Scuba anyone?

[Giles]

I have a Divevolk and keep on tweaking its config. But my photos are still 100% crap. I will possibly take it with me on certain dives in Raja and The Philippines, but I will be very selective. I dislike the lack of freedom a camera gives me, it's something else to lug, something else to hang around waiting for your turn, and all it does it take crap photos that my mates with decent rigs take way better than me.

[Karol]

@Giles if you want to race with @Madame-Buttonfly, you will be always on the back foot.
We will always need more air compared to the ladies. But I can also promise you that being better is attainable. I have a female friend as a reference point throughout my diving journey and I can report that during Raja Ampat trip she was asking how to reduce the air usage 🥳

[JDelage]

I had a proper camera rig (not SLR) a while back and it was a huge pain in the ass, and my pictures sucked. Divevolk is the right compromise for me. I've been very happy with (a small subset of) the videos I took with it.

[Karol]

Underwater photography is always a gamble. Everything is super expensive, we have the depth limits on the hardware, etc.
And it’s another thing to worry about/think during the dive. I have to say that I like the more approachable cases for mobile phones. The line between pro setup and a phone in the case is getting thinner and I like it!!!

[Giles]

That is precisely what I thought, but now I get worried that I will get water ingress and fuck my phone up

[JDelage]

The new iPhones are very water resistant. Short of a catastrophic failure, I think we're pretty safe.

[Karol]

@JDelage i never seen any issues from the folks around me, but the thoughts are always there right?
Technology is on our side, but there are so many things that can go wrong, and that means another thing to think about when you are under.

[jebrand]

@JDelage I have been using Subsurface to log my dives. The Shearwater app is also great. You will be needing it anyway for firmware updates. The Teric is a great computer been using one for quite a while now.

[JDelage]

I downloaded both Subsurface and the Shearwater app. Subsurface is well reviewed, and it was written by Linus Torvalds, who knows how to program... Most of the bad reviews for the Shearwater app seem related to importing older data, which doesn't apply to me.

[Karol]

@JDelage on the update part:
Luckily Sharewater is not Microsoft, and the updates come at reasonable intervals. Since I updated to version 102 on 10.10.25 no news.
I just need that GPS enabled air integration.
https://shearwater.com/en-eu/products/swift-gps

Im going sidemount in few weeks and according to Sharewatter having one of those with GPS + one regular (that I already have) will be just perfect.

And one the Sharewatter app, I had in my opinion a serious issue with it at the time (Jan 26), It required internet connection to authenticate! WTF! Im in the middle of nowhere, who writes this shit?

[Karol]

@Giles said in Scuba anyone?:

Paula says there is a big box for me in the office......

are we happy Vincent?

[Giles]

Hahahaha. In the old days before Japan had got a cellular system that worked with western phones, I would obviously need to use wifi hotspots. But the only way you could authenticate yourself to get access to a wifi hotspot was by requesting an authentification code .......... that was sent to your phone.

MY PHONE DOES NOT WORK HERE, THAT IS WHY I AM TRYING TO GET WIFI ACCESS.

[Giles]

@Karol said in Scuba anyone?:

are we happy Vincent?

Yep. It's a big job getting it to fit right with the D rings in the right place. But that is one of the many advantages of getting a back-plate and wings over a "waistcoat" style BCD....I can dial in the fit perfectly.

And, I can never remember how to thread cambelt buckles, so that wasted a bit of time. Also, I had to change over the BCD inflator because I use an Atomic SS1 Regulator with integrated octopus (means I have one less hose flapping around). I may want a slightly longer corrugated hose, because the XDeep has the inflator hose going into the centre of the wings, on my Hollis the hose went into the far left, so the run down to my left hand was shorter. BUT, I won't do anything just yet, because I think if I can sort my trim and frog kicking out, I should be horizontal in the water, and not need to vent from the inflator hose.....

[Karol]

[Karol]

I was working on mine before next week's dive. The attachment that you see on the inflator is the Duck. It makes a distinct sound underwater. When you want to draw attention.
As for the trim pockets I don't really use them now, but I don't mind the pockets in case I want to add extra 1kg on the side.

[Karol]

And I was looking now at the Atomic SS1 and it's a really streamlined solution, but how do you make it work when using it and deflating the wing? Seahorse position?

[Giles]

Paula and I have just been discussing placement of the shoulder strap D rings. I'm going to move both of mine up to just below my shoulders, far easier place for my hands to fall to automatically, with no thought, when wanting to unclip something. Will do the same with P's

[Giles]

@Karol said in Scuba anyone?:

how do you make it work when using it and deflating the wing

Just like a normal one. Has inflate and deflate buttons, but just has an an octopus integrated into it....

[Karol]

I know, but is the secret in raising the chin? You want to have the hose in the highest position. If you are breathing from it at the same time, how do you do it?

[Giles]

Not sure I only breathe from it when I am at the safety stop (just to make sure it gets some use and works whan I really need it to), so no worry at that point about inflating/deflating the BCD. At that point in the dive, I am maintaining constant depth by how much air I have in my lungs anyway.....I've loved having it and have not noticed a single downside....