Catchin' the rays

Alex Mustard · Issue 25, Jul/Aug 2005 · pp. 34–38

Products mentioned: Nikon D100, Nikon D2x, Nikon D70, Nikon D70s, Fuji S2, Fuji S3, Subal Housing, Subtronic Alpha, Ikelite DS125

As you join me I am making a leisurely safety stop at the end of my first digital dive. I have a wide angle lens on my Nikon D100 and I roll onto my back and zap off a few shots of the shafts of Caribbean sunlight dancing in the water around the back of the diveboat. I’ve taken this shot hundreds of times before and I guess I take it again mostly out of habit. “But today, is different! There is no need to finish a film,” I think smugly to myself as I go through all the positives of my new camera in my mind. “I can even press the image review button after each shot and admire my beautiful images.” Then disaster. The image I have just taken flashes up. It is disgusting. On film, aperture priority would have produced a tasty image, but the result from the same setting on digital is far less palatable. Instead, there is a big white blob where the sun should be, which is encircled by a garish…