Kelpscape

Nikonos V OK! Cat Yawns.

Here's an image of Lily: the test roll is such a drag!  The Nikonos V seems to be OK. Many thanks to Color Services for their quick turnaround.  Let's see how it does underwater.  It will be a little over a week before I can post photos -- so stay tuned!

Nikonos V Flood

My Nikonos V flooded -- or maybe it was just a gradual rise in the level of salt water. I'd noticed that the shutter button didn't alway trigger -- usually it would get better if I waited awhile, and maybe turned the camera upside-down. Then the shutter speed knob got harder to turn, until I couldn't turn it at all. That's a problem because the shutter speed has to be changed from "Automatic" (or any shooting setting) to "Rewind" after every roll of film. And, I am planning to head to Cabo Pulmo for a week of diving in a couple of days, and don't want to use my housed DSLR. It's way to late to send it out for service.

 So, I used the exploded-parts diagrams and terse sequence for disassembly I found online to take the camera apart. (Well, to take knobs off and the camera mechanism out of the case). It didn't require any specialized tools, as I'd heard: just some small Phillips screwdrivers, good light, and magnifiers to see what was going on. When I took it out of its case, lots of white and gray dust came out, particularly from around the axis of the shutter-speed knob, but really from throughout the camera -- with the exceptions of the optics and electronics -- and the user-accessible spaces.  Metal parts were corroded and plastic parts were covered with white deposits. O-rings were dry and caked. I figure a little water must have been getting in for quite a while. The picture isn't very good but it tells the story.

 

I scraped off the deposits where they were thick, and cleaned up the dust with some Q-tips and water. I greased the O-rings and sealed it back up.  Everything seems to work. Thanks to Color Services, I'll see the test rolls tomorrow.

The camera is an old one, bought from ebay. It had annual service 7 months ago, and I put 24 dives into it since. I mentioned to the tech that the shutter wouldn't trigger, and the film advance was having problems; he attributed these to wear. I'm not sure if the problem predated his work, or started just after it. Neither is good. 

The Nik V is a mighty tough little machine. But, I'm suspecting this one won't last much longer.

Sea Lion

Sea lions are hard to photograph because they move fast. They love to flaunt their grace underwater, mocking  divers.  They occasionally pause for an instant to strike a pose, then move on to the next one or shoot out of sight.  It's tricky to focus.  This one visited a group of scuba divers at The Gap, on the south side of Anacapa, during a 2-day trip on the Peace.

New Housing: Joining the Digital Age

I got a new Subal housing, for my Nikon D700, and hope to take it underwater soon!

The FX sensor on the D700 is counter-trend.  Senitments among serious underwater photographers seem to favor DX-format sensors. But, I've come to prefer to larger sensor, perhaps because of the many thousands of images I've shot using 35 mm film with the Nikon F5, and the Nikormat before. I hope that the GS-180 Magnifying Viewfinder may be as helpful as the action finder on the F5.  The newer housing isn't quite as bombproof: 20 vs 25 lbs, including the Sea & Sea YS-120 strobes.  We'll see how those work out: they won't get TTL with the D700. 

Evil Nudibranch Twin

This nudibranch looks like it's glowing redly from within as it erupts from a blade of red algae.  Actually the strobe is shining through the kelp, illuminating an opalescent nudibranch (Hermissenda crassicornis).  When the surge passes and the kelp blade turns, the same nudibranch an instant later still looks like it's glowing from within -- but with white light rather than red, from the unfiltered strobe.  So it's really that color, right?  Well, when not illuminated by the strobe it looks pretty bland, to eyes or cameras. No doubt it looks pretty different to the underwater creatures, who have eyes that see different colors -- when they have eyes at all.