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Just got back from a dive trip off the coast of Borneo. We were diving around Lankayan Island in the Sulu Sea. If you're a diver, this is a fantastic place to spend a week.

All photos are with a Canon G9 with Canon's UW housing. The housing performed well with one exception. After about 40 minutes it started to fog up when I was using heavy amounts of video. I'm guessing the battery was heating up and causing condensation. This was quickly fixed by adding two extra packages of desiccant. The housing is large enough around the barrel to add a few more bags if necessary. the only other issue was that the case is a little too buoyant if your not using an external flash system.

Overall I was pleased with the way the system worked and would recommend it to others that are interested in uw photography.


Blue spotted stingray


Ghost pipefish





Some type of seaworm?


Another kind of seaworm?


Sitting here at 21 meters and 17 minutes into the dive. The housing is rated to 40 meters so it should cover most recreational diving.


A nudibranch on the edge of a wreck


A white tipped reef shark and a blue spotted stingray taking a nap together



btw - I'm not very good at identifying species so if you see something wrong please correct me. Thanks.

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Leica M9, Nikon D300s, Leica X1, Canon S95, Zero Image 6x9

Steve, those are really neat. I think the quality is exaclty what you expect from the G9 on land. I saw a show on discovery last year called expedition borneo, fell in love with the place. When I saw it in the title, I had to read and I'm glad I did. Can I ask why you were there in the first place?

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Jake O'Connell, 40D Crew
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I was there only for the dive trip. We flew into Kota Kinabalu, then took a short flight to Sandakan, and then jumped on a speedboat for a 90 minute ride to Lankayan Island. It sounds like a lot of work to get there, but it was well worth the trip.

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Leica M9, Nikon D300s, Leica X1, Canon S95, Zero Image 6x9

Wow, I wouldn't mind getting into diving. Last summer I spent a lot of time swiming, and doing some underwater filming. I'd put my camcorder in a clear boat bag and in the folds I'd put a couple folder paper towels as a defense against water and I also, put in effervesance tablets (when h2o touchs it nucleation occurs and o2 is released) inorder to infate the bag if water got it. I also took it into a waterfall. When I get home from vacation I'll find the video and upload it. Otherwise I think I lost most of my cool video.

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Jake O'Connell, 40D Crew
Canon EOS 40D | 28-135mm IS | 50mm f/1.8 |Vivitar DF 383 | Vivitar 285hv
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"Photography isn't so much about the results as it is the collective experience, your interactions with people and with the world"

I was diving today actually Still working to get to 1* though, and underwaterphotography is only on the far horizon...
Nice pics! And you definitely have warmer water than we do here... (6 degrees Celsius...)

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woa!!! - chilly!!!


Great shots Steve. The G9 and its housing look like a nice package to get started in good quality under-water photography!!! Good work.


Mark

You are one very brave man. The coolest water I've been diving in is 23 degrees celsius, and that was COLD.

Mark - Thanks for the kind words. What you don't see here is the hundreds of attempts just to get a few decent shots.

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Leica M9, Nikon D300s, Leica X1, Canon S95, Zero Image 6x9

great shot, I'm from Indonesia so it's cool to see UW from Indo,

anyway, the Sea Worm u mentioned is probably Sea Anemone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_anemone

Really nice shots...
Obly request i have is that i would like to see a picture of the camera in the UW house. But i guess i could just search a bit for that

Great work!

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Cool to see some more scuba divers on here. I've got my Padi Advanced Open water which lets me go to 40 Metres. I've dived in Plymouth in the UK, was freezing around 18. Was wearing gloves, the works. Deepest I've gone is 37 metres. Also dived in Spain, and Malta. Haven't been diving in over a year now, as I've been spending my moneys on camera stuff, but the sea isnt going anywhere haha.

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Haha!! Indeed If anything, we're getting more of it!!!

Mark

Hi Noceo,

Sorry for the late reply. I finally got around to taking some photos of the camera in the housing.


G9 from back with back open


Front view without flash diffuser


Front view with diffuser

All in all it's a good setup without spending $1000's on an UW DSLR system with strobes. The only problems I'm finding is that it's a little too buoyant for my liking and the yellow o-ring in back is awkward to remove.

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Leica M9, Nikon D300s, Leica X1, Canon S95, Zero Image 6x9

Thanks for that. It's so hard to identify the HUGE variety of species down there.

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Leica M9, Nikon D300s, Leica X1, Canon S95, Zero Image 6x9

How much was that housing?

looks like a very interesting one, where did u get it?

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Hi Alex,

It's a Canon housing that I bought from my local dealer (in Taipei). It's just under US$200. It's a bargain compared to the Ikelite or the Sea and Sea housings.

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Leica M9, Nikon D300s, Leica X1, Canon S95, Zero Image 6x9