Similans with a compact

[gooseberry]

Following on from antacid's great pics, here are a number of my shots from the trip to Similans.

Favourite from the trip was actually snorkelling with a couple of very friendly turtles that came to the boat at Donald Duck Bay

#1 Turtle

Very lucky to get to see my first manta ever - had just completed my safety stop and was about to surface when the manta decided to do a close range fly by
#2 Manta ray

Video of the manta fly by here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMLddJWanug


Another favourite was catching the tomatoe anenome fish
#3 Tomatoe anenome fish

Some other record shots from the trip

#4 Boxfish

#5 Boxfish

 

[gooseberry]

Some Shrimps
#6

#7

Some Morays (giant and honeycomb)
#8

#9

#10 Cuttlefish

 

[gooseberry]

Scorpionfish
#11

#12

#13 Emperor Angelfish

#14 Porcupinefish

#15 wideangle

 

[gooseberry]

Thanks to antacid, now thinking of getting a strobe (or a couple of them)....

 

[ahbian]

Wow. Pretty good set of pics you have here, backscatter only noticable towards the end.

You mean they were taken with a compact without any strobes? I'm looking into a decent underwater setup, care to tell what is yours?

 

[antacid]

Thanks to antacid, now thinking of getting a strobe (or a couple of them)....

heh heh heh...you think i'd be so kind to lug a strobe + tray and arms up just to let you guys use it for free? i'm not such a nice person after all...
((=

i really like the first turtle shot. very crisp and clear. i think we saw the same moray in #8...that fella was too big to fit into the rock right? could see the body from the top of the rock. was sorely tempted to give it a good poke for being so fat, but thought better of it because i love my 10 fingers too much...

hope you and HS had fun with us! a pity you didn't join us on the last night at patong. it was wild man...just wild...

 

[gooseberry]

Wow. Pretty good set of pics you have here, backscatter only noticable towards the end.

You mean they were taken with a compact without any strobes? I'm looking into a decent underwater setup, care to tell what is yours?

Thanks ahbian, yeah, most of the shots were taken with a compact without a strobe - borrowed a strobe from antacid for only a couple of dives (the shots of the shrimps and the porcupinefish and angelfish were taken with the strobe).

Setup is Fuji F11 with the stock Fuji housing - setup is not bad, as the housing is cheap and very good quality, but camera is just not wide enough and you can get better macro capabilities from other compacts.

 

[gooseberry]

heh heh heh...you think i'd be so kind to lug a strobe + tray and arms up just to let you guys use it for free? i'm not such a nice person after all...
((=

i really like the first turtle shot. very crisp and clear. i think we saw the same moray in #8...that fella was too big to fit into the rock right? could see the body from the top of the rock. was sorely tempted to give it a good poke for being so fat, but thought better of it because i love my 10 fingers too much...

hope you and HS had fun with us! a pity you didn't join us on the last night at patong. it was wild man...just wild...

Thanks... Hahaha...yeah, that moray is supposedly the famous one at East of Eden which took that guy's thumb a couple of years back.

Hmmm... heard some hints about that last night out... wondering what went on there...

 

[tchuanye]

These are really nice! thanks for sharing!

 

[~Dolphin~]

nice pics...wow u are really lucky to see a manta there... I didnt even see a turtle in my 3 days there.. ...

 

[airforce1]

Nice series of uw photos. turtles the best shot.

 

[gooseberry]

These are really nice! thanks for sharing!

Thanks tchuanye. Glad you like them.

 

[gooseberry]

nice pics...wow u are really lucky to see a manta there... I didnt even see a turtle in my 3 days there.. ...

Thanks Dolphin. Yeah, very lucky, the boat crew were saying we were quite lucky to see a manta as there was no plankton around - even luckier for me considering it was the second last dive of the trip and I had already completed my safety stop.

Hope you get to see lots of mantas and turtles on your next dive trip !

 

[gooseberry]

Nice series of uw photos. turtles the best shot.

Thanks mate. Yeah, I like it too... think I'll print it big and hang it up on my wall.

 

[gooseberry]

...I'm looking into a decent underwater setup...

Actually, for a compact setup, you might want to take a look at the Sea&Sea DX-1G (which is basically a rebadged Ricoh GX-100) - 24mm lens, great macro ability. For some silly reason you can only get the housing with the Sea&Sea camera (and not for the Ricoh camera, even thoughthey are the same cam). Think I would have gone for this if I didn't already have my old F11.

 

[camerashy]

I like your pictures. I got a F31fd with an original Fuji casing. Without a strobe I usually get quite a lot of backscatter, how did you get so little backscatter for the other photos? Nice.

 

[antacid]

I like your pictures. I got a F31fd with an original Fuji casing. Without a strobe I usually get quite a lot of backscatter, how did you get so little backscatter for the other photos? Nice.

dive in waters with good vis, and not have divers to stir up silt!
((=

 

[gooseberry]

I like your pictures. I got a F31fd with an original Fuji casing. Without a strobe I usually get quite a lot of backscatter, how did you get so little backscatter for the other photos? Nice.

Thanks, glad you like the pics. Yeah, as antacid mentions, good vis and not having people (or yourself) stir up silt is good. Another thing is that if the subject/situation allows, using slow-sync flash on the internal flash can reduce the effects of the backscatter from really bright spots, to only slightly brighter smudges (of course, you'd need to keep the camera steadier)