Loifushi Maldives (nov 2003)

[Andythescientist]

Here's a selection of photos from my last diving trip to the maldives last year, taken with an olympus MJU300


http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/D1.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/D2.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/D3.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/D4.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/D5.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/D6.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/D7.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/D8.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/D9.jpg

[ahoy]

Quality photos.

I just wish I could think of a way to get out there that doesn't involve getting hitched!

S.

[alfa]

You are a lot braver than me , I still remenber Jaws :o

[Andythescientist]

How about this coming at you in the dark!


http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Shark.jpg

[Andythescientist]

one or two damsel fish :P


http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/damsels.jpg

[Andythescientist]

Peak a boo!

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/peakaboo.jpg

[mark]

Great Pics Andy,

What dives did you go on while you were there? We did 8 in total including the 4 in the training.

Did you go over to Club Med while you were there?

Mark.

[JustNemo]

Andy

Great pics. What camera did you use?

Just wonder if my Sea & Sea MX 10 will produce such good pics?

Sam

[JustNemo]

OK see you used an Olympus oops!

[Andythescientist]

I was amased at the quality myself as it was the first time i've used a camera while diving, best bit's been trying to convince people the frog fish was really a fish and not a rubber toy!

Aye the olympus was the Mju300, think you can get them pretty cheap now around 130quid on the net. And the housing i bought for it was the official olympus one the pt-016 which was about £100 too.

Best thing about the camera being digital was being able to check them after each dive and delete the bad ones. Believe me i must have shot about 400 pics over the week and deleted about half of them :P

Before my next trip i'm thinking of buying the new MJU410, as the 300 was my mums that i just borrowed to try it out, and i was so pleased with the results i want my own :) The other thing i'm planning on doing is buying a red correction filter to put alot of the colour back into the pics. The best ones tended to be the ones close to rocks like the guy in the whole and the boxershrimp as the flash was able to work at close range. But with the red filter the open water shots should look alot more colourful.

Not wanting to advertise but for digital housings check out

http://www.camerasunderwater.co.uk

They have loads of information.

[simonm]

fantastic photos andy, BTW not sure if you noticed but theres a shark with you in the water on one of the photos ;)

[keith]

Andy,

I was very impressed with the pictures.

I have just bought a Canon IXUS 500 but have never used a digital underwater before. Can you tell me what settings you used please.

Regards

[Andythescientist]

To be honest as it was my first time using the camera i tried a number of settings to get these shots, and can't exactly remember which was used for which shot. A number of the shots (boxer shrimp, frog fish) were taken at night, with the build in flash and the camera set to night mode. Other shots like the coral beuty in the cave were simple taken on automatic mode, these closer up shots against reef walls seemed to come out pretty well as the flash worked well from close range. The hardest shots to get right seemed to be those into open water, which tended to be a bit washed out, hopefully the addition of a red filter will help this next time.

Ohh one thing that i never had any success with was trying to use the no flash mode with the equivelant of an extended shutter time, as these shot's always tended to be blurred. Generally though i was amazed at how easy it was to get some really nice shots, as i've generally never picked up a camera before other than for holiday snaps, so know very little about them.

[Tango]

For cameras and housings also look at http://www.digitaldepot.co.uk ;)