Notodoris gardineri

Photo courtesy of Marcel Tanke
North Male atoll, Maldives
Canon Ixus 900TI Digital Camera
Jan 2008

Marcel has managed to get a picture the Webmaster has been trying to get for years but has yet to succeed! And that is the nearly all black form of Notodoris gardineri ! N. gardineri is a sponge feeder so the best bet is look around sponges when you have the opportunity but look careful as this species often blends in quite well. Sometimes you may get lucky and catch them in transit to a new host but that is an unlikely event based on my experience. Usually they are hunkered down on the food source and may not move for days!

Marcel took the above shot using a point and shoot (PAS) digital camera that size wise he could probably carry in his shirt pocket. This brings me to the ongoing tug of war that is still on going between the PAS and Digital SLR's (DSLR) cameras. We had a technical presentation by Jim Kurtz had our last SDUPS meeting weighing the pro's and con's of each and after hearing his talk, am kinda of glad I switched to video to avoid the impasse. On one hand the exacting detail afforded by a DSLR is certainly to be appreciated but when it comes time to pack them for overseas travel, that is entirely a different story. Once more, the onboard strobe of the PAS cameras seems to to the job as far as macro photography is concerned thus avoiding the high cost of digital slave strobes! Also, it's easy to carry a backup PAS camera in the event of flooding or some kind of other failure. There's no such concept in the DSLR world where the backup unit means more weight and certainly isn't cheap! This discussion could go on and on and I imagine most of you have already made up your mind. The advice of a noted Philippines Underwater Photographer Juny Binimira is recalled. His advice-"Before you throw money at your system, understand how it works and understand what your objective is in underwater photography to get that picture of your dreams." Juny made this comment in regard to film photography but it still holds true today! Beginning to ramble so will close! Stay tuned for next week!

Born 1952 in the Netherlands Living and working in China / Korea since 1995. Started diving in 2001. dived all over Asia / Pacific. Now 700+ logged dives; level: BSAC Instructor. Am presently using a Canon Ixus 900TI Digital Camera Send Marcel email at marceltanke@cs.com

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