Catalina Photos with new Nikon D80, Part 1 (imgs)

I just got my Ikelite housing for my D80 on Wednesday and took it out this weekend to Catalina. We dove Bird Rock, Ship Rock, and Casino Point. I was using a 60mm macro lense. It was my first outing with a dSLR, after moving up from my Olympus C-5060/Ikelite Housing (now FOR SALE). The housing worked as well as expected. My only dissappointment was that there wasn't a housing control for the assignable Function button, which I thought would be accessable. I'll have to follow up on that one. I liked the camera a lot - particularly its responsiveness. I did have a bit of a time getting use to looking through the viewfinder. When I tried to get my eye really close, my regulator would bump into the housing. One time, I was about to get a really close head-on shot of a leopard shark when I loosened my jaw grip on my regulator allowing it to slip out of my mouth. Bubbles flew out all over the place, scaring off the shark. Here are the photos.

A medium-sized Bluebanded Goby:



A juvenile Garibaldi:



An adult Garibaldi:



An Olive Rockfish. He just sat there hovering in front of my lens for a while.



A Leopard Shark. There were three of these guys cruising around Bird Rock. They had also been out there the day before.



A Tubedwelling Anemone:



Thanks for looking.

David

Ohhh I'm jealous! I love the colours on the goby

Mel.b

wow....those are great!!!!!!!

you deserve that camera, evidently.

What was your viz? looks stellar

Viz was about 40-50 feet. It was mediocre for Catalina. I've has viz over 75 feet in the fall. Water was 62-65 degrees.

David

Great goby shot! Have you thought about cropping it? I might cut off the right hand side of that photo and blur (or get rid of) the part of sea weed still visible after cutting. But hey that's just me. Great captures! You need to get a magnifier for your viewfinder or a smaller regulator

Wow, that a really stunning first try with the camera.

Very nice. Very very Nice.

Awesome pics!

Nice time out

Those colors really pop. Nice job.