The Death of a Water Camera

Sunset through the vog from Casa Ono. 

     A few days ago, Sandra dropped me off for a swim down at the pier.  It was one in a string of heavily overcast days.  As we came down the hill, though, the vog was not so dense that I was unable to see the surf at Banyans.  And indeed, I witnessed a big wave coming ashore.  Fortunately, Kailua Bay is shielded from most surf and the area around the pier is usually safe enough for swimming. 
Water clarity is another issue; when the surf is up the water throughout Kailua Bay may have a lot of suspended particles.  From the foot of the pier, it was apparent that the water was cloudy on the Ironman side.  From where I stood, it looked like the clarity would approximate that of fat free milk.  With that information in hand, I opted for a swim starting in front of King Kam Hotel.

Threadfin with the D 10.  Kahalu'u june 2018

   Its June already, in case you are unaware, and commensurate with the advancing season, the water is getting warmer, even in the Inner Harbour.  Soon I was swimming out past the great king's heiau, barely able to see the rocks that were a foot or so beneath me.  This was more of an issue than usual because even there, in the Inner Harbour, the swell penetrated.  Sometimes those rocks were pretty close.

    Playing the waves and pushing off on the large rocks that were closesst ot  the surface, I made my way through the rip rap and out into the bay.  There the visibility was about ten feet, which is terrible but at least one has a chance to see something...assuming that there is anything to see.  One of the reasons that my beloved is not accompanying me more often on my swims is that there has been a significant diminution in the number of fish just in the last year.

The Three Amigos with the D 10 back in 2011

  The numbers are down and it has to be a really good day if, in an hour, I see more than 30 species.  And this swim was turning out to be no exception.

   When I got to the middle of the little bay, I paused and admired the surf breaking on the rocks guarding the opening into Paul Allen's private lagoon.  Thinking ahead to this blog, I decided that a picture of the breaking surf might be useful.  And so I retrieved my trusty Olympus TG 3 from the pocket of my suit and, after fastening it to my wrist, hit the power button. I thought I heard it beep, but other than that one tone, which I may have imagined, there was no sign of life.  I played with the power button a few more times, as if somehow that was going to help, and finally returned the camera to my pocket.  To quote one of our president's tweets, "Sad."

   I swam out a bit further, where the visibility increased a little, but the number of fish did not, and

Alton Brown from Good Eats teaches you to make silicon wafers.

then turned the army around and swam back.  I must have hit a set as I got to the rip rap, because it took a bit of care and maneuvering to get through those rocks.  Inside I got turned around by a wave and looked up to find myself swimming onto the pediment of the heiau.   Being a good Scot, I made it back to the beach without any real trouble.

    At this point, I brought out the old Canon D 10, a camera that I have owned for about eight years.  Imagine, if you can, the computer that you were using eight years ago!  Suffice it to say, from the standpoint of the technology,this old warhorse is a dinosaur.  Never the less, it still takes a serviceable picture.

    The next day, D 10 in hand, Sandra and I went down to Kahalu'u.   The surf was still up, so there was a significant current, but the water was warm and not too cloudy.  And speaking of cloudy, the wind had shifted to a more southerly direction and for the first time in over a week we had a bit of blue sky and some relatively unfiltered sunlight.

   I swam for about forty minutes without seeing any unusual fish, but I did have the opportunity to

Psychedelic Wrasse juvenile Courtesy of Honolulu Magazine

photograph a few of the usual suspects that are still present at this former fish finding heaven.  I'm presenting a couple pictures, doctored to the best of my ability, so you can judge for yourself what an eight year old camera can still do.  I am including a picture taken with the same camera seven years ago for caparison.  Its clear to me that the old girl ain't what she used to be.

    It is my opinion, and I have old pictures to back me up, that the image sensor in this camera has deteriorated over time.  I am not an engineer and the chat on this subject is a bit arcane, but there are plenty of qualified people that feel that a sensor becomes less precise over time.  The sensor in the D 10 is a CCD.  Most modern cameras use a CMOS sensor.  The reason for the change in technology probably has less to do with image quality than power usage; a CMOS sensor may use up to 100 times less electricity than a comparable CCD sensor. When experts talk among themselves about deteriorating sensors, they debate whether silicon wafers can change over time.  Now even I, dog that I am, would not eat an eight year old wafer.

   After this fateful experiment, we decided that a new camera was pretty much inevitable.  There was little hope that the TG 3 would spring, like Lazarus, back to life, we left the newly deceased in a container with a cup of rice over the weekend.

    There are two ways to choose a new camera.  One is to repair to the internet and see what is available.  Over the last decade the number of cameras that claim to be water proof to a depth exceeding ten meters has ballooned.  One can no longer go to Amazon or Best Buy, search for "the best hand held underwater camera" and come away with a clear idea of what to purchase.  There are literally over 100 different cameras offered by Amazon that might fit this bill.  Starting at less than $50, these cameras all claim to be waterproof without a housing.  More research reveals that many of these are fairly fragile and are apt to leak in short order.

   To narrow the list, I spoke to some dive shop operators.  My friend Stacey at Kona Honu Divers, who takes some  kick ass underwater pictures, said that many people were turning to the Sony.  When I got home, I discovered that Sony markets at least three of these compact waterproof cameras.  Its not clear which camera Stacey was referring to. Suffice it to say, Stacey is not using one of these compact cameras, which are so useful for snorkelers, when she takes her marvelous pictures. 

   Since this is a big decision, I also went into Jack's Dive Locker.  There we met a charming young

Imagine actually getting to talk to someone!

lady named Shiela Blum, who uses the newest Olympus offering, the TG 5.  She showed us a picture of a juvenile psychedelic wrasse that she had taken the week before with her TG 5 at 25 feet.  The psychedelic wrasse, which isn't quite as far out (dude) as you might think, is one of those fish that live just below snorkeling depth and, as a consequence, is not on my life list.  Regardless of the envy that arose in my breast, it was a nice picture.  All the beautiful pictures I have taken lately were chilling out in a tupperware container full of rice, so I was in no position to play tit for tat.  

   Ms. Blum recommended Backscatter, a company with salesrooms on Cannery Row in Monterey, California and one in Derry, New Hampshire.  I spoke twice to Rob, who appears on the Backscatter video talking about underwater cameras.  For the snorkeler, Rob loves the Olympus TG 5...nothing else is even close for quality of pictures and reliability. 

     This morning we removed the stone and the TG 3 came out of  its tomb.  Sad to say, it is not walking among us, exhorting us to take pictures in out of the way locations like Ephesus and Corinth.  Rather, a shiny new TG 5 is on the way from Monterey.  Hallelujah. 

jeff 2018