News from Joe Liburdi

Happy Thanksgiving! This is my Big Photo Edition devoted to frequently-asked questions about the wonderful world of digital imaging. If you have a question you would like answered in a future issue, please write me at orca2@cox.net.

La Paz. You should have been there!

It was fantastic! A total of 48 people, including six from Portugal) came down this Fall to experience the warm clear aquarium that is the Sea of Cortez. Everyone got to swim with whale sharks, play with the seal lions, cheer for dolphins, explore wrecks, follow banded snakes across the reef, see octopi, morays and swarms of jacks. Some saw the giant jawfish, mantas, hammerhead sharks, and circling barracudas. No one was disappointed.:

Joe,
La Paz was great and we had a super time. You and Cara provided perfect leadership and fun.

We nailed ‘em! What a great trip we had. We had three whale sharks all feeding together, excellent sea lion fun and hammerheads out at El Bajo. Fang Ming was great and that new spot with giantjawfish. All in all a great time.

Dear Cara & Joe,
Thank you so very much for your warmth and hospitality in La Paz. It was a pleasure meeting you, and I had a great time. Hopefully the next time we meet, I will be certified so that I can do more than snorkel.

Best New Camera System

Every year the Diving Equipment & Marketing Association (DEMA) holds a trade show at which manufacturers unveil their new products. It’s a big deal in the industry. Lots of anticipation and competition and hoopla. Well, last month I wrote that Sea & Sea’s new DX1G is the best point-and-shoot underwater digital system on the market, and now that DEMA is over, I stand by my statement. There was nothing better in the category. I am impressed by its features, performance and modest price.

I bought a system for me and Cara and have sold 16 more to friends, acquaintances and readers of this newsletter. As you know, I don’t work in the dive shop. Cara and I operate our dive travel business out of our home. Our trips are listed on our website: www.JoeLiburdi.com. That said, how do I sell cameras? Readers of this newsltter, customers from my days in the shop, and referrals contact me via phone or e-mail me. We discuss their wants and needs. Once the customer decides on a system, I place the order through Liburdi’s Scuba Center, where I also give photo lessons in the classroom and pool.

FYI. The DX-1G is so hot that the first shipment to the U.S. from Japan sold out before it was even delivered! If you want one for yourself or for a Christmas gift, I suggest you place your order now. MSRP: $1050. Call me for special price at 949-448-0499.

Best New Product for Advanced Photographers

Sea & Sea YS-250

It’s not for the weak but it’s definitely for the serious. It weighs 62.3 oz. on land with the battery pack, but a weightless -2.8 oz underwater. With a Guide Number of 32, it’s a powerhouse. With a recycle time of 1.8 seconds, it’s better than fast—it’s instantaneous! It’s the first strobe that can keep up with your camera. Since we shoot moving subjects underwater, rapid firing like this guarantees you won’t get tail shots when you were firing at the fish face. Click on the link to read all about it, and if you know anything about strobes, you’ll be as impressed as I am. Of course, such a sophisticated product comes with a high-end price. The manufacturer’s suggested retail is $995. Joe-Buy’s price is $900 including extra battery. Limited supply. First come, first served. Call me if you’d like to see it and handle it: 949-448-0499.

Photo Q & A

Q. What’s the most sought-after camera?
A. If you guessed a point-and-shoot compact, you are wrong. According to the market research firm NPD Group, 2.3 million DSLRs will be sold in the U.S. by the end of this year. Digital SLRs have become more the norm in underwater photography

Q. What is SLR?
A. SLR stands for single-lens reflex. Reflex refers to the mirror reflecting light from the lens up into the viewfinder. Unlike a point and shoot that has a separate viewfinder, an SLR uses a single lens for both viewing and picture taking. What you see is what you get.

Q. What is a pixel?
A. A pixel is very small square that appears as a dot. The more dots you have in your image, the clearer the resolution.

Q. What is resolution?
A. Clarity and sharpness of an image. When we talk about a DSLR’s resolution, we mean its ability to capture fine detail.

Q. The more megapixels, the sharper the image, right?
A. Wrong. You would think it is so, that the more pixels making up an image, the sharper the image will be and therefore a 10 megapixel camera is better than a 6 or 8 megapixel camera. However, an image is more than pixels. It is the combination of color, contrast, resolution and noise. The quality of the image is determined more by the quality of the CCD and the quality of the lens than by the number of megapixels.

Q. What is “RAW”?
A. RAW refers to a file format. RAW files are uncompressed files created by the camera. It is the original, like a film negative. They are big files, meaning they are comprised of more megabytes. Most pros shoot in RAW. However, for most of us, the more manageable JPEG is more than good enough.

Q. What is “noise”? Is that a sound the camera makes?
A. No. "Image noise" is the digital equivalent of film grain. It probably got its name from the background hiss you may hear from your audio system at high volume. For digital images, this noise appears as random specks, mottling and color blotches, and obviously can significantly degrade image quality. Just as high-speed film yields more grain than low-speed film, digital photos taken at high ISO settings show much more noise than photos taken at low ISO settings. Nearly all compact digital cameras show obvious noise at ISO 400 or above. Even top-of-the-line digital SLRs are susceptible to noise, particularly at high ISO settings.

Q. Are the black spots on the image noise or backscatter?
A. Neither. More likely, the black spots on your digital image have been created by dust on the camera’s sensor. Backscatter is seen as white spots created by the reflection of light by particles in the water. Noise is all over. Black spots, if they appear in the same place on all your images is dust.

A digital camera, unlike a film camera, has a CCD (Charged Coupled Device), located behind the shutter blades and/or lens, which is the light-capturing part of the camera. Dust and dirt can accumulate on the CCD. People with SLR digital cameras often change lenses between dives. So when you remove your lens, particles in the air will land on your CCD! Change lenses in a dust-free area and do it fast. Never leave the camera body open. If a lens is not attached, cover with a body cap.

Q. If the images are blurry, is it because you don’t have enough megapixels?
A. No!!!! Blurry images are caused by camera shake.

Q. What is camera shake?
A. Just what it sounds like: camera movement. It is one of the most common reasons for images that aren’t sharp, especially in underwater photography where everything is moving, subject, the water column, the diver. Good buoyancy control is important. So is proper shutter release technique. Jerky movements will make blurry images. So will slow shutter speeds.

New digital lenses are engineered with anti-shake technology. Different companies have different names for the technology; Canon calls it Image Stabilization (IS), Nikon calls it Vibration Reduction (VR). Image stabilization helps to steady the image projected back into the camera by using floating optical elements, which serve to compensate for vibration caused by the user.

Q. Where should you buy the camera? There are some very excellent prices advertised in mail order catalogs and online. Is there a down side?
A. Yes. Have you ever heard the term “gray market”? Gray market is the term given to products that have not been imported by the official U.S. importer. Most come through
companies in Europe or Asia. The products are identical except that they may have a different model number and, most importantly, they do not have a U.S. warranty, and are not eligible for any discounts, rebates, or other special offers from the U.S. importer. I advise you don’t get taken by the too-good-to-be-true price and buy from an authorized U.S. dealer.

Q. Do I really need a U.S. warranty?
A. Yes. If something should go wrong with the camera, you will be very sorry if you don’t have the warranty. Repairs can be quite costly. I bought my five-year warranty on my D80 from Mack Camera & Video Service.

Melvin Kevoe, president of Mack Camera, says that out of about 14,000 cameras sent into their facility for repair aren’t really broken. Ten to 15 percent need just a simple fix. The most common problems are:

I can add to this list myself from years of “fixing” my customers’ problems: like the guy whose camera wouldn’t power up because he had the batteries in upside down, the camera that “leaked” when its owner opened it underwater. And I can’t even begin to relay the problems users had when they didn’t read the manual! Read the manual before assuming the camera is broken!!

Tip of the Month

Protect your camera system from heat. Direct sunlight and extremely hot environments are damaging to your camera, lenses and strobe. I’ve often warned about not leaving your camera on the seat or dashboard of your car, not even on the seat or table of a dive boat.

Solution: get a small 8 or 9 quart cooler and deposit your compact camera there. Added benefit, no one will know a camera’s in there and thieves will not be tempted. For an SLR system, you might want to consider a soft-sided cooler. It will not only keep the temperature modulated, but it will protect it from the adverse effects of vibration.

Quotable Quotes

My husband is about to lose his reason. He had given up art and carries on fruitless chemical experiments. At present he has the obsession to retain images fixed on metal plates. He has sold our possessions to buy chemicals and build an apparatus.

If you don’t get it, it may be that you don’t recognize the name Daguerre. Madame was the wife of Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre, who discovered a process that would fix an image on a metal plate. Daguerre's patent was acquired by the French Government, and on August 19, 1839, the French Government announced the invention was a gift "Free to the World."

Only Two Spots Open: Palau February 10-20, 2008

Every year Scuba Diving magazine polls its readers to find the best dive destinations in the world. Palau came in first for 2006. Here is what the editors had to say:

“Judging by its perfect overall score, nobody but nobody comes home from diving in Palau unsatisfied. Comprising more than 340 islands and just as many spectacular diving options. Palau is ringed by a barrier reef that separates shallow lagoons from sheer walls, where some of the destination’s —and the world’s— best-known sites are located. Sites like Blue Corner and Big Drop-Off deliver consistently electrifying dives on plunging walls patrolled by big pelagics and sharks galore. It’s no surprise that our readers think the diving in Palau is not just thrilling—it’s perfect.”

If you want to go, only two spots open. Click here for package and price, and reservations.

Future Trips
We’ll keep you posted

Maldives
Borneo, Malaysia
La Paz, Mexico
Kenya, Africa

Contact Us at:
Underwater Exposures
11 Lantana • Aliso Viejo, CA 92656
phone 949.448.0499 • fax 949.448.0499
email: orca2@cox.net
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La Paz. You should have been there!