the lens opening and the camera adjusts the shutter speed. My first mistake was not noticing that my film (sensitivity) speed setting was at 400 and not the 200 that I planned. This did not cause any problems in the finished pictures. I just had to dial in the right lens opening and strobe output.

On my first dive, I shot approximately 45 photos - nine more than I normally could. This was great. I can no longer count on running out of film before bottom time. I have to be more vigilant of my gauges. I used a 60mm macro lens for all my dives during the two days. With the digital multiplication factor, the lens is actually a 90mm. This is due to the camera chip size. All lenses that I use will be 50% longer than they really are. For example, my 17-35mm lens will be a 25-53mm lens.

I found myself shooting more photos of the same subject from different angles. I didn't worry about running out of film. I deleted some images on the bottom but did not do this continuously. I knew that I would have limited time at this depth and I could delete on the boat. The sand perch, blue angelfish, thorny sea star and the ridged slipper lobsters below are a couple of photos from the first and second dives.

Digital Photography - Above and Below Water - Page 4 - First Dive Trip

Bank Sea Bass

Ridged Slipper Lobster

Juvenile Blue Angelfish

Thorny Sea Star

Yellowcheek Wrasse

Boring Sea Urchin