The DipNotes

Last May I discovered how easy and inexpensive it is to go SCUBA diving here in Singapore.  While the diving within Singaporean waters is not good, we are close some pretty worthwhile diving locations, and within short flights to some fantastic sites.

Since I have weekends off, I looked for sites that were close by, and a colleague of mine introduced me to a site off the Eastern coast of Malaysia called Sibu.  It’s a tiny island with a couple of resorts, one of which is basically upscale camping.  Lodging is in thatched huts, no hot water, no boat dock, no vehicles (no roads!), pretty basic.  It’s called Rimba and was just what I was looking for!  And the best part is the price – $220 for a full weekend that includes all travel, lodging, and meals!

Beach at Rimba

The staff are fantastic, and we quickly became friends.  They have arranged a Malaysian driver to pick me up at the Embassy in Singapore on Friday night after work.  He drives me across the boarder to a small fishing village about 3 hours away.  From there a high-speed boat whisks me away to the island of Sibu where the staff are on the beach waiting for my arrival.  After being in the big crowded city, it’s like arriving in a small paradise!

Rimba has a house-reef that starts at the shore.  It is shallow algae covered rocks to a depth of 2 to 3 meters (tidal) until you go about 50 meters from shore.  Then the real corals appear and the diving is not bad at all.  There are loads of fish, hard corals, and even a few Black Tipped reef sharks that seem to stay in the area.

Nikonos V underwater 35mm film camera

I have wanted to get involved in photography, but I wanted nice hi-resolution images suitable for large wall hangings.  The cost to do that with modern digital equipment starts around $3,000 and easily rises to $5,000.  However, the best underwater photography from the 1980-1990s was done with a unique camera designed by Nikon using 35mm film.  The camera was the Nikonos V that came out in 1984 and was built like a tank, didn’t need an underwater housing, could go to depths of  55 meters, and could use the best underwater lens ever designed – the venerated Nikonos 15mm UW wide-angle lens.  Even today this lens can not be matched for image sharpness as it was designed solely for underwater use and uses a special curved front lens to correct for water refraction/distortion.    Fortunately, no one wants a “film” camera anymore, and so these gems are available on ebay for under a $100!  A full kit can be found for $250 – which can produce images that rival the new $3,000 digitals.

I started hanging out on ebay and and nailed a Nikonos V for $76 in near mint condition.  I then added a $125 strobe, and a 20mm wide angle lens for another $70.  I picked up a few odds and ends, and won a Nikonos hard-case for a wooping 99 cents!  So for about $375.99 I have a camera system that can make poster size images!

I went out two weeks ago and so here’s my very first attempts with this system.  I have a bunch to learn and will go back out next week.

UPDATE! Check out my latest photos here!

I just got back from a week in Sydney, one of my favorite cities. I flew down from Singapore (a 7 hour flight) and met up with megan who flew in from Fiji.  We had a great time, took in a bunch of sights, and ate far too much good food!

But today I am going to stray from my normal Foreign Service topics and share a bit from my photography hobby.

During the week in Sydney I took a ton of photos, and learned a new photographic technique called High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography.    Here’s a sample of HDR photos I took last week:

The skyline of Sydney, Australia

The Sydney Observatory

The Blue Mountains, a few hours west of Sydney

The Entrance to the Jenolan Caves

Jenolan Caves

Government House - the oldest government building in Sydney

When you look at these photos, you may think they are painted, as the details and colors seem unnatural.  However, this is the result of HDR imaging techniques.  You start by taking multiple exposures (both over and underexposed shots) of the same subject at the same time and then use a computer to process the individual exposures into one final image.  This brings out color and details that would otherwise be washed out or too dark.

Three photos of the same subject with different exposure lengths

Here’s how it works.  I took three shots of the Sydney Observatory; the first was overexposed, the second was just right, and the third was underexposed.  If you examine the “normal” photo (middle) you see that the sky is washed out and almost colorless, the reflections in the windows are weak and dark, and the purple flowers on the ground are almost invisible.  This is what most people would have walked away with.  But the overexposed image (first)  was able to capture the window reflections and shows the purple flowers in the shade plus the trellis nicely, however the sky is totally washed out and the building and roof are too light.   The underexposed (third) captured the beautiful sky nicely, but everything else is way too dark.

Now I combine them with a program called Aperture (Macintosh application) and the result is stunning!

The Sydney Observatory