I recently wrote a detailed review of the Canon 7D and Aquatica housing which has been published at the Underwater Photography Guide. The article expands on my first look blog post and includes my ongoing view of how the 7D is performing for both stills and video shooting applications.

Feel free to contact me if you have any specific questions.

I took my Canon 7D and the Aquatica A7D housing for its first dive today. I can say without question that the combination of the two certainly didn’t disappoint. Upgrading from a Canon 40D/50D and Aquatica housing, the immediate thing to hit me was the brightness and size of the 7D viewfinder through the AquaView. The second thing was the autofocus – it’s damm fast! The internals of the housing are a thing of beauty with the camera fitting precisely. My only negative comment is that it would have been nice to have the moisture alarm fitting at the factory, rather than doing it myself.

As has been reported in other reviews the Aquatica housing is small and feels light when compared to it’s predecessors. Shooting with my old lenses, strobes and ports the experience was seamless for still photography. Aperture, shutter speed and release are all where you want and expect them. The dials are easier to manipulate too when compared to my 50D housing as I presume they have bolder edges which grip nicely even with thin temperate water gloves.

The 7D’s beautiful LCD is shown off well. One of my minor gripes with the 50D was that the top of the screen was blocked at certain angles and the AquaView didn’t help things. The A7D seems to address this with a nicely positioned LCD window and even with the AquaView, viewing the screen was no issue at all. Several people have questioned the omission of the top LCD window, but I have no issue with this as I never used it on the 40D housing. The Canon information screen makes the top LCD redundant in my view.

I primarily focused on stills today though curiosity forced me to enter video mode. Using a 60mm lens in murky water left me few options. I got close and opened the lens up to f/2.8 (and I paid the penalty for it). My less than steady hand meant the video was almost useless, so I think I’ll need a tripod for macro video. I say almost useless as I could see glimpses of awesome definition when things were in focus. Stay tuned for wider angle footage using the Canon 28mm f/1.8 and Tokina 10-17mm as I think it’s going to be great for wrecks and large animals.

I’m leaving this review incomplete as I need more time in the water to understand the camera and housing more. More from me in the coming days, though thanks to Peter from Scubapix and Jean and the crew at Aquatica for getting the housing to me for a timely birthday present!

After two dives on the SS Keilawarra wreck I have to say I’ve mixed reviews about the dive. At 72m it’s deep, though well worth the hang time which for us exceeded 2.5 hours. Over 100 years underwater has taken its toll on the ship, with the hull mostly broken down though the boilers, prop and many artefacts are all still visible.

The site itself is reputed to frequently have high currents and low visibility, though our first day was the exact opposite. Relatively clear warm water to the bottom resulted in a dark but pleasant dive. Marking the most of it we pushed our bottom time to 32min and then sat back for the required decompression. The next day it was like a different site, with 1-2m visibility though only a minor current was present.

The mixed trip of GUE boys and two of us on CCRs made for an interesting weekend, with many discussions had on GUE, DIR and CCR paradigms.

Click here to see the full gallery.

I've been working on a new version of OneStop deco, but this time implemented in Silverlight. The technology is not cross browser and platform, so will work on windows and Mac.

The base algorithm for the new version is the same as the older version but seems to run faster and with more stability than the older versions.

You can run the new version straight out of the browser at http://damiensiviero.com/onestopdeco/beta.

I've uploaded a small collection of images from my USA adventure, and includes a both underwater and surface shots. The collection includes images from California, Florida cave diving, Daytona, the USS Oriskanny aircraft carrier wreck, Vegas Baby and an assortment of randoms.

The collection can be viewed from my portfolio or by clicking here.

I can describe my time in Florida by saying caves, caves, caves; though it doesn’t depict my experience. I dived some of the world’s best caves, attended a race day at the world famous Daytona speedway and dived on one of two air craft carrier wrecks in the world. None of this however describes the people, whom for me really made the trip.

After flying into Jackonsville (FL) I started the 2.5 hour drive to Fort White, which would become my cave diving base for the next week or so. Within 30 minutes of arriving at Amigos Dive Center I was given gas, sorb, lead, a buddy and a place to say; 60 minutes after that I was well into the famous Devil’s Eye syste at Ginnie Springs. Wayne at Amigos is certainly the man if you’re diving cave country and even had a DIY 24x7 fill station (O2, He, EAN) for those late night fills!

Hooking up with some relative locals was easy and my empty calendar was quickly filled with a plan to dive some long and spectacular cave systems (did I mention long?). With CCR dives from 2-4 hours and penetrations of over a mile, it’s not an environment for the untrained or faint of hearted.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines flow as “...to move in one direction, especially continuously and easily”. After diving some of these caves with high flow, my definition is something like “...a force possessed by the wrath of satan. Unyielding and powerful, it has the ability to strip skin off your finger tips to the point where you bleed".

Moving on Merrits Mill Pond I was priveledged enough to dive a cave system called Spring Board with Edd Sorrenston at Cave Adventures. I can say that it was of the most impressive places I've ever been, and it looked remenisent of something on National Georgraphic documentary. Spectacular white limestone walls and passages that seemingly went on forever.

Finishing off my trip with a few dives on the USS Oriskanny was fun, but plagued with weather issues. Two of my four days were cancelled due to bad weather, and the underwater conditions on the days we dived weren't great. In all though I got two nice, albeit deep and long dives in. You definately need more time on the wreck to give it a serious go.

Well I have finally made it over to Florida where the weather is hot, sticky and it rains a lot. This is a wild contrast to California which was dry hot and cold all in the space of 5 minutes.

I did my first cave here today which was an experience. No photos to show but I will have some online in the next few days. The lack of 3G for my IPhone had hampered my efforts (or I’ve just been drunk for a week??).

Monterey in California is perhaps one of the most spectacular places I’ve been, though what’s with the fog and 7 degree (Celsius) water? Preparing for a boat trip which was said to be rough, we eventually head out in a 12ft swell though with no wind and seas to speak of the trip was rocky though pleasant. The biggest shock was the fog, which is thick and unrelenting; requiring the boat to navigate via radar only as surface visibility was about 20 metres.

I was given advice to book onto a boat charter to Big Sur, which is just south of Monterey. The trip was long, though well worth the ride as the place has no shore access and as such is pristine and rarely visited. Spectacular giant kelp forests towering from 30m to the surface and cover hundreds of square metres. Thick, lush and full of life, these kelp forests support a variety of life including seals and sea otters which frolic around in the forest canopy.

If you’re in the area, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is well worth a visit and is definitely the most impressive aquarium I’ve seen. The exhibits were fresh, engaging and some downright spectacular. The sea horse exhibit would make even the most seasoned campaign stop and watch, though the open ocean dome and exhibit have a certain wow factor.

After only a short time in Monterey and Big Sur, I can’t help compare the place to Poor Knight Islands in New Zealand. It’s apparent there is something special about the place, though I think it would require a longer stay to truly appreciate its secrets.

I’m at the airport on the dark-side of customs after VAustralia promptly checked in my 136lbs (in US scale) of equipment. Cameras, lenses, lights, batteries and chargers, rebreather, regulators, dry suit, undergarments, clothes... the list goes on but I managed to cram it all into two large and two carry-on legal size bags.

I’ll be posting a few things on my blog over the course of the next few weeks. I’ll aim to capture and provide commentary on the weird, wonderful and whacky – which I’m sure the USA will provide much of. I’ll also be posting my geographic location using the GPSed.com service, though you’ll have to watch this space for updates on that (couldn’t get the dam thing working).

Phuket is a bustling tourist island on the southern end of Thailand and also happens to be the gateway to the famous Similan Islands. A small archipelago comprised of nine islands, the Similans are famous for their beautiful scenery, manta rays, whale sharks and picturesque coral reefs.

Access to the islands is limited due to their location (approximately 84km off the coast), so we decided on a four day trip aboard MV Colona IV – a medium priced liveaboard dive vessel. The boat was smaller than expected and had a fair basic fit out.

After a long and rocky overnight steam we eventually made it to the Similan Islands. The first “checkout dive” looked promising with clear blue water and tropical fish, but was nothing more than pleasant. This dive would be characteristic of most of the other dives we did in and around the Similands – ie. nice but nothing special and not very fun for photographers.

Diving was done straight off the liveaboard, which meant the boat was always moving. The continual noise and vibration of the engine aboard the vessel became a significant irritation for me.

Despite the poor weather conditions, the boat left the relative shelter of the Similans after only 2 dives for another long steam to Richelieu Rock. This decision was apparently made because the water filter failed and fresh water needed to be retrieved. The net results was that the boat kept of steam to and from Richelieu in rough seas for the next few days.

Richelieu Rock proved to be a very impressive dive site, even with poor visiblity. The isolated pinnacle rises up from about 35-40m to the surface, and is home to a wide variety of marine life. On our trip, this included schooling barracuda, sea horses, ghost pipefish and an abundance of fish. Although strong currents sweep the site, it is relatively easy to find a sheltered position due to the large boulders that make up the bottom composition.

My impression of the region is that the marketing claims of manta rays and whale sharks are more the exception, rather than the rule. After speaking to guides and guests whom had done previous Similand trips, I reserved myself to the fact that the likelihood of seeing these beasts would be marginal at best. Similarly, sharks of any kind seemed a rarity in the region and I could only suspect that this was due to shark finning. Although we’d paid one of the most expensive marine park fees in the world (USD$20 per day), the Thai government apparently does nothing to protect the waters.

Unfortunately, MV Colona rates as one of the worse liveaboard boats that I’ve been on and made me feel overcrowded most of time. Food aboard the vessel was of poor quality, often served cold and less than inspirational. The absence of hot water in the showers was also a major disappointment! The dive deck is small, cluttered and cannot cater for the amount of divers on the boat.

After three days we found ourselves back in the Similans where the weather had eventually come good. With the sun out and the boat in a sheltered bay, the experience was much more pleasant. Here we swam alongside turtles whom were enticed in with bananas by the crew. The option to get off the liveaboard and return to Phuket seemed too good turn down, so we jumped on a speed boat and then minibus which took us to our hotel the quick way.

Due to a head cold and chest infection, I was unable to do any more diving out of Phuket. I had plans to dive with Pro-Tech Divers who are very rebreather friendly and more than helpful with oxygen, sorb and cylinders. In hindsight, day trip diving out of Phuket may have been a better option, though you cannot dive the Similans or Richelieu this way.

For me, the Similan Islands experience was not a particularly good one and not something that I will repeat. The diving at times was nice, though not world class. Richelieu Rock in contrast is a special place, though its remoteness is something that needs to be considered before planning a trip.

With exactly the same published dimensions, it seems a fair bet that the 50D will indeed fit in 40D housings. This will obviously be to the delight of all 40D housing owners.

As I've got a trip to Thailand coming in six weeks, I really want one before I go. In a desparate attempt to so see if it will fit, I overlayed 40D and 50D images using Photoshop. I'm glad to say that the signs are good, with the only differece being in the bottom left corner. I doubt this will have any consequence. The big question of course is whether the tripod screw is in the right place - though it would seem odd for Canon to change this.

For now, watch this space. I plan to have my hands on one as soon as possible...

I was just trawling through the web stats reports and it seems there is a very high number of people that are still looking for ZPlan and its variants. I guess I habbits die hard.

As I used to have Visual Plan (which contains the original ZPlan executable) on my old site, I thought I'd throw it back up here for those still search for it. You can now download Visual ZPLan and the original ZPlan from this site.

You should definately checkout OneStop though, which is a newer Bulhmann + GF decompression program.