Hey everybody!!! I survived the island and had a blast. I recommend to any of you who are willing to put in an 8 hour day of work (6 days per week) for free food, housing, occasional boat rides to nearby islands, as much snorkling as you could ever want with underwater views made famous by Jean Phillipe Cousteau's movie "Voyage to Kure." Oh, and did I mention the photography?
Here's what I decided to take with me... The great suggestion of the Pentax underwater camera, the W10. For those of you who may be interested, Pentax has made a W20, with 7 mp instead of 6. I'm sure they'll come out with another in six months with another mp. Enough with the commercial, my testimonial about it is ho-hum. Well, not that bad... I was thrilled with having a digital camera that was so versatile (e.g. underwater, video, audio recorder, and a load of extras). However there were a couple of things that I was regularly annoyed with.
1. The biggest problem was the warping of the landscape, most noticeable with horizon photos. I had to be very careful with composition involving landscapes.
2. An annoyance was during snorkling. Pentax recommends a depth of 5 feet, which is nothing. I can tell you what happens just a couple of feet under water... the trigger gets depressed by the pressure at the half-press position. This action reduces functionality because if you want to take a picture, the focus may have been set who knows how much earlier, may not reset after taking a shot, and many images were woefully fuzzy. I found myself constantly raising my arm to the surface to reset it.
3. The camera makes a beeping noise as it is zooming in or out, which is amplified by the microphone when taking video. Again, an annoyance when you're watching the video. Better not to use it if you want to relive the audial experience.
4. I could actually see the large screen on the back warp while underwater. I was worried the thing would implode! No diving down to inspect anything.
5. The camera doesn't float. When you're snorkling in water over 5 feet deep, don't lose it or it just might implode before it hits even a retrievable depth. Another annoying worry. I figured out how to loop the camera strap through my watch so as to "lock" it to my wrist. However, the velcro watch strap was only so strong at times.
And of course, I brought my XPan II. Which lenses? I brought all three! My luggage was a total of 48 lbs. I got away with it because there was a flight the week before we got there that resupplied food, so our flight was light. Nobody even weighed the luggage, although there was a scale ominously nearby the plane at the hangar. I didn't have to worry about the weight for the trip back because the plane is 300 lbs lighter from used fuel. They did not inform me of any of this, so I was crossing my fingers until I saw the Pilot stow one bag and allowed me to carry my second.
Unfortunately, I am "between jobs" right now, and cannot afford to develop the film! I know... it sucks. I have it stored in the fridge. Anybody want to make a donation?
Not having developed the film yet, my only review of the XPan on an island in the middle of nowhere is: it's great. I am glad I brought all three lenses. I loved having the 30 mm there, but with so many birds on the island, and not always having access to getting up close to them (there are limits on accessability- if you want to go for photography you should talk to them first), I regularly used the 90 mm for the composition I wanted. I used the 45 mm the least. My only complaint is the slowness of the lenses. Photographing flying birds by hand is difficult, and I have no idea if any of those came out. I'm just a newbie, but I think I am right on this. Especially during the "golden hour." I found out that the Golden Hour is a little different when you're surrounded by thousands of miles of ocean. What happens is the ocean spray actually blocks all those glorious colors from actually hitting anything. You can see it in the sky, or on the rare calm water day on the ground, but I found it difficult to get those glowing brilliant colors to hit anything close to ground level most days. And that would be why I thought it was difficult to shoot in low light with the best coloration. The lenses are slow, and I have a feeling that not many of those shots worked for me. Someday (hopefully soon), I will get them developed and scanned.
I have a photo album online already established before I became a member here, and mostly record-keeping images. I have posted all of the most interesting images from Tern on this site. Go check 'em out and vote for your favorites!
http://ruschhaupt.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album04
Once I get my XPan images developed and scanned, I will post some on here for sure. I really appreciate all of your suggestions and helpful information. You people are a great resource.
