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Tomberforce
May 30, 2006

Tomato Soup posted:

I'll definitely go price match at my LDS or maybe I should just ask them for computer recommendations :v: There's no LDS that close to me but I might make a trip out in Jan or so since I'm planning on buying some boots and Hollis F1s. Might as well pick up a computer on the same trip. :)

Bulk is a really big issue for me, the most bulk I'd put up with is a slightly bulky watch but nothing like a Zoop. I'd like to be able to put my wetsuit on without removing it first.

Also I'm deaf so having bulky crap on my wrists is not helpful for other people when I'm signing :v:

I'm looking at some Tusa computers too since they have vibrating alarms (I can't hear the audible alarms) but I've barely heard anything about Tusa computers. This is the one I'm looking at now, anybody have an IQ-900 or another Tusa computer?

And I'm pushing my budget up to $600 since I had D4is as an option and they're around $550 so eh, why not expand the budget for other possible nice computers too.

Hollis F1s are the tits, I absolutely love mine! Check out the M1 mask as well, awesome bit of kit.

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crowtribe
Apr 2, 2013

I'm noice, therefore I am.
Grimey Drawer
M1 mask is the tits. Low profile, super comfortable.

I'm using a Geo2.0, which can handle 2 nitrox mixes up to 100%, but isn't air integrated, quite a decent bit of kit and you can change the battery yourself which is a bonus. Only downside is that I can't download the logs without all the proprietary cables and crap that I'd need to buy separately.

Tomato Soup
Jan 16, 2006

Yeah, I think I'm just going to get the Geo 2.0 or a Suunto D4i instead. Most likely Geo 2.0 since I really don't want to order without seeing it in person first because size is a concern for me and I can't find a nearby LDS that carries Tusa computers. One did say they'd order them for me if that was what I really wanted but that's too much commitment for something I'm unsure about :ohdear:

And I've got a mask already! Tusa Serene, great for my small face :) M1 does look really nice and I'll have to try it on when I head out to a LDS to see if it fits. I prefer a clear skirt though, I'm used to having great peripheral vision on surface and it feels wrong to lose that underwater. Even if my mask doesn't have the little windows on the sides, I still can see some blurs through the skirt so my vision isn't completely boxed in. The glare can be annoying sometimes but it's worth the tradeoff for a clear skirt to me.

I'm seriously considering diving here in winter too, the shop I contacted for a cold water orientation says the water is the same temperature year-round, it's just the air outside that gets colder so it's not that crazy :v:

Finch!
Sep 11, 2001

Spatial Awareness?

[ ] Whaleshark

404 Not Found
The Geo 2.0 is a great computer but it's very liberal compared to the Suunto gear. A friend and I took a day off, then did the same two dives one day and she went into deco and I had 40+ minutes remaining. I was using my Geo 2.0, she was using a Zoop. The Geo 2.0 has an adjustable conservatism factor, but I haven't bothered to play around with it to get it in line with the Suuntos that most people I dive with use.

With regards to Koh Tao and Big Blue, Suunto is definitely the most popular brand there.

The M1 is an excellent mask. Thoroughly recommended.

Tomato Soup
Jan 16, 2006

Yeah, I did run into that once when I had to borrow a computer from someone for my Deep/Nitrox/Wreck course because they ran out of computers and it might been be a Geo 2.0 actually. I don't remember what brand it was and I was doing my wreck spec while on Nitrox. I wasn't too worried because I had at least 15 minutes time left but then my instructor suddenly started rushing through everything and saying that we had to go up asap. Once on surface, she told me that she had like 4 minutes left when she started rushing. We just barely made it.

I know Big Blue mainly uses Suunto and that's why I'm seriously considering the D4i too even if it's $150 more than the Geo 2.0. I just wish that they had a non-AI watch-sized computer that's in the range between Zoops and D4i.

crowtribe
Apr 2, 2013

I'm noice, therefore I am.
Grimey Drawer
The Geo2 can be set to several different algorithms as well as conservatism, so not a huge issue.

It definitely doesn't look as good as the D4i, but I only wear it while diving rather than a watch, and it's simple enough to use once you get the hang of it.

let it mellow
Jun 1, 2000

Dinosaur Gum
Working on editing and picking photos, but uh... This sure is a thing compared to point and shoot world.



(They aren't all that good, but this one turned out really well, especially after tweaking the RAW some)

Trivia
Feb 8, 2006

I'm an obtuse man,
so I'll try to be oblique.
Editing underwater photos is the worst thing about diving with a camera. It's loving terrible and why it takes me something like 3 months to get around to it.

Gindack
Jan 30, 2010

Trivia posted:

Editing underwater photos is the worst thing about diving with a camera. It's loving terrible and why it takes me something like 3 months to get around to it.

I hear ya there I still have yet to go through and edit my videos that I took from my trip at the end of September.

Cru Jones
Mar 28, 2007

Cowering behind a shield of hope and Obamanium
I have hours of video as old as a few years back that I'm gonna edit too......someday.

Speaking of, my LDS has been sponsoring monthly photo contests. Which has been pushing me to go back and clean up some photos I have. This month's theme is wrecks.








I think this one is the weakest, but it always makes me chuckle.



Cru Jones fucked around with this message at 18:19 on Dec 18, 2013

Cippalippus
Mar 31, 2007

Out for a ride, chillin out w/ a couple of friends. Going to be back for dinner
drat, these are impressive! Makes me remember that this year my swimming and diving club will go back to Giglio Island if they will have finally removed the Costa Concordia wreck.

grover
Jan 23, 2002

PEW PEW PEW
:circlefap::circlefap::circlefap:
:circlefap::circlefap::circlefap:
:circlefap::circlefap::circlefap:
:circlefap::circlefap::circlefap:
:circlefap::circlefap::circlefap:
:circlefap::circlefap::circlefap:
What do you usually do to underwater pictures when you digitally tweak them? I've tried a number of things to try to enhanced washed-out colors, but always with limited success. Are there some rules of thumb or common techniques?

Trivia
Feb 8, 2006

I'm an obtuse man,
so I'll try to be oblique.
For the longest time I would just crop, then adjust levels, then saturation. After some snooping around, I found this link on Youtube that helps a lot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFhrTQJg6MI

My current photos look much, much better thanks to this video.

grover
Jan 23, 2002

PEW PEW PEW
:circlefap::circlefap::circlefap:
:circlefap::circlefap::circlefap:
:circlefap::circlefap::circlefap:
:circlefap::circlefap::circlefap:
:circlefap::circlefap::circlefap:
:circlefap::circlefap::circlefap:

Trivia posted:

For the longest time I would just crop, then adjust levels, then saturation. After some snooping around, I found this link on Youtube that helps a lot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFhrTQJg6MI

My current photos look much, much better thanks to this video.
drat, that really IS like magic!

Trivia
Feb 8, 2006

I'm an obtuse man,
so I'll try to be oblique.

Cru Jones posted:


I think this one is the weakest, but it always makes me chuckle.



Here's a quick attempt. Took maybe 5 minutes. You can probably do better if you spend more time tweaking. However, the deeper you go, the less you'll be able to correct.

Gindack
Jan 30, 2010
What length do you recommend for a SMB, 4' good or should I get a longer one?

Cru Jones
Mar 28, 2007

Cowering behind a shield of hope and Obamanium

Trivia posted:

For the longest time I would just crop, then adjust levels, then saturation. After some snooping around, I found this link on Youtube that helps a lot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFhrTQJg6MI

My current photos look much, much better thanks to this video.

Thanks, I think most of these were taken in the 60-80 foot range. This is why the 3 photos were in black and white. It lets you push the processing much further, especially when the photos were taken deep. For instance, for the two ships the one in the background is barely visible in the original photo. I use Lightroom, and play with the clarity, contrast, levels, etc.

I mean unless you have some serious light power with you, you're basically shooting monochrome blue instead of black and white anyways.

Crunkjuice
Apr 4, 2007

That could've gotten in my eye!
*launches teargas at unarmed protestors*

I THINK OAKLAND PD'S USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE WAS JUSTIFIED!

Gindack posted:

What length do you recommend for a SMB, 4' good or should I get a longer one?

It depends on the conditions you'll be diving in. Lake diving with not a lot of surface swells? Anything will do. Ocean diving where a plane may have to look for it? the biggest/brightest one you can get your hands on.

Trivia
Feb 8, 2006

I'm an obtuse man,
so I'll try to be oblique.

Cru Jones posted:

Thanks, I think most of these were taken in the 60-80 foot range. This is why the 3 photos were in black and white. It lets you push the processing much further, especially when the photos were taken deep. For instance, for the two ships the one in the background is barely visible in the original photo. I use Lightroom, and play with the clarity, contrast, levels, etc.

I mean unless you have some serious light power with you, you're basically shooting monochrome blue instead of black and white anyways.

That's an excellent point and I really should consider just grayscaling my deeper photos.

Cru Jones
Mar 28, 2007

Cowering behind a shield of hope and Obamanium
Here's the original to compare against.



Gindack
Jan 30, 2010



Started editing my videos from vacation and came across this frame, I think its my favorite thing I've taken.

SlicerDicer
Oct 31, 2010

PAILOLO CHANNEL

East gales to 35 kt. Wind waves 17 ft. Scattered showers.

Its time to DIVE
Just so everybody knows, i am alive RL is awesome will post why later

let it mellow
Jun 1, 2000

Dinosaur Gum
OK, got around to editing some of the better pictures.





Nurse sharks were everywhere, so I took a bunch of pictures of them.



We also saw turtles on multiple dives



What it looks like when you're about to drop into the Blue Hole:


Me at ~135 and in the Blue Hole.



What the Blue Hole looks like from the surface











This picture isn't that great, but it's notable because there is a lionfish in that crevice that the nurse is going after



I love this picture



The next few are from a night dive:

Getting used to teh camera and light underwater


What it looks like doing a night dive:


You need to get close to get good pictures at night


Octopus!



Brittle star

Kaddish
Feb 7, 2002
Just got back from a week in Roatan. We stayed at CocoView resort which I highly recommend if someone is after a dive heavy vacation. Diving was pretty great overall, though we had limited vis due to storms. Did a shark dive with Caribbean Reef sharks which was pretty neat.

let it mellow
Jun 1, 2000

Dinosaur Gum

Kaddish posted:

Just got back from a week in Roatan. We stayed at CocoView resort which I highly recommend if someone is after a dive heavy vacation. Diving was pretty great overall, though we had limited vis due to storms. Did a shark dive with Caribbean Reef sharks which was pretty neat.

We're going to be there in May. There's a dolphin dive too, right? Did you do that?

e: Haven't decided where to stay yet, although we've heard really good things about Anthony's Key.

Kaddish
Feb 7, 2002

jackyl posted:

We're going to be there in May. There's a dolphin dive too, right? Did you do that?

e: Haven't decided where to stay yet, although we've heard really good things about Anthony's Key.

I heard bad things about Anthony's Key while we where there but it depends on what you're looking for. Anthony's is a pretty busy resort and caters to a bit different crowd than CocoView. CocoView is strictly a diver resort and caters to divers with things like full 'concierge' service for your gear, etc. The dolphin dive I believe is at Anthony's Key; we chose the shark dive instead. If you're considering CocoView I can answer any questions you may have. We are probably going to go back unless we can't resist the temptation of going somewhere new next year.

Kaddish fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Dec 23, 2013

let it mellow
Jun 1, 2000

Dinosaur Gum

Kaddish posted:

I heard bad things about Anthony's Key while we where there but it depends on what you're looking for. Anthony's is a pretty busy resort and caters to a bit different crowd than CocoView. CocoView is strictly a diver resort and caters to divers with things like full 'concierge' service for your gear, etc. The dolphin dive I believe is at Anthony's Key; we chose the shark dive instead. If you're considering CocoView I can answer any questions you may have. We are probably going to go back unless we can't resist the temptation of going somewhere new next year.

What did you hear about Anthony's if you don't mind sharing? Or anything about any other ones?

I just started looking at the CocoView reviews on TripAdvisor so no real questions, but it does look like a cool resort! And we are probably going to do multiple dives a day almost every day we're there, although we may take a day off and go exploring, since that's something we enjoy doing usually.

Kaddish
Feb 7, 2002

jackyl posted:

What did you hear about Anthony's if you don't mind sharing? Or anything about any other ones?

I just started looking at the CocoView reviews on TripAdvisor so no real questions, but it does look like a cool resort! And we are probably going to do multiple dives a day almost every day we're there, although we may take a day off and go exploring, since that's something we enjoy doing usually.

Just that it's more of a people mover type place. They do some cruise ship business but I think they have a special place close to the cruise ship dock for that, I'm not entirely sure. It's one of the oldest resorts on the island, I believe only one other is as old and they are currently in the process of rebuilding. If diving is your focus I honestly don't see how any place could be better than cocoview. Plus at CocoView you can meet 'Doc'. He's been on the island since 1972 and gives two lectures a week. Very interesting guy.

Trivia
Feb 8, 2006

I'm an obtuse man,
so I'll try to be oblique.
Merry Christmas you fucks! Coron Town here in the Philippines is ~*delightful*~.

I had a scare in Manila about a week ago - my (dive) camera was snatched right outta my hands! I was quite depressed as it meant I'd have no dive photos. However, the lord taketh and the lord giveth, and I happened to find another camera that fit my underwater housing! I couldnt believe my luck.

I start diving tomorrow. This first leg of my diving trip is WWII wrecks. Hopefully things go well and I'll have some great photos to post. After Coron it's off to Malapascua for Thresher Sharks.

The Internet here is total poo poo, and it'll only get worse in Malapascua. If I double/triple/quadruple post, I apologize.

Oh, and happy new year!

let it mellow
Jun 1, 2000

Dinosaur Gum
What the gently caress, it was just stolen while you were walking down the street or what? That sucks. What did you end up buying?

Bangkero
Dec 28, 2005

I baptize thee
not in the name of the father
but in the name of the devil.

Trivia posted:

Merry Christmas you fucks! Coron Town here in the Philippines is ~*delightful*~.

I had a scare in Manila about a week ago - my (dive) camera was snatched right outta my hands! I was quite depressed as it meant I'd have no dive photos. However, the lord taketh and the lord giveth, and I happened to find another camera that fit my underwater housing! I couldnt believe my luck.

I start diving tomorrow. This first leg of my diving trip is WWII wrecks. Hopefully things go well and I'll have some great photos to post. After Coron it's off to Malapascua for Thresher Sharks.

The Internet here is total poo poo, and it'll only get worse in Malapascua. If I double/triple/quadruple post, I apologize.

Oh, and happy new year!
I hate to tell you I told you so about Manila but I'm glad you were able to find another camera. I'd love a trip report when you're back. I'm off to Malapascua and Coron in Feb and I'm curious to know how both locales have been affected by the typhoon. Who are you diving with?

Crunkjuice
Apr 4, 2007

That could've gotten in my eye!
*launches teargas at unarmed protestors*

I THINK OAKLAND PD'S USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE WAS JUSTIFIED!
Stupid rear end diver kills himself and his uncertified 15 year old son. God damnit this pisses me off

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/hernando-county-authorities-searching-wildlife-refuge-for-missing-divers/2158541

Tomberforce
May 30, 2006

Crunkjuice posted:

Stupid rear end diver kills himself and his uncertified 15 year old son. God damnit this pisses me off

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/hernando-county-authorities-searching-wildlife-refuge-for-missing-divers/2158541

Taking an uncertified 15 year old into a 300ft deep cave without a cave diving qualification (and presumably a single tank of air?), holy poo poo.....

DontMockMySmock
Aug 9, 2008

I got this title for the dumbest fucking possible take on sea shanties. Specifically, I derailed the meme thread because sailors in the 18th century weren't woke enough for me, and you shouldn't sing sea shanties. In fact, don't have any fun ever.

Tomberforce posted:

Taking an uncertified 15 year old into a 300ft deep cave without a cave diving qualification (and presumably a single tank of air?), holy poo poo.....

It says that they had extra tanks at 130ft, but after running out of air around 230ft (probably under the influence of nitrogen narcosis) they didn't get back up in time. And also if they had made it, they would have been bent as hell.

What the gently caress was this dude thinking going that deep on loving air? For gently caress's sake, 230ft is deep enough to OD on oxygen.

Tree Dude
May 26, 2012

AND MY SONG IS...
Is leaving spare tanks behind a common thing to do? I've never done especially deep dives and only have a basic cert but that's something I've never really heard about. Upsetting story.

let it mellow
Jun 1, 2000

Dinosaur Gum


Timett posted:

Is leaving spare tanks behind a common thing to do? I've never done especially deep dives and only have a basic cert but that's something I've never really heard about. Upsetting story.

If you go deep, you should. I'll let a pro talk about this but my wife and I are only AOW and we've never needed the air but want it there when we do things like the blue hole and end up at 145'.

Tomato Soup
Jan 16, 2006

When I started doing deep dives, the shop I went with (Big Blue) would have a drop tank hanging off the boat at around 5m. It's a tank with two second stages and a SPG attached to it, the air is turned off but there's at least enough for 2 breaths left in the reg hose so you can get some air before turning it on. It's there in case you run into problems and get low on air or accidentally go into deco (hence why it's at safety stop height).

I recall reading something about bringing down extra tanks and leaving them in a spot that's easy to find when going really deep in Shadow Divers.

let it mellow
Jun 1, 2000

Dinosaur Gum

DontMockMySmock posted:

It says that they had extra tanks at 130ft, but after running out of air around 230ft (probably under the influence of nitrogen narcosis) they didn't get back up in time. And also if they had made it, they would have been bent as hell.

What the gently caress was this dude thinking going that deep on loving air? For gently caress's sake, 230ft is deep enough to OD on oxygen.

Wait. Holy poo poo. I read the article a lot earlier apparently because none of this was in that. They had extra tanks at 130'? With air?

Or maybe they had nitrox and went below 100'? If so wow.

They were playing in trimix land and not many people here are qualified to talk about that. Slicerdicer, maybe Bishop... I think that's it?

E: I just read the updated article and that was a suicide mission

let it mellow fucked around with this message at 04:40 on Dec 27, 2013

Unimpressed
Feb 13, 2013

I love this quote from the article:

Family members said Spivey and Sanchez had dived at Eagle Nest several times and respected the danger there.
"The top thing on their minds was safety," said Holly King, Spivey's fiancee. "They never pushed it. Darrin loved his family and loved his kids and wouldn't risk anything."

Yeah absolutely the top thing was safety. I wonder sometimes how humanity survived when so many of its members are absolute loving, lacking in any introspection idiots.

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Gindack
Jan 30, 2010
The amount of stupidity on both of them is just mind blowing, sucks for the family but jeez.

Also Slicer, glad to hear your rebreather hasn't managed to kill you yet.

Gindack fucked around with this message at 06:38 on Dec 27, 2013

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