The weather held out today – sunny skies and a little wind instead of the forecast which was cloudy. So, with iPhone in hand I headed of to borough market for a coffee and then Greenwich for a little exercise up and down the park. On the way back I captured the following 360° image using Photosynth on the iPhone.

The project allows you to navigate google street maps as normal but has the added benefit of showing the stereographic image too.  Although not immediately useful and more of a technical demonstration, it’s quite a cool way to view your local area or some of the more interesting sites of the world.

Below are a couple of examples from around London.

1. Fill lower bowl with pre-heated water
2. Insert upper vessel containing measured amount of coffee
3. Apply heat source to lower vessel – the water will rise and mix with the coffee in the upper vessel.
4. Once all the water has migrated to the upper vessel (there will be a little residual water) leave heat on for approximately 1 minute
5. Remove heat and watch the wonder of gravity and pressure differentials (the vacuum) draw the coffee back down
6. Remove upper vessel and enjoy your coffee

http://vimeo.com/34564139

However, there’s yet another entrant to the market place which was announced on the Christmas edition of the Gadget Show is the BubbleScope.

The examples on the website are pretty much the same as you’d get from the GoPano Micro and Dot 360, although the static image is a feature you don’t get with the other two!

Priced at £50 plus another £15 for the case it will be in the same price range of the two existing solutions.

So, what can you do to either lessen the effects or avoid them completely?   Well, the first is to avoid the commercial radio and tv channels and minimise the time you spend in the larger shopping areas – i.e West End or the Westfield hell holes.  Safer areas are the usual markets and artisan areas (Borough and Spitalfield markets) which, although have Christmas trees for sale, remain largely unchanged.

Secondly is to plan what you’re going to do on Christmas day – I’ve already confirmed that one of London’s best curry houses is open.  Tayyabs, the bastion of simply excellent Pakistani food, will be open as usual over the Christmas period.  In addition, the Narrow pub will also be open most of the day (pending any unforeseen disaster!!)

Now that you’ve planned the avoidance procedures, food and drink – why not get out and about.  The streets will be quiet so if you’re into walking, photography or architecture then as long as the weather behaves then it’s a great time to get out.

For recreational diving where the majority of divers observe the 30m limit, so the design challenges aren’t too great and surprise, surprise there’s a kickstarter.com project to come to the rescue.  The as yet unnamed product is a custom underwater housing rated down to 100′ in salt water for the iPhone 4 & 4s.

While there are a couple of impressive videos of great white sharks (reminds me of a trip to Gansbaai years ago) but it’s missing out on the details of how the camera is operated.  There is a mechanical button which I’m guessing activates the volume up button to start and stop recording, but no information on whether or not you have access to the touch screen.

One of the most important features of an underwater camera is the ability to set the white balance manually.  Although apps such as Filmic Pro have a white balance feature, it will require access to the touch screen.  The iPhone 4s’ fixed aperture and low light performance may make it suitable for the shallower dives (18m etc) but will inevitably need additional lights when you go deeper – adding to the cost.

In summary, if you’ve spent your money on an iPhone and are willing to risk it while you go diving (I’ve seen so many cameras lost while diving and being a technical diver, found a couple!) then the additional outlay of £260 (kick-starter prices only) then it might be a good solution.

At this time of year, the moon is normally visible to the east in the late afternoon sky (n.b. I’m in the northern hemisphere).  At the time of writing this post the moon should rise at 13:05 -according to the Pocket Universe app for the iPhone, which leaves plenty of time to capture an image.

It’s quite an impressive site and as long as the skies are clear you should be able to get a good picture using a telephoto lens and DSLR with a remote shutter release. To capture the image above I used my Canon 7D, the Canon EF 100-400mm Zoom, Canon 2x extender and Lilliput field monitor to help with focusing.

A Good camera bag

I’ve seen people shoving their expensive camera, lenses and filters into handbags, ruck sacks and even plastic bags.  Nothing beats having a good padded camera bag with the compartments for all your accessories. The National Geographic Midi Shoulder Bag is a perfect solution to carry your gear around.  Unlike most of the “camera” bags on the market which look a little too geeky and attract unwanted attention, the National Geographic bag is unassuming and functional.

Filters, Filters and more Filters

You can never understimate the importance of having the right filters with you.  From the basic UV Filter to the enhancing effects of the neutral density filters such as the Hoya 58mm HMC NDX4 Filter and on to the fantastic polarising filters such as the Hoya 58mm Circular PL Filter, you should invest as much money as you can as some of the cheap brands suffer from poor optical quality.  While not strictly a filter, you should also invest in a White Balance Lens Cap.  Trusting the camera to correctly calculate the white balance is something that you do not need to do.

A better view

Something big, very big!

One of my most prized and often used possessions is the Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L Zoomlens.  Not only does it look the business, it delivers on every level.  If you like shooting people then this lens lets you get in very close without upsetting the subject.  If you like mother nature, then this will let you capture both wildlife and astronomical events with ease.

I’ve built a custom slider using the same components from Igus for my Canon 7D but the mobislyder looks a little more portable (given it’s only 35cm long).  Stylish and compact, mobislyder adds controlled flowing movements to your production, letting you create a variety of shots in an effortless and elegantly simple way. mobislyder comes with 5 different mounts so there are numerous ways to attach it to your device.

This is a great little tip, especially if you’re using an application like SlowShutter.  Although it does have the self timer capability, I find it better to be able to trigger the shutter when I want, and not have to guess the interval.

Camera+ is by far the best app for the iPhone for taking pictures, editing and adding effects.  The features which make Camera+ stand out the most are the independent focus and exposure locks, which is sadly missing in the native camera and video app.

Browsing the extensive video app section in the App Store reveals a number of contenders, namely FiLMiC Pro and Almost DSLR.  While sharing the key features of independent exposure and focus lock, FiLMic Pro stands out as it supports the native HD resolution of the iPhone 4s where as Almost DSLR only supports 720p (perhaps an enhancement is on the way).

Whilst the FiLMiC Pro app gives you that added control over exposure and focus, don’t forget to use your glif and tripod to capture those steady images. The other features provided by the app are:

• Variable Frame Rates (1-25 and 30fps) including both the US (24p) and European (25p) film production standards.
• Selectable Resolutions
• Framing Guide Overlays (4:3, 16:9, & 2:35.1).
• Thirds Guide for help with compositions.
• Audio Metering.
• Color Bars for Post Production.
• Film Production Style Slate for adding info to your clips, syncing dual system audio, and organizing your clips.

Given that I’m a fan of the Camera+ application, I was more than happy to find out that they’ve re-introduced the “Volume Plus” option to activate the shutter in the same way that apple introduced it with iOS 5 for the native camera app.

However, there’s another way to activate the shutter using the soon to be released Belkin LiveAction remote control. The remote control allows you to activate the camera shutter from up to 30 feet away—completely wirelessly. Two button controls let you instantly switch between photo and video functions without ever touching the iPhone. If you haven’t taken you Glif or Joby tripod with you, you can also use the detachable camera stand to prop up your device and then slide it back onto the remote to create the ultimate pocket-sized camera kit.

The November 9th student protests were a perfect opportunity to observe the behaviour of not just the students and police officers but also the people on the street “observing”.  Thankfully, unlike recent protests there was very little unrest (a few individuals targeted by undercover officers) so most of my attention was drawn to the large crowds that gathered to watch – not protest.

One thing that struck me was the number of people with smartphones, DSLRs and video cameras appearing from everywhere.  In fact, the first one or two hundred people of the protest march appeared to be a photographer or reporter.  One of my favourite shots was of the crowd trying to capture the oncoming protesters with their varied digital capture method.

Specifications of the Lomokino

• Film type : 35mm
• Exposure area : 24mm x 8.5mm
• Frames per. roll (36 exp.) : 144 frames
• Frame rate : Approximately 3-5 frames per second
• Taking Lens : 25mm
• Angle of view : 54 degrees
• Aperture : f/5.6, f/8, f/11 (Continuous aperture)
• Shutter speed : 1/100
• Film Advancing : Manual
• Film Counting : Volume display
• Focusing : (Normal) 1m~infinity, (Press button for) 0.6m close-up
• View finding : Inverse-Galileo foldable viewfinder
• Flash sync : x-sync (hot-shoe)
• Tripod mount : Standard 1/4″ tripod screw

The new Photo app in iOS 5 has image cropping, it lacks any effective filters and image correction capabilities.  This is why I use camera+ – it’s editing features are better than most – with several scene modes including Backlit, Sunset, Night and 1-touch effects such as Lomographic, lo-fi and many many more.

Sharing is also a breeze, with the images saved to the campl.us website, camera roll and the usual social sites – twitter, facebook etc.

Obviously, if you also have an iPad (first or second generation) you can connect your iPhone using the camera connection kit

So, what’s in the box?

The two key components are a split case and the panoramic lens.  The split case allows you to use the Glif iPhone stand to attach the phone to a tripod.  The panoramic lens is quite small and light enough to fit in your pocket.  A QR sticker on the box links you to the app store so you can get the accompanying application.  After downloading the app, currently version .9, it’s simply a matter of clipping on the case and attaching the panoramic lens.  The app is reasonably intuitive with functions to re-align the centre of the lens and refocus the scene.

GoPano Micro 360 lens

In practice it’s all quite easy – although you do get some very funny looks from passersby. Have a look at my video walking through Borough Market – check out the expressions of the people behind me (especially the security guard!).

First impressions are as expected.

The quality similar to the sony bloggie but the exposure compensation and focus seem to be a little far from finished.  I think an enhancement for the future should be to separate the focus and exposure functions into a facility similar to that shown in Camera+.  The next version of the app will introduce the ability to upload directly to the GoPano website – a process which requires you to upload when you get home in the current version.

Obviously, with the release of the iPhone 4S there should be a dramatic improvement with regards to image quality and smoothness with which the app records the action.

As a side test, I had a go with the Kogeto Looker app which is also free using the GoPano micro lens.  The difference between the maturity in the app design is strongly in favour of the GoPano app.  The kogeto app records the 360 polar image and then transforms it once you’ve finished recording.  Not much of a problem when you consider that you can’t actually see the screen when using the kogeto dot lens!

Firstly, what’s changed?

The old 5-megapixel camera on the iPhone 4 has been upgraded to 8-megapixels. It also has a bigger aperture of f/2.4 thus allowing in a lot more light which should improve the low light shooting.  Also, with iOS 5 you can use the volume buttons to activate the shutter a great bonus!  When it comes to video, the camera will be able to shoot in 1080p as opposed to 720p at 30fps.  Good for quality, bad for the need for storage. I’ll be interested in seeing how the old iPad will deal with playing back the new format.

So what are the best camera apps?

Broadly speaking there are two categories – the almost professional camera apps and the social effects apps.  In the first category I’d recommend Camera+ as it has a number of key features.  The ability to independently control focus and exposure brings the capabilities of iPhone closer to the DSLR world.  The self timer and burst mode add another layer of creativity, especially if you have a Glif and tripod available.

Here’s a sample image taken on the iPhone 4 and Camera+

In the second category, the excellent Instagram stands out from the crowd(read about the latest contest here).  The filters that are included are excellent (the Lomo and X-Pro II) and with a simple method to share across the usual channels such as twitter, facebook and various third party sites such as instagrid.

Despite the lacklustre weather, we all had a great time largely due to the post sailing activities and parties!  There’s links below to my flickr gallery with shots of the crew of Magnum and the other yachts in the races.

So, you’ve seen panoramas rendered with the usual flash (not on this page), sliverlight (photosynth) and html5 solutions.  The problem most solution providers have is compatibility – looking at the market it’s pretty much flash/silverlight across most desktop patforms including OSX and Windows and to that extent the mobile platforms of iOS and Android suffer. The ability to capture a 360° image and share it across most platforms still alludes us!

The options for the iPhone

I love Photosynth for it’s simplicity and ease of use but 360° from floaty provides a truly quick and easy panorama without the need to capture sequential photos and the time it normally takes.  On the other hand Panoramatic does provide the best quality of panorama.  When you compare the samples provided below please consider leaving a comment if you like any of the images or applications listed below.

Photosynth

Here’s one of the latest entries to the immersive image market – and surprisingly it’s from Microsoft. Photosynth has been around for sometime now but had been dependent on you shooting enough images to create the 360 using a normal camera and then using the Silverlight software to stitch them together once you get home. However, with the introduction of the iPhone app, Microsoft have made a very successful and easy to use application to capture, render and share immersive images.

Although the Photosynth app has a number of positives, it’s implementation is classic Microsoft (fortunately sans the blue screen). Once you’ve captured a panorama, you’ll more than likely want to share it – ouch. This is where the app will get a little confused authenticating with Bing, Facebook or Photosynth.net. Once it does crash, you’ll have to relaunch it several times in order for it to finish what ever it was trying to do. You’ll notice the internet activity icon spinning away – just let it finish before you try to access any of it’s features.

Panoramatic

Although it’s not as interactive as Photosynth, panoramatic generates a better quality image than both Photosynth and 360°. The downside is the time it takes to slowly pan around and aligning each subsequent image.  Rendering on the iPhone can take anywhere between 2 to 7 minutes (a bit longer if you’ve chosen the 360 VR option)

Floaty 360

The app from floaty, 360, is still the quickest way to capture a relatively good 360° image. The one shown below was captured in only 15.7 seconds and uploaded to yFrog (Twitpic was having a bit of a problem during at the time)

The iPhone connected to the iPad using the standard USB cable and Camera Connection Kit

After messing around with various cameras, file formats and a number of iOS apps to transfer compatible movies onto the iPad I took a step back.  Pretty much everything I’ve tried indicates that iMovie will generally only work with footage from either the new iPad 2 or from the iPhone 4/3GS.  Although PhotoSync is a great app, it’s dependent on either wifi or (slow) bluetooth.

While charging my iPhone I realised that it’s cable is a bog standard USB lead – one which fits into the Camera Connection Kit.  Could it be that easy?  Yes, it is.  To get photos and video off the iPhone and into the iPad simply plug the iPhones USB lead into the CCK attached to you iPad and hey presto – the files speed themselves over!

Then, as long as you’ve installed iMovie using the iPhone Configuration Utility, iMovie recognises all the files and off you go. (Follow the instructions from Wired)  Obviously you could use iMovie on the iPhone but if you have and iPad with you the the extra screen size makes things much easier!

Oh, and just to show how much I trust my Joby Gorillapod with the Canon 7D on top, here it is balanced on a wooden rail overlooking the Thames!  Any of you who follow @PhilipBloom, I too was thinking of the moment when he lost his Panasonic GH2!

Canon 7D gorillapod balancing act

Canon 7D set up for time-lapse outside the Bank of England

Shooting time-lapse is a relatively straight forward affair.  The equipment you need varies depending on the duration and or quality of the time-lapse you’re trying to capture.  At the basic end of the scale, all you need is a camera.  With just a camera, it all about you! All you have to do it take photos in series at a specific interval using the shutter release.  Obviously, if you’re doing it manually the end result may not be the most professional – but it will be a time-lapse non the less.

Time-lapse photography is a cinematography technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than that which will be used to play the sequence back.

Equipment

So, to improve the quality of the time-lapse you’ll need two things (three if you include the time it takes to capture!). The first is an appropriate tripod based on the camera you’ll be using and the location at which you’ll be taking the photos.  For the less intrusive camera positions (or more creative)  I always use my trusty Joby Gorillapod. For safe, wide open spaces where people aren’t an issue, I use my Giottos Carbon Fibre Tripod.

The second depends on your camera – the intervalometer.  Some cameras come with the feature built in to the software (or if you’re using an iPhone and suitable app), some cameras can be hacked to provide the feature and the rest will need an appropriate piece of equipment.

Canon 7D set up for time-lapse at the Tower of London

As a quick side note, the CHDK firmware enhancement for compatible cameras is great.  I’ve used it with my old Canon A620 to capture lightning during storms and sunsets with great success. But, as it says on the tin, it’s for compatible Canon cameras only.  Unfortunately that does not include the Canon 7D or Canon G series!

So, for shooting time-lapse with the Canon 7D you’ll either need to buy the Canon TC 80N3 or a more reasonable third party model. Both have the same features, it just depends whether you have to have the Canon badge on it or not!

So, you’ve got your camera positioned and intervalometer set up.  Next, what mode to shoot in, what resolution and what interval between shots?  As a general rule, I always shoot in AV mode with manual focus at a resolution of 4.5M (2592*1728) which resolves most issues with exposure metering and card space! The interval depends on a number of factors including the subject matter to be recorded and the desired duration of the resulting time-lapse movie.  With regards to the subject matter you’ll need to vary the shutter speed to capture the effect you want – i.e. long exposures at night to (a) gather enough light and (b) generate  suitable motion in the image.  Fast shutter speeds tend to result in a choppy time-lapse movie, so it’s good to get a little blur in the image to soften it down.  When considering the duration of the final time-lapse  movie, you’ll need to calculate the number of shots you need to take in order to generate the desired film duration at your chosen FPS (24 or 30 FPS is the norm).  So, for a 5 minute 24 FPS movie with shots taken every second you’ll need to capture 5 * 60 * 24 = 7200 individual frames.  If you don’t want to capture so many frames, then you can mess around with the frame rate as anything from 8 FPS can result in a pleasing movie.

Once you’ve worked out the number of images you’ll need, you can then estimate the size of the memory card you need and the likely hood of your batteries running out before you’ve captured all the images!

Software

So, you’ve captured the images and now it’s time to put them all together!  Now, if you’re on a Mac things couldn’t be easier – well, quite easy.  Firstly, you should resize all you images to your desired movie render – i.e. 1080 or 720 – but if you’ve got a fast mac and want incredibly ultra high definition movie then leave them as they are.  Once you’ve settled on the size, place all the files in a folder and make sure they’re sequentially named.  Then using Quicktime 7 (not Quicktime X) open the files using the “open image sequence” and select the appropriate frame rate. That’s it!  Just save your new movie and off you go. Further adjustments can be done using the usual programs such as Final Cut Pro/iMovie etc.

If you’re on a PC then there’s a couple of choices that I’ve seen around.  Microsoft Movie Maker has a similar image sequence import but is restricted to 8 FPS.  MakeAVI is a freeware app that will also resize your images while it generates the AVI file.

Example time-lapse shot at various locations around London

Well, iOS 4.3 GM has been seeded out to developers but unfortunately it doesn’t allow the playback of HD movie imported from the Canon 7D. That’s another disappointment on top of the announcement that iMovie for the iPad will not be supported on the iPad generation 1.  As you can see from the screenshot on the right, the movies are imported (and can be grabbed from the iPad using iPhoneExplorer) but they’re not playable.  So, as far as using the iPad as an interim backup device while you’re on the road – it’s good for as much memory that’s left on the iPad.

I’m still waiting to see if, with it’s new dual core A5 and improved GPU, the iPad 2 will support the native playback of movies.  The only good news so far with the release of iOS 4.3 GM is that it’s already been jailbroken.  Fingers crossed that the hacking community will enable iMovie for the first generation iPad very soon.

Having a look around on the market highlights some of the more popular but expensive video monitors – aka the Marshall line which start around £700. Not wanting to spend that much, a number of blogs point towards Lilliput. Lilliput are a manufacturer more commonly associated with the automotive industry – in providing headrest mounted monitors for people who want to add a little bling to their “ride”.

The model I went for was the Lilliput 669GL-70NP/C – 7″ HDMI monitor (bought of eBay with a spare battery, hot flash adapter and cable). It’s a nice package which can either be attached to the cameras hot shoe or, if space and equipment allow, on another tripod. Small enough to fit in my camera bag and with the extra battery it easily lasts the day.

As you can see from the first image, it’s great for when you’re zooming in on subjects with manual focus. Below is an image where I’m using it for macro. Shooting video using the monitor is a breeze – and if you don’t need to see the shooting info then you can utilise the full 16:9 ratio that the camera pumps out. Oh, it also comes with a hood shade – which projects out an inch.  Not that much use but given that it pops off easily, that’s not too much of a problem.

The only issue you’re likely to encounter with the lilliput monitor is the battery compartment.  To open the compartment you’ll need a philips screw driver to remove the cover.  A bit of a pain but not the end of the world.

As a side note, I’ve also powered the monitor using my Tekkeon MyPower MP3750 Rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery for a long long time.  When plugged into the monitor it also charges the lilliput’s internal battery.

Tekkeon MyPower charging Lilliput Monitor

Canon Battery Pack LP-E6
Hoya 58mm HMC NDX4 Filter
Hoya 58mm Circular PL Filter
Ex-Pro 58mm White Balance Lens Cap.
Canon PowerShot G10
HDMI to Mini HDMI Cable
Air Duster
LCDVF LCD View finder
Giottos MH621 Sliding Quick Release Adapter Plate
Canon TC 80N3 – Camera Remote Control – Cable

And the two things that go over my shoulder are

Giotto – 4 Section Pro Carbon Fibre Tripod With Two-Way Column
Giottos MH5001

Guilin doesn’t really have a centre – well, not that I could establish in the short time I was there.  In the morning, I hastily arranged a river cruise at breakfast and was on the river boat an hour later.  By this point I was getting used to the fact that the chinese tourists out number foreign tourists by a huge amount.

There were only two other foreigners on the boat – which meant loud chinese music blasting out while they all sat inside in the air-conditioned cabin only peering out of the window when ever the tour guide pointed something out.

That aside, the River cruise is stunning.  As the river meanders from Guilin up to Yangshuo you pass small settlements and herds of water buffalo.  The key sites to look out for are the Elephant trunk hell, Karst hills and the famous (if you’ve seen the 20 Yuan note) peaks.

Famous Cigarettes, Famous Wine, Famous Tea Supermarket

Arriving in Yangshuo, you’re greeted by a frenzied attack of water, food and souvenir sales people.  The streets down by the river are packed full of shops selling the usual tourist trash.  Heading away from the river and you’re confronted the new Yangshou – western style restaurants and clothe shops – and yes, they’re full of chinese tourists. However, I did manage to find the shop which was very very famous for cigarettes, wine and tea!

The road from Lhasa ascends quickly to the plateau (don’t look out of the side window if you suffer from vertigo) and then follows the newly constructed railway that runs from Lhasa to Beijing.  As my guide points out – “It used to be much beautiful before they built the railway right through here” – an odd comment from a chinese guide….

After many, many, many more checkpoints we arrive at Laken pass at an altitude of 5190m to an impromptu snow storm. Looking around you could think that the snow up here is a one off as I seem to be the only “tour” with a 4*4. The drive down from the pass to the lake is both spectacular and frightening. Snow, ice, slush, lorries and Yaks all seem to be on a suicide mission – or perhaps they’re just late for the next checkpoint.

Permits checked for the last time we drive along the peninsular to the Tashi Dor monastery. Unfortunately, the thing that stands out the most here (and does elsewhere in Tibet) is the number of Chinese tourists. Yaks line the lake ready to have the Chinese hop on it’s back for the obligatory photo shot. A little further down the peninsula, a chinese couple are getting married. A notable omission to the general scenery are the Tibetans – I hope they have found a more peaceful place to enjoy their heritage.

The guide was waiting for me at the hotel – apparently the transfer car had been in an accident.  Oh well, at least I wasn’t in it.  We quickly discussed the itinerary for the next few days and received the appropriate warnings about where I could go on my own, i.e nowhere.  My tibetan visa, an elaborate piece of paper, had to stay with the guide which meant I was unable to enter any of the sites of interest on my own.

Potala Palace

The itinerary, down to the minute, was agreed – the Potala Palace and Norbulingka was day one. Also, the time we could spend in each one was also given a time limit – failure to adhere to and the guide will be banned for 4 days (oh, the fun I had dragging my feet…..).  After seeing so many documentaries about Tibet, Lhasa and the Palace it was simply awe inspiring to stand at the foot of the hill on which the palace sits.  Unfortunately, tourism amongst the chinese has picked up so much there is nowhere in the place for a moment of reflection.

Monk repainting the walls of Norbulingka

When Michael Palin visited (perhaps having a BBC film crew with me may have helped instead of a government appointed guide from Shanghai) it looks so serene.  The thing that bothered me the most (and probably my guide given my line of questioning) was that all the guides speak as if the Dalai Lama is still in residence.  Everything was in the present tense – he comes here in the morning, here for meetings with his aides, etc.  A quick trip down the hill and we’re over at the summer palace – Norbulingka.  The chinese tourists obviously don’t have this on their itinerary.  A beautiful palace set amongst an Unesco world heritage site, Norbulingka is very calming place to visit.  With only a handful of tourists, I was happy to see a number of monks going about their business.

Day two saw us head of to Jokhang Temple in the morning, which was just around the corner from the hotel (the Dhood Gu Hotel).  I’d been there in the evening to watch to the coming and goings of the pilgrims walking clockwise around the temple. From there we headed up to the Sera Monastery, famed for the debating monks.  Bang on time, we’re shepherded into the courtyard for todays session of heated discussion and hand slapping.  The hand slapping is there to add emphasis to the argument being made.  All in all it’s quite and amazing scene to watch.

We head back into Lhasa for a traditional meal – for one!  After having the menu explained to me, my guide from Shanghai then disappears to have a chinese meal.  Instead of rice or noodles, I had some very tasty Yak Momo and a cold Lhasa beer!.

Outside and I join the tourist taxi queue – meanwhile the chinese just walk to the front and get in to the next oncoming taxi.  I can only assume that it’s an olympic hangover.  In the cab and off to the Emperor Hotel which is situated on one of the only remaining hutongs in central Beijing.  It’s a quirky modern hotel with a fantastic roof top bar that looks over the forbidden city.

My general itinerary was to check out food street, the forbidden city, Tiananmen square, the great wall and to walk around the hutongs.  For the great wall I decided to arrange a private tour to visit an area of the wall called Mutianya which is further away from the city – hopefully to avoid most of the crowds.  Given the number of people I’ve seen in and around the forbidden city, I think the plan worked out quite well (but at a premium).

The great wall is an amazing feat of engineering, but a great cost to the people who built it. After climbing up and down the wall for about three hours, I had to do the obligatory shopping/food stop.  The meal was included in the excursion as was a walk around a local artisan workshop which produced various paintings and glazed images of the wall.

Back in Beijing I met a few Australian friends I’d met on the train from Mongolia.  Several drinks on the roof terrace overlooking the forbidden city and then off to food street. Food street has been manufactured by the authorities as a safe an fun way for tourists to experience the local delicacies.  As a diver, it was a very sad experience as I was confronted by stall after stall of sea horse and shark fins.

A fresh morning and off to see the forbidden city.  For a look around the forbidden city, have a look at my photo gallery.  It’s an amazing place within a place within a place.  Again, the biggest drawback to China so far is quite simply the number of people!  Perhaps it’s time to head somewhere a little quieter!

There’s nothing worse than after an awful train ride is to be awoken at 5:30am to only look out of the window to see a sprawling mass of smoke belching factories and what looks like very basic housing. Welcome to Ulaanbaatar!

To say the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar are ugly would be quite right. The influence of Soviet architectural and town planning is evident.It seems that very little thought has been given to people and the environment. Factories, probably unregulated, are only srperated by waste ground and opportunistic housing. Even the Mongolian ger makes a sporadic appearance. Whether or not they were here before the factories is doubtful.

They love the Beatles in Ulaanbaatar

Arriving at yet another station, a quick look at the map in the lonely planet it should only be a short walk to peace avenue. As it’s 6am, why not – doubt anything is open and it’s unlikely that my room will be ready. Joined by Camile, Gregoire and Morgan we set off. A few minutes later and it becomes obviously that the cartographer for the lonely planet has never been to Ulaanbaatar or there’s been significant tectonic activity as things are futher away than they seem!

45 mins later, several offers of rides, hostels and we’re at Sukhbaatar sq. Quite impressive given the mainly russian style buildings along the route. The Swiss trio decide to look for a place to stow gear while I try to find some coffee – but before we can go our seperate ways we’re joined by a karate teaching American expat by the name of Thamous (one day he’ll be famous-his line, not mine) who offers some help and whisks the Swiss off!

Most of the places for eating are close to the Sukhbaatar square. Silk road bar and grill- off the main road down from Sukhbaatar sq, serves a variety of euro style food but also have shish kebabs on the menu. Good, but you could probably find better. The view if the “temple” is of a brick wall. Don’t come for the view.

California- good lunchtime spot given the outside gazeebo – very welcome shade when it’s pushing 34. Extensive western menu but the beef steak salads are best. Good sized lunch for around 15,000 mnt. For a great curry I’d recommend trying the Taj Mahal in the Ulaanbaatar Hotel (The only five star hotel in Mongolia – so they say!)

Drinking out is a little bit easier unless it’s the first day of the month as no alcohol can be purchased! So, either buy it the day before or raid the mini bar! In summer there’s quite a few marquees up in the town in an around Sukhbaatar sq and along Seoul st. It seems such a waste to venture into an underground bar given the weather so I stayed outside.

A relaxing in Ulaanbaatar for a couple of days, I headed off to Terelj National Park. There are a number of travel agencies around that can organise anything from a simple walk around Ulaanbaatar or for a full on desert expedition across the Gobi. I opted for a more classical trip into the middle of nowhere and a stay in a traditional mongolian ger. One thing travelling by train that is great is the general feeling of safety – one thing you don’t get in a mongolian transfer! Quite simply, they all have a death wish! On arrival I’m greeted with a traditional airag (fermented horse milk) and shown to my Ger.

Thankfully I’d packed sufficient clothes and gadgets to enable my survival of the grid! Especially the Handpresso Wild Expresso Maker and my folding 12w solar charger. An additional benefit to having the handpresso is that it’s a great ice breaker with the locals whilst travelling. All you need is some hot water (in a flask) and handpresso compatible e.s.e pod. Nearly everyone is familiar with cameras, ipods, eReaders but not with the amazing taste of an espresso in the wild!

The surrounding mountains of the Gorkhi-Terelj National Park are stunning – if not a little cold and on occasion very wet. Most of the other guests elected to be driven around the sites but with my trusty Garmin Colorado GPS and tasted for a little peace and quiet, I just wandered up and down the mountains.

Back in Ulaanbaatar for a day before the the train leaves for Beijing and time to check out some more of the historical sites. While I was there the Nairamdal Park was closed for refurbishment but the Gandan Monastery, Winter Palace of Bogd Khan and Museum of National History were all open and well worth a visit.

Following what looks like most people, through the underpass full of tiny shops offering knickers, wigs, jewelry and pies (didn’t buy any pies) i pop up in what looks like a ticket hall but who knows. While sweating with my camera gear round my neck I use the good old 5 fingers in the air- apparently that’s the metro card minimum. And hey presto, a piece of cardboard is thrust my way with a host of verbal instruction(could have been abuse but the Russian facial expressionis are hard to decipher)

Now metro lines are coloured but unfortunately the red line has faded a little and looks a lot like the orange – and a key part of the journey is to change from the orange line to the red line. Down the escalators, which remind me of st johns wood tube station, and onto the platform and a decision to take the train on the left or right! 50/50 odds – unfortunately it’s the wrong choice!  A quick change and off in the right direction.  A positive so far is that the platforms and trains are excellent in comparison to the ticket halls.  A quick change and catch the train the right way and I’m at the kremlin – now where’s the hotel!

On arrival at the hotel, I head out in search of food and possibly a drink.  The restaurants in and around the tourist centres are mostly western except for a few where the popular dish is pelemki – which is served with almost anything including bear meat.Bars are either in the hotels (nice shiny and expensive) or down in cellar bars – hardly inviting but a necessity due to the generally bad winters. The beer is awfull – most bars offer all the usual European largers including newcastle brown ale.

The women all tend to be very very girly – high heels, short skirts and lots of make up. Not exactly sophisticated but it works in mockba. The younger generation appear to be anorexic compared to uk standards- not a bad thing if you’re in advertising (or a Russian speaking single bloke)

Toilets are odd too – while walking around you’ll spot 3 or 4 portaloos randomly placed. Yet some enterprising babushka will have set up home in one of the end ones and charges 20 r for the pleasure of using one. Not sure if she cleans them or not but going by the smell probably not.

One of the worst tourist things I have ever done is to search out the first McDonalds to open in Moscow!  I suppose it has a little bit of capitalist history attached to it, but the food is still awful.

Time to leave Mockba, so it’s a quick car to Yaroslasky station – and I mean quick. The driver thinks he’s protecting some UK government official (me!) so it’s extreeme acceleration, breaking, cornering and use of the horn! A quick tumble roll out of the car and he’s off again.

Now it’s Friday night at a station in a capital city! How bad could the station be? Believe me, bad. I’m standing surrounded by people having fun(drunk and in need of a shower) staring at a bank of train departures all in cyrilic – and none of the departure times match mine! 30 mins later I work out where the “harry potter” platform is next to 1a and 3 but unlabelled – times match though. Time to blend in – need to get a can of beer and some random snack…

I stumbled across this post the other day, Modding the bloggie panoramic lens, about hacking the bloggie to enable it to record 360° movies in 1080p and not the standard 720.

The initial problem the leaves you with (apart from a hacked bloggie) is how to transform your polar movie to an equirectangular format.  The software that ships with the bloggie will only recognise the 720 footage. So, I’ve attached so test to show the difference between the Pano Pro video publisher and the open framework processing script.

Test footage from the Sony Bloggie using Sony PMB software (don’t forget to switch to 720p HD!).

The same footage from the Sony Bloggie processed using the Pano Pro video publisher (don’t forget to switch to 720p HD!). (unprocessed footage here)

Here’s the 1080p footage from the Sony Bloggie processed using the Pano Pro video publisher. As you can see, the quality is greatly improved and you only loose around 6% of the viewable image (due to the distance from the lens to the 360° attachment)

And finally, here’s the Canon 7D footage processed with the Pano Pro video publisher.

Finally, here’s the output from the unmodified processing script (need to play around with the OPTICAL_CENTER_X params etc)

And finally – really, here’s the Sony Bloggie’s 1080p output passed through the BloggieVideoUnwarp processing file with modified params.

If you just want to playback the output straight from the camera, just follow the instructions here from Ryubin’s website!

The basic process involves selecting a reasonably interesting photo – panoramas are generally best but with a bit of cropping you can use any land/sky image.  Then change the size of the image so that it’s equi-rectangular and then rotate the image 180 degrees and apply the polar filter.

Planets from Dirk Paessler, is another method by which you can take a panoramic (or at least a landscape-ish) photo and uses the Polar Coordinates filter of Photoshop or The Gimp to create a circular image that seems to wrap the panorama around a planet.

Once I’d passed my advanced open water course I bought an underwater housing for my Canon A620.  As a beginners camera (7.1 MP & 4x optical zoom) it performed pretty well as it had the all important “custom white balance” mode. For all those divers out there who’ve completed the PADI underwater – white balance is the most important feature when looking for a good camera.

Canon G10 Case

A natural upgrade was to the Canon G10 (now superseded by the G12 which is in many ways not as good).  As the G10 introduced a SD video mode, I began to experiment with shooting video.  Early tests were relatively successful – Canon G10 Sample Video.  The image quality on the G10 is excellent.  Out of water, the 28mm lens is great but underwater it’s just not wide enough.  Most of the wide lens manufacturers do not support the G10 – only the FIX Big Fish Eye.  Most reviews say that with the FIX Fish Eye vignetting becomes a big problem.  If you watched the video above, you’d have noticed that my buddy (Cath Bates) and I are approaching 55m on a technical dive.

The task loading of tech diving associated with the many buttons, white balance settings and exposure/aperture settings of the camera is too much when at depth (especially on deep air dives).  Add to this the recommended allowable depth for the underwater housing (40m for the Canon housings) and things become not just difficult but impossible as the buttons become unresponsive due to the pressure being exerted on the case.  In fact, the only problem I’ve had with the G10 (which remains my backup camera on all my trips – near and far) is that the button caved in (You have to use the afore mentioned button to change the aperture settings when underwater as you don’t have access to the scroll wheel – another pain in the ass as far as the case design goes).

So, with technical diving foremost in my mind I decided to look at the many new compact HD video cameras on the market.  The most popular camera at the time was the Flip HD – but with a little more research I stumbled on the Kodak Zi8.  Encouraged by the reviews and most importantly by the cost of both the camera and Ikelite Housing (60m rated) Amazon made a little more money.  What the Kodak lacks in features (most notably a custom white balance) it makes up for in low light quality and usability.

With just a stop/start button it doesn’t get much more simpler.  The only problem you’re left with is the depth at which you can use it.  Ikelite rate their case to 60m.  I’ve used it down to 80m but the buttons become slightly un-responsive – no surprise there. So, make sure you start it rolling before you pass 60m!  On the upside the battery life is amazing (the Canon G10 would normally last 1 and 1/2 dives – pain in the ass when it goes) but the Kodak will run continually for over 100 mins – Here’s a video to show you what the Kodak can do (110 min dive edited down to 20mins)

Would I still buy the Kodak?  Maybe not, but things have moved on and hindsight is a powerful tool (only after the event though!).  The Kodak is great, especially with the Inon UWL 100 Lens.  It’s light, easy to use, quick to charge and fits in your pocket when you’re out and about.  The key point here is light.  When you start to consider the cost, weight and logistics required to transport a DSLR underwater housing along with your dive gear (mine is in excess of 35Kgs already) it becomes silly.  Consider the cheaper Ikelite housing for the 7D.  The case will set you back (I’ll use Cameras Underwater in the UK for sterling and B&H in the US for Dollars) £1,279 ($1,499), dome port £454 ($524), peli case to transport £150 ($200) the camera and lens £1,500 ($1,500) and then the excess luggage fee and insurance.  I’ll not go into the cost of transport as it varies wildly between airlines.  The same issues exist for the fans of the more conventional video camera. For a quality HD camera and housing that will go to depth, your still looking at shelling out a small fortune and increasing you bag allowance.

So, what’s the alternatives on the market these days? Canon have updated the Powershot and Ixus range with varying HD modes with the all important white balance feature.  The Go Pro HD has popped up in a number of reviews but the image quality suffers (due to the current design of the housing).  A potentially interesting introduction to the market are the micro four thirds cameras.  Given their size and image quality (Philip Bloom highly rates the GH2) they may take over from the DSLRs – but only when the housing manufacturers start to produce the goods!

In summary, I’m going to stick with the Kodak for the time being but keep an eye on Go Pros – they’re just to small and good to be ignored (especially if they sort out the housing!)

Over the years I’ve collected a number of gadgets to simplify and/or automate the acquisition of large panoramic and 360 degree photos – to varying degrees of success!  They range from the cheap to the silly…. and we start with the iPhone 4.  Excluding the cost of the iPhone – the 360 apps (£0.59 – £1.19) are by far the cheapest way to capture reasonable panoramas.

The two apps that I use are 360 Panorama – Occipitaland Panoramatic 360 – floaty have two different approaches and quality. 360 Panorama has a more conventional approach of panning slowly to capture the panorama (or 360 if you spin all the way around). It will only capture a single row of images (portrait or landscape) which limits the inclination of the final image. At the time of writing, Occipital have introduced a 3D option that is a little experimental.  Here’s a sample of what it can do :

Panoramatic 360 – floaty takes the quick route – literally! Built with speed in mind and assuming you’re in a well lit area, Panoramic 360 builds the immersive image as you scan around the location using the iPhones gyroscope. Results vary according to the lighting, background movement of people and objects and the method of capture (up/down or spining). Here is and example taken on Narrow St, Limehouse.

One issue with Panoramic 360 is that the images are stored on the Occipital servers and are not in an easily exportable format. You can hack around in the source that’s generated by their online viewer (4 images) which you download (along with the .js files, css, supporting images) to host externally.

Moving away from the apps brings me to the Sony MHS-PM5KV Bloggie High Definition Handycam Camcorder with 360 degree lens.  The innovative 360 lens miniaturises what is normally a large and delicate mirror that you have to attach to your camera (see info about the Pano-Pro system later). It’s a little clip on accessory that’s only sold with the camera (unless you go through the Sony Spare parts system – it’ll cost you the same, if not a little more that an entire camera package!  - so don’t loose or scratch it!)  When you attach the lens, the camera switches into 360 mode (there’s a little magnet in the lens package).  When in 360 mode you can either record 360 video (720p) or take a 360 degree still image.  Sony bundle some windows software which will allow you to convert to a watchable (windows) format or you can use the free Ryubin’s Panorama.  No conversion is required as it accepts the raw output from the camera. Here’s an example of the cameras doughnut output – not that easy to watch! The bloggie is small enough to fit in you pocket and is even better when attached to your bike!

Last but not least – the Pano-Pro with it’s supposedly “largest in the market” panoramic lens.  Primarily targeted at the property market (estate agents etc.) it can be attached to a number of cameras – compacts and DSLRs. I’ve used it with the Canon 7D and Canon G10. Both require an adapter to attach the Pano-Pro lens with the 7D needing a supporting brace (otherwise you’ll either ruin your lens or have out of focus shots!) Although the quality generated using the Pano-Pro and 7D is far greater than the bloggie, the software (at additional cost) lets the whole package down. Updates are less than frequent (only on Windows at the moment) and the package is especially obtuse to use. Oh, and it’s huge!

To build the slider you’ll need :

Cordless Drill
WK10-80 system plus carriage
Giottos MH7000-652 Series 1 Ball Head With Quick Release (one, but it’s easier if you have two!)
a couple of bolts

The only new pieces I had to buy was the WK10-80 system plus carriage.  To assemble the rig you’ll need to drill one hole in the igus plate to accept the tripod head and one in the centre of the rail so you can mount it on your tripod. I went for a 10mm hole in the rail as it’s the right size for the Giotto head bolt and 8mm in the plate.  To attach the tripod head to the plate I simply use a Camera Flash Hot Shoe Mount 1/4″ Tripod Screw Adapter with thread adapter so it’s flush with the plate and will not snag on the rail.

Now for the resulting video!

Colombia Road flower market is a great place to spend an hour or two on a Sunday morning, as the street is transformed into oasis of foliage and flowers.  After a suitably pleasing purchase, a lemon tree, it was time to take a quick photo.  Unfortunately, using only one hand the iPhone slipped all to quickly to a crashing demise on the pavement.  Inevitably I’d forgot to put the free bumper supplied by apple on the iPhone.

Smashed iPhone 4

A quick browse of the web returned a few options – a walk in service for £60 (London & Manchester), postal services starting from £40 and a number of suppliers offering replacement parts for around £29.  Excluding the £20 premium to walk in to a shop, the additional cost to insure and track your precious iPhone (and it’s data), I decided to get the spare part.

There is quite a few options for replacement screens around – mostly web retailers and grey eBay imports starting from £2.99.  I discounted the cheaper eBay items which state that they have 32Gb label etc because the original iPhone doesn’t! I chose a reputable UK eBay supplier with next day delivery for an “iPhone 4G Replacement New Broken Back Rear Panel Glass” with a precision screwdriver (the only tool you need!)

I’ve posted a series of photos below showing the steps to replace the screen, i.e. remove the two screws near the dock connector, slide the back panel up and lift off – that simple.

Remove the two screws

Slide the back plate up to remove

Replace with new back plate

After visiting Roatan last year we decided to return to Bali for just over two weeks of relaxation in familiar surroundings.  We spent the first few days around the Seminyak area – close to the beach and Ku De Ta.  Prior to arrival, I’d asked a number of agents about last minute deals for villas.  Unfortunately, none of them came back with anything special so we decided to revisit bVilla+spa.  Whilst our stay there was fine, the villas are becoming a little run down and are in need of renovation.

Next stop, via a fast boat, was Gili Trawangan which is just north of Lombok. Where as Bali (notably Kuta and Seminyak) is suffering from the number of people, motorcycles and cars; Gili Trawangan (GT) has no motorised transport and operates at a significantly reduced speed.  I visited GT 15 years ago and was marginally surprised by the amount of development on the shore line – although none of the charm has been lost.  We were staying at Kelapa villas – at the north of the island – a group of private villas.

Gili Trawangan beach panorama

The real reason for visiting the island wasn’t the change of pace or to relive times gone by - it was the technical diving services provided by Blue Marlin Dive.  In the space of 15 years both Blue Marlin and I had progressed from recreational diving to technical diving (although Blue Marlin have been doing it a lot longer than I have).  The staff at Blue Marlin (Jen, Simon, Will and Ivan to mention a few) were great, the deep walls of Tunang and second world war wreck were excellent sites and the pace of life on the island makes this a sure bet for a repeat visit.

Being in Bali (well close to) and having a local sim makes a big difference with the villa agents!  Instead of the normal internet rates, villa prices tumbled and we ended up with a new two bedroom villa in Seminyak at half price (Villa Nunia).  Unlike bVilla, the standard of finish was superb – an added bonus was that the living area could be closed off to the heat and humidity.

Tewodros Shiferaw Asfaw

Approximately 18,000 runners took to the streets between North Greenwich and Woolwich taking in the picturesque parks for the Run to the beat half marathon.  Conditions were quite good for the runners, overcast and a relatively cool, but not great for taking photos.  The mens race was won by Tewodros Shiferaw Asfaw (bib number 2) and Hellen Jemutai (bib number 32) winning the womens.

To illustrate the title of this post, here’s the link to my flickr set showing some people looking good, and others….. well, you decide.

One problem with the 7D (unless you spring for the Canon WFT-E5B Wireless File Transmitter – Wireless file transmitter) is that you’ll have to wait until your back at base or carry a suitably powerful laptop/netbook with you to review your shots.

With the iPad’s Camera connection kit, life becomes much simpler.  Just attach the 7D to the iPad via the USB connection and choose which files to review.  Better still, you can then upload/email the files for review or quickly touch up the image using on of the available photo manipulation apps from the iTunes App Store.

What if you’ve been taking video?  Currently you can only import the files but not watch them back.  Perhaps that will come along in future versions of iOS (not in 4.2)

This is the big problem with Apple policies  - the device is more than capable of playing back the video.  So, if you jail break your iPad all these features work.  Once jail broken you can use iFile to copy the movies from the CF card, watch them in the Video Player and organise them with GoodReader.

Update: Just testing iOS 4.3 Beta 1 and imported movies are almost playing.  Thumbnail generation is still missing, as is the actual movie.  Although the timeline is displaying the movie content correctly.

Update 2: Nope – feature has disappeared again!

update : growing season is over!

So, with the impending launch of the iPad I was interested in it’s capability to provide a preview and back up capability. Obviously the 64GB of onboard storage would never be enough, so the article by Maxwell C Shay raised more than an eyebrow. However, one key issue with the process to access an external drive is to logically mount the drive so that it can be accessed through iFile. The demonstration shows this being achieved by using SSH from a laptop – which rather defeats the purpose of a reasonably self contained solution.

So, I tried to write a simple app that could be run from SpringBoard which would either mount or unmount a connected drive (as per Maxwell’s instructions). Unfortunately, that was a no go – no matter how I tried to execute the shell commands nothing would mount. Now, given that I would have my iPhone in close proximity the simple answer was to use a SSH client from the iPhone to execute the commands remotely – while on the same wifi network. All you have to do is install something like TouchTerm (MobileTerm is not yet compatible with the iPad) and create a connection for Home (i.e. 127.0.0.1 with the usual root credentials).

As I chose to purchase the MiFi instead of the 3G iPad, I have an extremely compact wifi router (doesn’t need a 3G signal to create the network) So I simply connect the external drive to my iPad, issue the command from my iPad and then browse, move and organise my files without the need of the bulky MacBookPro or under powered netbook.

You’ll have to jailbreak your iPad – I’ve had this working on both 4.2 and 4.3 betas.  iFile now behaves like Finder in OSX and will display the attached drive as a Flash Drive (with eject icon), so you can skip the SSH steps mentioned in the Maxwell C Shay article. This greatly simplifies the copying and moving of files to and from GoodReader.

So far I’ve had this working fine with SDHC cards from my Kodak Zi8, Sony MHS-PM5KV Bloggie 360 and Canon EOS 7D. Even though iPhoto seems to download the files (if there’s a DCIM folder somewhere on the card) it doesn’t play well with the HD video footage so just launch them from iFile into VideoPlayer.

With a travel distance of over 13,000 km and nearly three days I arrived tired, hungry and filled with a the hope of some excellent diving.

A quick note on the airports – Dubai is like most modern airports with row after row of identical shops selling exactly the same products.  Manila, however, is something from the past and it’s very small.  Facilities are limited with one cafe and the bar is unfortunately the smoking room.  All in all, no a very pleasant stop over.

The flight to Palau is quite quick (just under 3 hours) and immigration a breeze followed by an efficient transf to the hotel – the Landmark Marina. The hotel is quite new and with all the usual facilities you’d expect these days.   The main reason to choose the hotel was the 2 minute walk around to the corner to FishNFins.

FishNFins are a very welcoming operation – a quick run through of all the dive sites and various trips and I’m ready to go diving.  I opted for the daily diving as time did not permit the liveaboard option. An interesting mandatory purchase at FishNFins is a waterbottle!  Having dived all round the world this was the first time I’d seen a dive centre actively reducing the amount of plastic bottles used.  They provide fresh chilled water on the boats during the day, and back at the centre.

The day normally consists of a 8am departure followed by three dives.  Normally two in the morning then lunch and a third dive but this is flexible depending on prevailing sea conditions and choice of dive sites. The dive sites are all within an hour of the dive centre given the very powerful speedboats in use.  Dive sites can be classified by geological curiosity or by the species of fish you’ll see.  Want caves? Then Siaes Tunnel, Chandelier Cave and the Blue holes are a must. Sharks? Blue Corner, Peleliu Wall & Cut and Siaes Corner are where you’ll find the action. The dive guides are excellent and understand the tidal movements so will time your dives to maximise current and therefore the opportunity to see the majestical sharks.

A possible candidate for entry as a wonder of the natural world has to be Jellyfish Lake, or Ongeim’l Tketau as it is called in Palauan. Once you’ve finished your morning dives and had lunch you head over to the southern lagoon, on Mecherchar Island. It’s a strenuous walk up the paths to lake but it is an amazing site.  Let the guide swim around the lake to find the jellyfish as the migrate around following the sun.  Then gently swim amongst the jellyfish – they don’t sting so the only thing you have to worry about is damaging the jellyfish.!

So, does Palau live up to all the hype? Well, yes it does. If you need proof, check out my collection on flickr.

Leaving Palau, I headed back to Manila for a quick one night stop over and a domestic flight down to Cebu followed by a 4 hr car ride to the port at Maya.  A little wait for the local boats to fill up enough and off we went to Bantigue Cove Beach Resort.  On arrival I was welcomed and shown to my room – very basic and lacking air-conditioning!  Eager to go diving I was extremely disappointed to find out that the in house dive shop did not provide Nitrox (a must for some of the key dive sites where the Thresher Sharks are to be found).  So, I hitched a lift on the back of a motorbike and set off down through the jungle to the main area.  Luckily I had also researched alternative dive shops so headed to the British run Thresher Shark Divers who delivered yet another disappointment – dives start at either 5 or 6am to catch the early morning action! Why a disappointment?  There’s no way I could get transport from Bantigue Grove to the dive centre at that time in the morning.  Only one thing for it, change accommodation! Several hair raising motorbike rides to collect my dive gear and I moved to Slam’s Garden Resort.  Although lower in rating on tripadviser.com than Bantigue grove, Slam’s is very new, clean and has excellent air-conditioning.

The diving : going to Palau then diving somewhere else immediately is a very depressing experience.  Although flora and fauna above sea level is very similar, underwater is not.  First you notice the drop in visibility, secondly the variety and size of fish reduces significantly.  Local fishing has decimated the underwater landscape – although it is a haven for macro species.

That said, the primary reason for visiting Malapscua was to find the elusive Thresher sharks. So, for a week I got up at 5am and headed out to Moad Shoal in search of sharks.  The dive consisted of groups splitting up and scouring the mount at a depth of 26m looking for the sharks.  The mounts side drop down to a depth of over 200m where the sharks patrol for food.  In order to maximise time looking for the sharks, nitrox is a necessity. Most of the days was an amusing game of managing air consumption against no decompression time and the water temperature as there was a significant lack of shark activity.

Towards the end of the week, with no sightings from anyone, I was beginning to think I’d never see one.  Then, with a stunning sun rise over the Philippine sea, I finally saw what I’d come for – a lone Thresher Shark. Photo? No chance, visibility and distance were against me on that day!

Would I go to Malapascua again?  Probably – only because now I’m an advanced Trimix diver I’ll be able to go deeper and stay longer with the Thresher sharks!

Thanks to Synthia, Mike, Rod,  Neil, Shady, Pete, Paul & Jacquie

The photo set is up on flickr now.

Part of a series of photos taken during a lightning storm over london.

Follow the image link to more on my flickr account.

1. book tickets early
2. arrive when the gates open (good space near the bar/access paths is best)
3. picnic blanket and inflatable sleeping matt/chair combo
4. take a good picnic, although there was a tempting indian selection on sale – beer/wine has to be in plastic bottles. A popular choice is to grab a pizza from pizza express round the corner and bring it in with you.

Here’s a couple of shots from the evening

The question is – how did the sensor get so dirty in the first place?

INSERT_MAP

It’s the zoomify export facility (file->export->zoomify). Here’s a link to the original posted on flickr