You're probably wondering what this picture is all about. Aside from my Koden stepdown transformer, a power strip, and my laptop which are not in the picture. The equipment seen to the side was all that was necessary to take both quality stills and passable 640 x 480 video (topside and underwater). . The Olympus 755 UZ has been my standby U/W camera for the last two years. This trip was my first opportunity to try out the Olympus 770 UZ. In a nutshell, the performance of the 770 matched that of the 755 shooting stills and far surpassed the 755 in video performance with its MPEG4 640 x 480 30 fps capability. Since I always carried at 5400 degree Kelvin video light with the 755 for spotting purposes, no adaptations were necessary with the 770. I had some concerns about the new lithium ion battery in the 770 but it held up well and recharged completely in under two hours!

To save on further weight and space, I brought along a pack of AA batteries in place of the usual assortment of chargers and NiCAD batteries normally used in the Inon 180-S strobe. One set of batteries worked out fine for two dives and might have made it through three!