USVI-On-Line

Spectacular images; thanks again! Might I ask where you saw the Queen Angelfish? They are fairly territorial; I can usually find a few off the rocks at the east end of Maho Bay, but would be happy to learn of any other locations.

Kevin

That's where I saw him. There were a couple of them around.

Really, really nice photos vav. I cheated and clicked through to your entire slide show One of your moon jelly photos (I think it was the last one) was spectacular!

Great pictures.

I also saw the Queen Angelfish at Maho a couple of weeks ago. Hovered over it for several minutes, but it never completely cleared the rocks. First time I had seen egrets on St. John. they were also hanging around Maho.

Wow they are gorgeous!

Vav: I had a Panasonic TS4 that I used (for snorkel shots only) on a dive trip to Little Cayman this summer. I brought it to St. John in October, but on day one noticed weird shading in the images; lo and behold, the front window had cracked, despite this being a tough camera that claims to survive six foot drops. It had worked it way loose in a checked bag (perhaps TSA abetted), and banged around against some metal items. I'm not sure if I can get a refund for it.

Anyway, long way of saying that I am back looking for a replacement underwater camera. There is a VIOL thread on this which I have read, but it didn't examine a point that I have gathered is important, and I figured that you would know. Given all of the color balance issues shooting underwater, do you save your images in RAW format and work on them afterwards? If you do, and feel strongly about shooting RAW, I'm thinking to go with something like a Canon Powershot S110 and an underwater case, since to the best of my knowledge, NONE of the submersible point and shoots can save in RAW format (I have no idea why they don't, but it is what it is). The S110 will shoot in RAW and JPEG at the same time. On the other hand, if you produced the quality that you did shooting JPEGs, then that is definitely good enough for me. One convenient bit about the S110 is that it has WiFi; submersible point and shoots should add this, since with them, you have to open an o-ring hatch every time that you need to transfer an image. Having to have an underwater case does bulk things up a bit underwater, but it would also let me take it with me on scuba dives. You have some great natural light shots, which is encouraging, since I am trying to resist the whole strobe(s) complication for now, and will mostly be doing casual snorkel shooting. The new Sony RX-100 is also interesting, although it is nearly twice as expensive, and its Ikelite housing is considerably bulkier than the WP-DC47 housing due out shortly from Canon. Your comments on RAW vs. JPG (and on the S110, if you have any), would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Kevin

Hey Kevin,
I shoot everything in raw format. I use lightroom when I get home, but while i'm on my trip I use my ipad and an app called Snapseed. A great app! Very easy to use. I use a canon g10 and housing. I think canon is up to the g15. I use pro nikon and canon equipment when my feet are on dry ground, but the g10 takes really nice pictures for all occasions.
I don't know anything about the cameras you mentioned but i'm sure they take great shots.
Steve

Steve: Thanks for the info; RAW (and therefore a housing) it is! I'll check out Lightroom and Snapseed, and copy the exchange over to the "Researching underwater cameras" thread.

Kevin