new blog on the block

Bjorn has started a new blog on diving, the "Sydney Diver Daily", only not so daily in his posts i guess. There is an interesting post there about the salvo 12W LED canister light.

quick price check for dSLRs

A quick price check for entry level dSLRs with a housing
(prices are in US dollars, so also in AU dollars..)

• Olympus E520 in an Olympus PT-E05 housing, with the standard lens port PPOE05 :
  700 + 830 + 300 = $1830
• Canon 450D in Ikelite with port:
  800 + 1330 + 200 = 2330
• Canon 1000D has a price tag of 700USD, but not sure about a housing for it.
• Nikon D60 in fantasea (fantasea housings prices include a port):
  630 + 1000 = 1630
• Nikon D80 in fantasea:
  950 + 1100 = 2050

I believe that the olympus housing is the only one (from the short list above) that allows the camera's internal strobe to be used (for use with external strobes connected with optic cables).

creatures of bare island: pygmy lionfish

We keep seeing a pygmy lionfish (possibly more than one?) at bare island. it has the strange habit of sitting inside sponges upside down, or pointing its "nose" straight down.

I was just reading this article about lionfish that threaten reefs in the Caribbean, so I remembered the lionfish photos i got from bare island, somehow!

The most recent encounter was saturday 19-Jul-2008. This time it was not hiding in the sponges as usual.

.
photos from 25-May-2008, and on 26-Apr-2008.



from 10-apr-2008, night dive:



More pics (14-Mar-2008)



I believe my first photos of this lionfish at bare island are from 30-Jan-2008.




Here are the photos that i got from different dives, side by side, oldest to most recent.

rumors of a new nikon P6000

I am reading through DivePhotoGuide.com that there are rumors about a new nikon P6000.
The specs mentioned in the photo that appears on flickr, in full size, include:

28mm eq. wide lens, Raw format, 6400 ISO, nikon's VR, 2.7in screen and 13.5 mpixels on a 1/1.7 sensor.