13
May

Scuba Obsessed Episode 66 – Special Guest Clare Wilders of DiveBunnie. The red sea and warm water.

Scuba Obsessed
Scuba Obsessed
Scuba Obsessed Episode 66 – Special Guest Clare Wilders of DiveBunnie. The red sea and warm water.
/

Kirk, Bob, Jim S. and Darrin on Lake Michigan Scuba DiveDarrin and Mac interview a special guest on the show, Clare Wilder of DiveBunnie. Clare share with use her experience as a dive instructor at Sharm el Sheikh in the Red Sea.

She hangs on for the whole show and helps out with Scuba in the news and talks about her dives.

 

 

Here are the articles we covered in the news.

Some Potentially Cool Scuba Gear

Last week Mac dove Paw Paw Lake, Indian Lake and Pipestone Lake. Darrin dove Lake Michigan for a site survey. Clare dove in the Red Sea with some students. She just missed out on a whale shark. Fish activity is increasing.

 

The bad scuba joke.... this time it is political....

Bob passing the Saint Joseph Michigan Light House

 

 

15
Apr

Scuba Obsessed Episode 62 – You can't keep me out of the water, underwater plumes and houses that sink.

Scuba Obsessed
Scuba Obsessed
Scuba Obsessed Episode 62 – You can't keep me out of the water, underwater plumes and houses that sink.
/

photo credit "Mac"This week it was almost a solo podcast. Lucky for us "Mac" was able to drop in part way into the show.

These are the scuba stories in the news that we discussed.

Who thought they new what year our scuba store in time from last week was originally published? Dave in the chat room was close. If you guessed 1974 you were correct.

Our potentially cool scuba gear was a housing for the soon to be non-available Cisco Flip HD.

 

Thank you to our reader feedback this week!

iTunes -

I love your show, I went back and downloaded starting with 1 going forward. I totally enjoy the Darrinism's when it comes to pronouncing names and places. Both Jim and Darrin make a great team. You need to put together a blooper reel of all the miss pronounced names and places. That would make for one hell of a good laugh, great job guys keep it up.

ShipWreck Mike, Fontana CA.

 

The video of the week is Master Divers' Video done to the Queen Tune "Bohemian Rapsody". Here is our link to the video. Great Job Guys!

 

The chat room was great as normal. They even survived the bad scuba joke of the week.

30
Jan

Scuba Obsessed Episode 53 – You Really Can Scuba Dive in Hard Water

Scuba Obsessed
Scuba Obsessed
Scuba Obsessed Episode 53 – You Really Can Scuba Dive in Hard Water
/
This week's scuba in the news

We discussed last week's ice dive and our upcoming Nitrox Class.

The bad scuba joke of the week and tease the scuba diver's round table.

Filing in the Ice Hole

Filing in the Ice Hole

21
Jan

Scuba Obsessed Episode 52 – More Than Just Scuba Diving Audio with Bob Shoemaker and Jim Norton from Talking Scuba

Scuba Obsessed
Scuba Obsessed
Scuba Obsessed Episode 52 – More Than Just Scuba Diving Audio with Bob Shoemaker and Jim Norton from Talking Scuba
/

Some of this week's scuba in the news

Interview with the Hosts of the Video Podcast www.talking-scuba.com Bob Shoemaker - Jim Norton

Last Weeks Dive and Next weeks dive Lake Sixteen Ice Dive with a chainsaw.

Bad Scuba Joke of the week.

Intro into the Scuba Diver's Round Table...

24
Dec

Scuba Obsessed Episode 48 – Some Thailand Scuba Diving and How to become a Dive Master - Interview with Robert Scales

Scuba Obsessed
Scuba Obsessed
Scuba Obsessed Episode 48 – Some Thailand Scuba Diving and How to become a Dive Master - Interview with Robert Scales
/

This week we have scuba in the news and the interview that almost wasn't. We prerecorded an interview with Robert Scales of Buddha View Diving in Thailand that was eaten by the computer gremlins.  Before we finished the show we were able to get Robert on and recorded it live this time. We also had the bad scuba joke followed by our first trial of the Scuba Diver's Roundtable after the podcast. It went well so we expect this to be a regular part of the podcast going forward.

Jim Drinking Again

Jim Drinking Again

Thank you for listening and have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We also wish those of other faiths a wonderful time during this holiday season.

Interview with Rober Scales of http://www.buddhaview-diving.com/ & http://www.dive-careers.com/

29
Oct

Scuba Obsessed Episode 41 - Never Enough Scuba Diving

Scuba Obsessed
Scuba Obsessed
Scuba Obsessed Episode 41 - Never Enough Scuba Diving
/
Sad Times as the Scuba Boat is Winterized

Sad Times as the Scuba Boat is Winterized

Diving is by no means done for the season. We may be winterizing, but that just means we will be doing a different type of diving. Warm water is proven dangerous, Scuba diver... skark... camera... Tuna pulls diver down Abandoned diver receives Million Plus bait for a scuba diver + typography geek Seauarium's searches for a mermaid and Golf ball cam... really!! (we are not kidding....) Scuba in the news and bad scuba joke of the week.

1
Jul

Scuba Obsessed Episode 25 - More scuba diving in warm water is dangerous & Six Months

Scuba Obsessed
Scuba Obsessed
Scuba Obsessed Episode 25 - More scuba diving in warm water is dangerous & Six Months
/

Scuba in the newsIn the water at Diamond Lake

Scuba Discussions of the week!

On the website -

On Facebook - If someone called you right now for an awesome dive, what is the quickest you could be ready?

Diamond Lake DivePlanning the dive

Cool Gear!

Another Underwater Car

  • http://www.rinspeed.com/pages/cars/squba/pre-squba.htm

Video of the week

Video - Diver in Portal to Maya Underworld

This is a great video of a scuba diver exploring spring fed pools in Belize. Part of the project is to learn more about Mayan offerings.

Send us a list of your favorite scuba movies. If the movie has scuba diving in it we want to know about it. We will be reviewing the movies through our scuba mask covered eyes.

If you are interested in unique business growth oppertunies for scuba related industries please contact us. We will help you put together a program to meet your business objectives.

If you have questions or comments for the show you can record the audio in preferrable an MP3 format and send it to us.

Yep! And that bad scuba joke of the week...

30
Jun

Video - Diver in Portal to Maya Underworld

This is a great video of a scuba diver exploring spring fed pools in Belize. Part of the project is to learn more about Mayan offerings.

21
May

Scuba Obsessed Episode 20 - Full Speed Ahead!!

Scuba Obsessed
Scuba Obsessed
Scuba Obsessed Episode 20 - Full Speed Ahead!!
/

Jim

Welcome to Scuba Obsessed this is Episode 20!!!

The Havana - Photo's by Kirk

Please send in your comments, suggestions, we also needs some "Hi Jim!!"

Bad Scuba (Boat) Joke of the week.
Photo Credit - Kirk
3
Apr

Our Review of the Intova SS-1000 Waterproof Camera

I have been playing around with this scuba toy for the last month, the Intova SS-1000 Waterproof camera. This is a simple point and shoot camera that is waterproof down to 50 feet.  Its native resolution is 1.3 MP (1280x960) and goes up to 5MP (2560x1920) interpolated. Like most digital cameras today it has a video mode, but to date I have been unimpressed with any still camera’s video. The focal range is .5m to infinity. There is enough built in memory with 16MB to get you started on a few pictures before you will naturally want to upgrade by adding an external SD member card up to 2GBs in size. The package comes with a short PC interface cable to download the photos and  two AAA batteries so you can get right to using your impulse buy.

[Full camera specs on the Intova SS-1000 here ] [Here is the complete users manual]
The SS-1000 Freed from its Packaging

The SS-1000 Freed from its Packaging

I had been looking for one of these cameras for quite a while. I am surprised that big box retailers aren’t stocking these. I had to find mine at a scuba trade show at a dive shop’s booth. They had 5 of them on display and I snapped mine up for $50 with sales tax included.  I want to say my expectations were reasonable considering the price. After blasting my way into the sealed packaging it was pretty straight forward to setup. Everything was ready to go for the most part. It does take a little time to go through the menus but if you are going to just shoot some quick pictures your first go of it can be within a couple of minutes. I am not a big fan of the navigation menus.

In My Hands

In My Hands

There are four buttons on the back of the camera that does all of the menu functions including powering on. These buttons can be accessed both with the back open and with the camera seal to underwater use with a D pad through the case. On the top of the camera where you would expect it is the shutter button.

The size of the camera is convenient and is around the size of a deck of playing cards. It can easily fit into a shirt or pants pocket. There is a simple lanyard attached which I used to clip off to my BC. So far this camera has joined me on three dives with the deepest being 1 foot beyond its 50’ waterproof rating.

Showing off with USB Cable Attached

Showing off with USB Cable Attached

The clear case provides you good visibility to see if you have sprung a leak and flooded the camera. So far it has been water tight.

Now on to the important part, the pictures. That is why you buy a camera right? How I wanted to use this camera is to take quick snap shots underwater to share with the non-diver surface dwellers who frequently ask “What do you see down there?” I figured the semi-disposable camera would foot the bill. My first photos where on the surface.

Above the Surface Sample - SS-1000 (I had a hard time holding it still while pushing down the button)

Above the Surface Sample - SS-1000 (I had a hard time holding it still while pushing down the button)

All photos are taken through the underwater camera housing even above water. I took several pictures and I could not manage to get a sharp picture. My reference camera is a simple iPhone 3G camera which is similar resolution and the camera I use for 90% of my impromptu pictures. The shutter button on the SS-100 is very stiff and the effort required to take the photo seemed to cause the camera to move as the picture is being digitally capture. I wondered if the camera worked better in its underwater element. So next was onto the sink test.

Too Close to Coins in My Sink - SS-1000 (I was too close based on focal length)

Too Close to Coins in My Sink - SS-1000 (I was too close based on focal length)

I filled my kitchen sink with water and placed a few underwater artifacts in it.  The photos were not any better, but I had violated the minimum focal length so then onto the hot tub (No not those type of photos silly people).  In the hot tub with my repositioned artifacts the photos turned out better. They were enough better to prompt a hunt by another MUD Club diver to add this camera to his shopping list.

My first official dive with the camera was a river dive with a disappointing 6” of visibility.

Action Shot in the Hot Tub - SS-1000

Action Shot in the Hot Tub - SS-1000

Six inches was effectively dirty pea soup and even the best camera was not going to shine.

Jim in Water with 6" of vis.... I think it's Jim? - SS-1000

Jim in Water with 6" of vis.... I think it's Jim? - SS-1000

The next dive, which was to 51 feet, was on a wreck in Lake Michigan and I honestly didn’t want to mess with anything other than enjoying the view so the camera stayed in my BC pocked the whole time. The following week I let my kids walk around with the camera at an indoor water park and perform adolescent gadget abuse on it. Oddly enough they never actually snapped a picture with it. The only shots were me making sure the batteries were in it and working. The last test dive was another wreck dive. This time I was determined to actually try out the camera. I took a couple of surface shots.

Jim on Surface - SS-1000

Jim on Surface - SS-1000

One turned out nice enough to become Jim’s newest FaceBook profile pictures. I forgot about the camera until I got to the bottom at 39 feet. No problem I thought, except no matter how hard I pressed the power button I couldn’t get the camera to power on.

Jim's Handywork with the SS-1000

Jim's Handywork with the SS-1000

I was tempted to take off my gloves, but in 41 degree F water that was not an attractive idea. On my safety stop I decided to give it another try and to my relief I was able to get it to power up. I took several pictures of Jim and passed the camera to him. This was a good move since on that day he turned out to be the better photographer.

[Listen here to the podcast where Darrin and Jim talk about this camera and their dives with it here]
Darrin Surfacing - SS-1000

Darrin Surfacing - SS-1000

Positives on the camera is the price, the size and I like the transparent case. On the negative is that it eats batteries. In fact I have had to replace batteries between each use. Also the buttons were too hard to push at depth and this leads to some blurry pictures when you can depress the shutter button. I would like to see a 2 second self timer so I could press the button and then steady the camera for the shot. There is a 10 second self time but that is too long for another other than trying to take your own picture.

Overall I think the camera is worth the $50 I paid for it. Considering how hard it was to use as the depth increased I wouldn’t call it a scuba diver’s camera, but for near surface shots it works well. I also see it as a good camera that can handle water splashes on the boat ride and with it being positively buoyant if you drop it in the water you can just pick it up. I would easily recommend it over any disposable underwater film camera you could buy at a resort for $20.

I am now looking for a $100 underwater camera that would work at deeper depths.

This gallery has photos of the camera taken with an Apple iPhone 3G and all other photos are taken with the Intova Model SS-1000 underwater digital camera. Most of the photos taken by Darrin and the good ones are taken by Jim. 🙂

 

 

26
Mar

Scuba Obsessed Episode 12 - How to get started on becoming a scuba diver

Scuba Obsessed
Scuba Obsessed
Scuba Obsessed Episode 12 - How to get started on becoming a scuba diver
/
:00 – 2:00 Introduction
2:00 - 4:50 Local Diving Open House
4:50 – 8:50 What is cold diving, warm diving, blah blah blah...
8:50 - 52:00 How to get started on becoming a scuba diver
52:00 – 1:19:15 Scuba in the news
1:19:15 – 1:25:00  Our next dive - Diamond Lake
1:25:00 -  1:26:15 Scuba (Bad) Joke of the week
1:26:15 – Thank you and see you next week! Go out there and get wet… and dive safe!