Photos from Cozumel Weekend Trip

[rjsimp]

Here's some pictures I took this weekend in Cozumel. My D200 flipped out on me a few times with an "ERR". Turns out it is an Aperture error where it shoots the picture at wide open and doesn't close it down to what you had it set to.. Not fun. In any case, I was able to salvage a few and then got off several others when the camera was working.

Time to send it in to Nikon. :(

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1080.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1078.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1056.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1039.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1038.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1030.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1028.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1021.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1018.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1014.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1013.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1010.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1197.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1188.jpg

[rjsimp]

Here's the second batch..

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1148.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1140.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1239.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1226.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1225.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1214.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1213.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1201.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1200.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1199.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1273.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1266.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1257.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1253.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1250.jpg

[REII]

Awesome shots Rich. Looks like you had a nice weekend.

TOM

[rjsimp]

We dove with Alison and Chucho in Cozumel (www.scubawithalison.com) and we had a fantastic time! I highly reccomend her services for anyone wanting a great diving experience!

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1282.jpg

[kapula]

Wow! Those are some great shots! Such brilliant and crisp colours with a deep dof. What lens did you use? Quite an wide angle one it seems...

[robbcayman]

Nice pics!!! There still seems to be some good sites left down there. I can tell some of the reefs are engulfed with sands, whereas the deeper reefs didn't seem to take as bad of a hit. How does the rest of the island look?

[REII]

How were the resorts and restaurants there? Have things been rebuilt already after Wilma last year?

TOM

[rjsimp]

Thanks everyone for the comments!

The island is in very good shape and things are getting back to normal. We stayed at Hotel Cozumel and it was in great shape, the other hotels (with the exception of a few) that I saw looked like they were either open or close to opening again. Very good restraunts and food were everywhere so that was great!

The reefs have definitely been hit and it is noticeable. there were a lot of photos with lots of sand and algae in them. The sponges are coming back, but even the deeper dives have damage on them. The funny thing is that we dove Chankanaab reef the first day we were there for the dusk dive and although the visability was really low for some reason, it had some very good macro subjects. We also saw tons of crabs and lobster there. There were other dives where the critters were more sparse, but we saw something on every dive that was cool.

Kapula: I used two wide angle lenses.. The 10.5mm and the 12-24 mm lense. The pictures that have a "bent" look around the edges were taken with the 10.5mm.

[Blue Moon]

Here's some pictures I took this weekend in Cozumel.

Outstanding shots! Thanks for sharing.

Blue Moon

[rjsimp]

Oops.. forgot to put a couple of lobster pictures in there.. :D

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1066.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1050.jpg

[DiverBeth]

Great Shots I leave for Cozumel 2 weeks from today. Thanks for the preview.

[rjsimp]

Bethjd, I'm envious!

We will be going back ASAP! We always have fun in Mexico and Cozumel especially!

[Fastmarc]

Wow, those are awesome shots. Great work.

I'm curious, with the DSLR if you have on a 100mm or 60mm, can you only shoot very close up macros?
Just wondering if before a dive you have to make up your mind if you are going to shoot very close macros or wide angles?

[rjsimp]

Marc,

You can shoot more than just very close up with the 60mm. I shot all the crabs, lobster, and other closeups with the 60mm. But you do have to make a decision on what you are going to shoot.. Seascapes or closeup. I use the 12-24mm if I want to kind of do seascapes but have the ability to get some reasonably close fish pictures. The 10.5mm works good for fish pictures but you have to be VERY close otherwise they are pretty small :D

My next thing is to get a 100mm (or thereabouts since I haven't decided for sure which one) lense to get some really close up super macro shots.. I have a flip down closeup on my Subal I use with the 60mm sometimes, but the focus range is very small when I use that.

Thanks for the comments!

[REII]

Nice! Now if they would just migrate to Florida.

TOM

[Jamdiver]

Sorry to hear about your camera problems RJsimp.....

But wow i'm blown away by those shots, love the blues..... they feel very atmospheric and moody.
Great lighting also, there's a peculiar look to your photos.... they seem a little 'cool'... not that that's bad :).

Those shots remind me of the wall reefs on the north coast here.

Love them all :D :).
You should take more weekend trips ;).

[Fastmarc]

Ok, thanks for the explanation Rich.

Like these shots below, what were the shot with?

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1239.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c80/rjsimp/Cozumel%202006/_DSC1273.jpg

[rjsimp]

Nice! Now if they would just migrate to Florida.

TOM

Well.. Floriday people hunt all their cool things out! :confused:

Its kind of odd that is allowed, but that's why there isn't much there like that. ;)

[rjsimp]

Marc,

Those two were taken with the 12-24mm lense on my last dive Sunday. It wasn't the best dive (Paradise Reef) but it was fun.. The problem is, a lot of current but not much coral to get behind so I had to work on many shots to stay in position. But, I did get several critters on the dive. :D

[Fastmarc]

well, your efforts with the current was not noticable from the shots. Very sharp and great colour.

[rjsimp]

Sorry to hear about your camera problems RJsimp.....

But wow i'm blown away by those shots, love the blues..... they feel very atmospheric and moody.
Great lighting also, there's a peculiar look to your photos.... they seem a little 'cool'... not that that's bad :).

Those shots remind me of the wall reefs on the north coast here.

Love them all :D :).
You should take more weekend trips ;).

Thanks Jam!

I am not a big fan of the "cyan - light blues" so I try to get settings that show depth and shadows along with a nice deep blue. This last trip was a quick one and many times I was spending more time on the dive trying to get rid of the ERR off the camera so the aperture would work again. Plus I was with a big group and in a drift dive you have to kind of keep up with them so I didn't have time to play with some of the shots like I would have liked.

Some of these shots were taken on the wall on Cozumel and others were taken in the flats. So the ones on the wall you get some really nice coral heads. They used to look even better before the hurricane.

Next trip I will probably just charter the boat with Alison so I can spend as much time as I want and find that nice shot and work out the settings a little better. I was happy just to get some shots in the short time I had.. :)

Thanks again!

[alcina]

Looks like a great trip.

Sorry to hear about the camera - hope it gets resolved quickly!

[rjsimp]

Looks like a great trip.

Sorry to hear about the camera - hope it gets resolved quickly!

It was a very fun weekend!

Thanks, I'm sending it out today to Nikon and hopefully they will resolve it or replace it. Since it is sporadic, it is hard to reproduce. :(

[kidsdream]

Nice work. I have not heard about the D200 error that you mentioned. Have you determined what the root cause of the problem?

[rjsimp]

Nice work. I have not heard about the D200 error that you mentioned. Have you determined what the root cause of the problem?

Yea, the root cause is the camera is malfunctioning and it tells you so by giving you an error.. Nikon will be either fixing the aperture actuator/computer or replacing it. Since it has gotten worse, I can only figure that it is something mechanical vs a firmware error.

I'll let you know what Nikon does.