Taken from Flickr by Joi Under Creative Common License

When most of us picture the perfect dive destination there is a tropical reef involved. There will be diverse marine life and lots of it, and maybe an interesting wreck or a two. The water will be warm and it won’t be far from a sunny beach where the drinks are cheap and the sand is just perfect for relaxing between sessions. However, there are some people with very different ideas about what makes up a great dive.
Ice diving is growing in popularity, slowly but surely. The attraction is rarely animal life, although very lucky individuals sometimes encounter seals and whales under and around ice. It’s more about the beauty of the ice itself or sometimes about the challenge. Pretty much anyone who can swim can do a basic Open Water course and learn to dive, but when there are icebergs floating around there’s an element of risk that can never be fully removed. In the event of an emergency, you can’t just surface anywhere.
PADI now certifies divers for icy water. The course covers things normal divers never have to consider- hole cutting, safety line placement, and, of course, how to deal with extreme cold. Full dry suits are the order of the day.
There is no shortage of places to try it. The waters off Ontario, Canada, are never all that warm, but in winter they’re becoming a favourite destination with ice divers. Russia’s Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world and an intriguing dive destination in summer, but the divers don’t go home when the ice comes. The chilly diving around Iceland can include underwater geothermal vents and other rarities, but the ultimate extreme cold diving experience has to be the North Pole.

Of course, diving under drift ice near the North Pole is not for everyone. For a start, most organizations require serious certification and a great deal of experience. It takes months of training and it’s not cheap either, but plenty of divers still feel the call and end up diving in some of the coldest, strangest waters on Earth.

Via Flickr:
8 Dives in Eilat with Nikon P7000 and Fantasea FP7000 housing , Fuji EXR F80 and Fuji housing, 4 different video lights by I-torch and Light and Motion and 2 different Sea and Sea strobes. All packages mounted on the new Fantasea Blue ray tray.

• Equalize early and often, before ‘ear squeeze’ becomes ear pain.
• If for any reason you can’t equalize, don’t go any deeper. Come back up a little and try again. If you still can’t do it, abort the dive and go back another day. Keep going and you could do permanent damage and even rupture the ear drum.
• Got a cold? An itchy feeling inside the ear can be the first sign of an ear infection. Anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen can help, but if it persists, see a doctor quickly. Ear infections can become very painful quite fast, and if left untreated they can really hurt your future diving plans too.
• If you have got a cold or you’re experiencing hay-fever troubles, stay out of the water. Sinus problems can prevent you from equalizing properly and coughs and colds bring with them a greater risk of underwater breathing difficulties.
• When you’re back on the surface, avoid clearing water out of your ears with cotton swabs. This can contribute to conditions like swimmer’s ear- an infection of the outer canal.
• Be careful around air valves. If you’re going to open the valve on a full tank without regs attached, go slow and make sure it’s nowhere near your ears. A sudden burst of high-pressure air can easily damage an ear drum.
• A little ear-wax is healthy and will protect your ears from irritation. Unless you have so much it’s causing medical problems, leave it be and it’ll look after you.

Times are tough all over, and these days fewer divers can afford to stay in the Caribbean or the expensive resorts of the Red Sea. However, there are still plenty of places to dive on a budget. South East Asia has long been a mecca for shoestring travellers of all kinds. Most people go for the beaches, the food, the culture and the warm climate, but there is more than enough to keep any keen diver busy.

Koh Phi Phi (Phi Phi Island) may be the best dive location in Thailand. Getting there may not be cheap (international airfares rarely are) but once you’ve arrived there is plenty of budget accommodation close to the sea. Food is very cheap, although it pays to take care when buying from street vendors, unless you have a stomach of iron.

The water is very warm all year round and the visibility around Koh Phi Phi is generally good. It ranges from about 25 to 100ft depending on wind conditions- the pattern of prevailing wind direction means the best time to go is between October and May. Go in these months and you’ll also avoid the monsoonal rains. There is a lot of good diving in relatively shallow areas, which means better light for underwater photographers and longer dive times for everyone.

In addition to a first-class assortment of tropical fish, sharks, sea snakes, and corals, Koh Phi Phi is also home to an underwater feature of another kind. The underwater Tsunami memorial in Tonsai Bay is was deliberately placed about 60ft down and almost a mile offshore. There are four carved granite blocks, arranged in a precise configuration that reflects the number of Tsunami deaths that occurred when a massive wave hit the area in 2004. It’s marked with buoys and easy for divers to find.

An underwater camera is just like any other posession that you should maintain and take care of properly for it to last for a long time. We must also remember that underwater conditions are very different, compared to conditions that we have on land. Thats why we should take extra care of our underwater cameras.

Some important tips that may prove helpful…

Watch the pressure
The water can be so inviting that we forget to think about our cameras when we plunge into the water with a camera at hand. This can harm your camera as splashes may penetrate through the O rings of your device. The best way to take care of your equipment is not to dive with it. Let someone give it to you after you take the plunge or go in feet first if there is no one to hand it to you.

Check for leaks
For those cameras which are made with a waterproof casing, please always check for leaks before going in the water to prevent your camera from being damaged by unwanted water.

Rinse… Rinse… Rinse!
Always make it a habit to rinse your underwater camera after every shoot. You can do this by leaving your camera soaked in freshwater for a set of hours. Not only that you also have to make sure that you turn knobs often to remove residues of salt or sand which may have stuck up in some parts of your camera during your shoot. When you plan to open your camera, make sure that your unit is dried up or water might touch the camera and its inner parts and you may lose good shots in the end.

Check your O rings
O rings are those rings which help your camera to be dry underwater by preventing water to come into the unit. Make sure that it is clean of sand and other particles which may ruin the function of the rings.

Know how to troubleshoot
There may be times that you may encounter issues with your underwater camera. There are usually basic troubleshooting tips in your manual. This is true for most of the underwater cameras in the market today. It is better to deal with the problem yourself than to wait until the next day and lose the opportunity to take a good shot.
An underwater camera is the portal to a whole new experience in photography. There are a lot of scenes that are exclusive to the underwater world alone so it would be best to have a camera at hand to capture the beauty that it shares. Your underwater camera will last for a long time as long as it is well taken care of. This will not only make you get good shots but maximize you experience as well.

Guest Author – Thrandur | UnderwaterCameraGuide.com | Digital-Photo-Web.com

The first thing you should do is practice swimming in a way that fish will feel less threatened by. Fish won’t want to be anywhere near you if you’re constantly flailing your arms and legs about. Practice floating, and use the smallest, slowest motions to remain in place.

Taken by Mozaik Underwater Cameras

Once you can do that, concentrate on your breathing. Breathe in and out slowly and steadily so you won’t have huge periodic bursts of bubbles that send fish scattering in all directions. Otherwise, you’ll continue to have lots of photographs of beautiful tail fins as they swim away from you. With patience and practice you will master the ability to drift smoothly along on the current without making excess movements, and the fish will allow you to move in closer.

Next, take some practice shots of an immovable object, such as an anchor or some coral. Immediately compare the photos with what you’re seeing through your goggles. Several factors will cause you to distort distances underwater, including your goggles, the housing on your camera, and the water itself. In general, when shooting underwater, what appears to be about one foot away from you is actually 1.3 feet away. Continue to experiment with your camera until the photographs are coming out the way you expect them to.

Now it’s time to find some fish. Clearly capturing the eye of your subject is essential in any type of wildlife photography, because it is through the eyes that we establish the strongest sense of connection with that creature. It’s even more important to master this technique for the situations when you cannot fit the entire animal in your viewfinder. If you can clearly catch an animal or fish’s eyes in your photographs, you’re almost guaranteed to come away with a memorable photograph.

From: Monterey Bay Aquarium

Instead of chasing after a group of fish, notice where they’re congregating and swim to that area. Move in as close as possible without touching any natural coral formations. Simply touching coral can kill off large portions of this beautiful natural habitat. Find a good place to photograph from, then use the techniques you learned above to stay in place. It takes patience, but the fish will come back, and you will end up with much better photographs of fish swimming towards you than you would have chasing them down.

In order to capture their eyes clearly, you’ll need to keep the camera as still as possible. If the camera is moving as you’re drifting through the water, your photographs will come out blurry. Prop your elbow against your chest to help steady the camera while you focus in on the creature’s face. Try to photograph at eye level, or from underneath your subject for a more dramatic effect. Shooting at a downward angle poses two problems. First, you’re likely to have a lot of sand or seaweed in the photographs, which will draw attention away from your subjects. Second, the picture will come out darker than if you are shooting upwards towards the water’s surface. When you’re shooting at eye level or lower, your photographs will tend to come out more clearly and with better light quality.

Keep clicking and take lots of pictures – you can always delete the ones you don’t like later. The more you practice, the more you’ll learn, and your trigger finger will become steadier with time. With patience and a steady hand, you’ll soon be bringing back some amazing images that portray the beautiful lives of the underwater creatures you encountered.

Sara Roberts writes for Just Eyewear, a discount eyeglasses and prescription sunglasses online retailer.

Auto White Balance - Very Blue-ish

The water acts as a blue filter therefore chaging completely the natural color balance that we know above water. Most of todays digital cameras are not equipped with an underwater mode and are designed in software to adjust to white balanced that are common in our everyday life.

For the above reason , the auto white balance feature usually works poorly underwater and does not adjust the colors correctly to compensate on the strong effect of the blue or green water.

When choosing a camera to take underwater , it is very important to make sure it has a manual white balance mode , this mode will come in handy in almost every dive and will save you the hassle of going through photoshop for every photo taken.

The process differs between cameras but the general idea is to take a white or gray card (one that does not have a hue and is nuetrally balanced) , goto the cameras white balance setting and choose manual. You will then need to point the camer and the card and push the shutter button or a different button and the camera will determine the compensation it needs to do for this card to actually be neutral.

When diving , it is usually recommended to go through this process every 20 feet or so..

Manual White Balance

The prosumer category in digital cameras and more specifically in underwater cameras has been growing steeply in the last couple of year. Digital photography has become a hobby for the masses and getting a prosumer camera is a first step towards professional photography.

Fantasea FP7000 for Nikon P7000 and Sea and Sea Strobe

In underwater photography , a prosumer camera is evern more important as the nature of shooting underwater requires manual settings in the camera to produce decent results ( white balance , high aperture with flash, ISO settings and more.. )

In addidion , underwater , the compactness of the camera and housing is very important as these are much easier to handle both above water (On a boat for example) and much easier to handle underwater. A compact housing can even be connected to the BCD and dragged with in order to free up your hands for other things.

Getting a prosumer underwater camera will start from around 800$ and go as high as 1300$. In 2011 , some very nice models and options were released into the market and this article will describe the various options and selling points for each.

Camera Number 1 – Canon S95 (~725$)

The canon S95 has 2 housings in the market. One is the Aluminium built Fix housing and the other an Ultra compact Ikelite housing.

				Fisheye Fix Canon Powershot S95 Underwater Housing
				Retail Price : US $900.00  Mozaik Price : US $799.00 You save US $101.00!
				Ultra light and compact body precision machined to just fit the Canon Powershot S95 camera, Simple opening and closing with reliable rotary lock latch. Controls all of the cameras functions.

				Ikelite Underwater Housing for Canon S95
				Our Price: US $325.00
				This Ikelite underwater housing for Canon S95 is  ultra compact, ergonomic, durable, and completely corrosion free. Made of clear polycarbonate and fully functional to a depth rating of 200 feet (60m)

The S95 camera currently sells for 399$ which makes this package sell for around 725$

Selling points for the Canon S95

• Wide aperture f/2.0.
• ISO boost at 12,800
• Shutter lag 0.38s
• Video at 720p / 24fps

Camera Number 2 – Olympus XZ-1 (~799$)

If you are on budget , the most economic prosumer camera offered today is the Olympus XZ-1 with the Olympus PT-050 camera.

Here are the products details:

				Olympus Underwater Housing PT-050 AND XZ-1 Digital Camera
				Mozaik Price: US $799.99
				With the especially for the XZ-1 designed underwater case (PT-050) your XZ-1 can be taken underwater up to a water pressure equivalent to a depth of 40 meters.The XZ-1 combines the image quality and adjustability of system cameras in a compact body.

Selling points in the Olympus XZ-1

• Very compact camera and housing.
• Features f/1.8 wide aperture
• OLED screen.
• Fast shooting 7fps
• ISO 6400
• Video at 720 / 30fps

Camera Number 3 – Nikon P7000 (~849$)

The Nikon P7000 has housings in the market by Fantasea and by Ikelite. The fantasea housing is the more compact and least expensive of the 2, it also features fiber optic connectors.

				Fantasea 11181 FP-7000 FP7000 Underwater Camera & Housing – Nikon Coolpix P7000
				Retail Price : US $920.00  Mozaik Price : US $849.00 You save US $71.00!
				Fantasea #11181  Model  FP-7000  FP7000  Underwater Camera Housing. Including a  NIKON COOLPIX P7000  Perfect Underwater Solution for your Digital Diving Experience, Excellent for Scuba and Snorkelling.

Selling points for the Nikon P7000

• Very compact camera and housing.
• Fiber Optic connectors and TTL automatic exposure.
• Short shutter lag time 0.2s
• x7.1 Zoom
• RAW shooting
• Auto flash ( TTL) in manual mode.
• Video at 720 / 24fps

Camera Number 4 – Canon G12 (~1,100$)

The canon G12 has 3 housings in the market, one by Canon , one by Ikelite and the last by Fix. The canon housing is the most compact but lacks the reliability and ergonomics of the Ikelite one. The fix housing is an excellent Aluminium housing but is an expensive one. The Ikelite housing is quite large for the camera but has TTL with the Ikelite special connector and great tray and handles.

				Fisheye Fix Canon G12 Underwater Housing
				Retail Price : US $1,300.00  Mozaik Price : US $1,099.00 You save US $201.00!
				Ultra light and compact body precision machined to just fit the Canon G12 camera, Simple opening and closing with reliable rotary lock latch. Controls all of the cameras functions.

				Ikelite Underwater Housing for Canon G11, G12
				Our Price: US $649.95
				This Ikelite underwater housing for Canon G11, G12  is  ergonomic, durable, and completely corrosion free. Made of crystal clear polycarbonate and fully functional to a depth rating of 200 feet (60m)

The G12 camera is sold today between 459 – 499$ which makes this bundle cost a minimum of 1,108$

Selling points for the Canon G12

• Reviewed by many to have exceptional image quality.
• Easy and simple to use controls.
• Very popular and there has many guides and tutorials online.
• x5.0 zoom.
• 1/4000s max shutter speed
• Video at 720p / 24fps
• Flip Out screen.

Camera Number 5 – Olympus Pen Mirrorless Micro 4/3rds E-PL2 (~1250$)

The Olympus pen stands out from the rest as this camera is a mirrorless SLR , or as Olympus calls it , Micro 4/3rds. This camer has a much larger sensor and there said to have superiour image quality. It also has interchangable lenses which makes it very SLR like.

The available housing is a compact and ergonomic Olympus housing.

				Olympus PT-EP03 Underwater Housing AND PEN E-PL2 Micro 4/3 Camera
				Mozaik Price: US $1,244.99
				The PT-EP03 underwater case has been especially customized for one camera of the PEN family, the E-PL2. Superb, SLR-quality images, Superb, SLR-quality images . The extreme light weight PT-EP03 (only approximately 1100g) is depth rated 40mts.

Selling points for Olympus Pen E-PL2

• Large sensor ( Micro 4/3rds)
• Interchangable lenses.
• 12MP
• 3fps fast shooting
• True 6400 ISO option
• Video at 720p / 24fps

To sum it all up . The prosumer level underwater cameras is the most exciting development of the last couple of years. Finally , excellent underwater shots can be taken with very compact , not so expensive camera bundles.

Of course , one must remember that getting such cameras does not save you the nessecity of a strobe or video light in order to produce good results.

Read our strobe and video light guide to match the gear to your budget and needs.

The three best areas for diving in India are:

• Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal
• Lakshadweep Islands in the Arabian Sea
• Goa on the mainland

Every destination is unique, making India such a great location for divers, with different dive conditions and marine life depending on where you are. While Lakshadweep has clear blue lagoons surrounding coral atolls, Andaman and Nicobar are volcanic islands that have deep, undisturbed waters with astounding bio-diversity while Goa is has a party atmosphere, great food and wonderful waters for beginners.

Image By Snap® Third Eye a.k.a. TreeNetra from Flickr - Creative Common License

Andaman & Nicobar

The Andaman’s are famous for their crystal clear, warm waters with one of the largest variety of coral and fish life anywhere on the planet.  The Andaman’s are truly a magical place for divers. The pace of life is slow and relaxed in a place that seems untouched by modern day life. Unwind after a day’s diving by lying in a hammock or sunning yourself on the sandy beaches. In the evenings you can feast on the fresh catch of the day while watching flames dancing in the night on a mesmerising beach bonfire.

Lakshadweep

The waters around Lakshadweep are as bright and clear as glass. Edged by beautiful stretches of white sandy beaches, Lakshadweep is like Maldives just without the tourist crowds. There is a group of 36 stunning coral islands just 400 kilometres off the coast of Kerala that can be reached by place or sea. Only two of the inhabited islands, Bangaram and Kadmat, are open to visitors. Both have dive centres allowing you to dive some truly unexplored lagoons with enchanting sea life and that are so remote and unvisited that you may well end up having a site named after you!

Goa

Goa is a little bit of Ibiza in India. A little touristy and a little more glitzy it may be, but the waters here are safe and warm with no riptides, making them perfect for beginners. They showcase some incredible underwater life and there are even wrecks of Spanish and Portuguese galleons and WWII ships. If you want some action out of the water too, then you can be bungee jumping, visiting temples and scouring flea markets while on dry land. Fantastic curries, architecture and their culture make Goa a great al round dive destination.

Bio:

James is a freelance travel writer based in the UK. For more information about me or to keep up with my travel findings online check out my Twitter account Travelling_J

Jess Spate grew up snorkeling diving in South East Australia, but now lives in the (much colder) UK. She works as a sustainable business consultant for Appalachian Outdoors and is planning another visit to the reef later this year.

Image credit 1: Masao Mutoh (Masao.M) via Flickr under a Creative Commons license
Image credit 2&3: Steve Evans (babasteve) via Flickr under a Creative Commons license