Good suggestion. I been using window's movie maker to compress and dont' believe it lets you save space by taking out sound. It lets me mute the sound or turn the sound down, but when saving it, there is no diff in size...:loco:

Windows Movie Maker sounds very limited. I'd look into DivX.

I updated the main news page with the special fish choices, so if anyone needs to refer back to them without hunting the threads you can find them there.

Sounds like Atlanta wouldn't work if it's that crowded. I need some "alone time" with the tanks to get the shots I need. Kids running around jostling the tripod and disturbing the fish are the bane of my existence. Even quiet respectful people cause trouble because their reflections in the glass can ruin the shot.

Try the aquariums at Paradise Island, Nassau, Bahamas. If you happen to need a vacation ;)

great aquariums....

Thats about the way it is there for now Jim, and one of the reasons I haven't forced the time to go yet myself. I plan on wearing out my 1GB flash card in the camera, and for the reasons you just gave it isn't worth the trip yet.

If there is anything you would like me to look for or try and get a shot of, PM me and I will look for it when I go. Hopefully it will be sometime before too much longer.

Thanks Michael, but I need to take the pics myself - hi-def video and all, you know. Heading down to San Diego now in search of the perfect sea anemone.

OK, at least when I go I will try and take boucoups photos and post them. That way you will at least know whats there and maybe not waste a trip.

You better cut down on the XB360 Poker and becoming a heli pilot then... ;)

/Tiny Jab at Jav

I have to have something to do at 4AM when I can't sleep. They won't let me in the aquarium then. :(

And I have enough trouble with flying this new one during the day. Night is definately out. :lol:

Struck out in the San Diego area yesterday. It's amazing how many run-down aquarium stores there are all over the country. About half of those listed in on-line directories don't even exist any more. It's very depressing pulling up to "The Ultimate Saltwater Aquarium Shop" only to find that it is now a health insurance office.

Heading down to Long Beach Aquarium and a bunch of Los Angeles stores today.

Well I know the one in Atlanta is supposed to be the largest one now Jim, not to mention brand new, it was opened last November I think. But, with knowing what you have to do and having heard about the crowds of people I think you would have a difficult time getting anything done. You might just give them a call and ask them on average what is their slowest day and time, and how busy they are on average.

I want to see that one so bad. My sister and her family were there this summer. They liked it a lot but they said the one in Baltimore was better. I love the one in Baltimore but I want to see the new one just for the whale shark.

I'll be about 5 hours from Baltimore next weekend (we're taking the puppies on a road trip to Pittsburgh to visit a friend), don't temp me... :erm: If we weren't bringing the dogs I'd drive the extra 250 miles without hesitation...

Charge up the batteries for the camera and go for it Doc.

I said don't tempt me! :(

I really wouldn't know what to do with the dogs. Can't leave them in the Pittsburgh hotel for that long, can't leave them in the car while we're at the aquarium, can't leave them home now that Jennifer's planning on bringing them, and we can't get a hotel in Baltimore because we already have 3 nights booked in Pittsburgh.... :| Hmmm... :| :| :|

Gosh, wouldn't that be cool if a couple of you guys could meet in Baltimore and go to the aquarium together? If I was in N.Y. right now, I'd go to Baltimore for that in a second.

Struck out again today.

Some more Goby home videos
 

More great shots. Do you pay for admission every time you go to the Pier 39 Aquarium, or do you have a pass of some kind?

I hope she has a pass if she has to pay. By the way, Great shots, Keep them coming.

Damn, you can't pass that up guys. I'd come, but that's a little far for me.

Real nice. Keep them coming dear. We Love them.

Those look like standard green Moray's, I never was fond of those either. The Zebra I had is much more colorful, and they don't have teeth, where all the rest do. I used to go to the local Krogers and get 1 large Tiger shrimp every few days to feed mine. It got to where I could peck on the top of the tank and he would come up and stick his head out of the water and get it before disappearing back into his hole I made for him. Moray's don't like alot of light, because they can't see well in much brightness, but they will come out and swim around every so often where you can get a good look at them.

I don't think it hurts them, just a matter of not being able to see as good as they would like. If you had a really bright light on all the time then that would be different.

The thing with the lights was one of the reasons Jim first decided to put one in the tank so he could tie it in with the changing lights in the aquarium.

Those are really great videos , Minn. - You've obviously got your camera lens nice and close to the tank. - I'm going to have to start using my movie-mode more often. - The quality you are achieving is most impressive. ... I'm quite jealous! :)

Gawd, saw this title and nearly had a heart attack. I thought this meant it had been released!

Oh well, nice to see the progress update. As it is, DA has left Sachs in the dust, beta 1.050 is amazing. He recently redid the textures and added proper reflectivity to their scales, made behaviour even better, it's just awesome.

Don't take this as an attack on Jim (as the more zealous of you will), MA engine is many years old now. Can't wait for 3.0, glad to have something to tide me over until then.

I think when Jim's new tank comes out it's going to be pretty amazing. I'm scared to think how good it will look. :eek:

I plan to hit about 20 more aquarium stores tomorrow looking for source material. Haven't had much luck lately.

No you're not. DA is super nice and will do fine. There's room for both.

So the next answer is to have an Aquarium company come out, install a tank, and the corals and fish you want and set up a maintenance contract. Add up all your travel expenses looking for fish and divide by 12, is it more than having your own tank would cost?

Ditto, you should have ~175 gallon tank there Jim. That would give you room to do different things, and you could do your HD shots without any hassle at all.

I have considered it, but the logistics just wouldn't work out. Setting up a large reef tank is a major undertaking. Many corals and anemones take weeks or months to bloom to their full glory. We are out of state half the time, so a daily service would be necessary just to keep the critters alive. Plus, we'll be moving as soon as this house sells, so the whole thing would have to be dismantled. Let's say I spend $10,000 on a 200-gallon tank and aquarium service. I can do quite a bit of traveling for that amount, especially driving trips.

But the main drawback is that I don't know what I'd like to include in the tank until I see it. Often when I go to an aquarium shop, I'll see something new. Is it better to buy it, take it home, install it in a tank of my own, wait weeks for it to recover - or photograph it where it is?

10K????? :erm: Uh, I don't know what prices are like out there, but I could set up a 180 gallon here for less than half of that. The tank and stand would be the largest expense and thats about 1,400.00 for a 180 gallon.

My best guess here would be about 3,000 - 3,500. Then an auto feeder if you are gone for a few days, and unless you are gone for more than a month and miss waterchanges and it goes south you should be fine. You would still be faced with the take down for moving though.

You can get an autofeeder.

I wasn't talking about Jacques Cousteau's son doing it, just a local shop. :)

I see your points, but considering the resolution of textures you need and success rate you've had so far with finding willing shops and aquariums with the right lighting, I think getting my own tank would be tempting.

The best thing for the own tank is you can set it up THE WAY YOU WANT IT! You could also search for people who love fish and aquaristic in the neiborhood of your new house. I'm just thinking about an separate small room with no house access only for the tank, there would be possible to take care of it in your absence. I'd really like to do this for you for free, but unfortunatelly I don't live there.
I'm only thinking in the future when you need to observe the fish/creatures movement for weeks or months... What do you like most: to sit and think in a totally quiet room, day and night if you want, or take some shots/films of tanks that are visited every day for many people, with differences of light ambient and artistic arangement...
Those travelling I've only use to make some notes about what for fishes/creatures are needed.
By the way how did the prolific the observations for the GA?