TG6 new build

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Location
Melbourne
# of dives
50 - 99
Hi all. I'm new to Underwater photography. I've mainly been using a GoPro 7 for video. I've been reading a lot of the posts in lighting and add one. I understand the basic concepts of App, shutter and iso iso but I don't really have an idea of how to manipulate settings so they work together.

My aim in photography is macro but I also like taking some video and wider angles such as wreck and of my dive buddies. I'd love to put some pics on my wall or make a small book for family presents.

So far I have:
TG6 with housing. I already have a tray with 2 X 1k lumen VL.

I'm tech challenged so easier is better. What I'm thinking of getting is
Backscatter mini strobe with snoot
A VL min 2k lumen
Wide angle air

What I struggle with is the set up. Do I set macro up and save it as C1 (custom 1)? Taking the air into account. BS suggests super macro if the air is on. Then for wider I either set up C2 or just switch to auto.

Do I minimise the VL to about 25% when I'm macro and turn off strobe for wide angle but beef up the VL

Sorry for the length of the post but atm I'm kinda scared to Tweek the settings or even use the camera I the first place.
 
OK, so I'm far from an expert but here are my thoughts:

1K video lights are cool for close in work don't penetrate that far....much less than I would have thought based on the "shining it around my living room" test :wink:

The TG-6 has pretty good presets for underwater white balance...if you're in relatively clear water, it's worth experimenting with ambient light shooting...the lights come in handy for murkier water or lower light shooting...

I really like my air lens as i can shoot both macro and wide angle without taking it off...

On the settings thing, the best advise I can give you is to do a relatively shallow dive (say 30ft), pick a subject and take a ton of pics/videos of it with various settings then reviewing them to find out what you like the best...take a slate with you for notes if you need it...doing that will really help you figure out what does what and is so much better than going on a dive trip and experimenting on the fly...I did it that way at first and would end up deleting over 90% of the pictures I took...

hope i've been at least a little help...
 
with the TG-6 there are not that many settings to play with - there are two apertures which are f2/2.8 wide and f4.9/6.3 tele. Set it to Av on f2.8 - 6.3 and use ISO100 and manual flash at low power and it will calculate the required shutter speed. If you have the camera on forced flash it will bottom out at 1/30 sec wide or 1/100 tele. this means if there is not enough light the BG will go black - this is fine for macro. f8/18 is achieved with an ND filter not a smaller aperture and is mainly used to get a black background when shooting with strobes.

Wide angle you would be at f2.8 which is quite fast so shutter speeds quite high and even 1/30 sec should be fine if you are reasonably stable. The only thing I'd do differently for wide angle at least initially is use about 1 stop -ve exposure compensation on the camera, this will reduce the ambient light in the exposure and tend to make the water darker blue, you make up for this with flash.

In both cases take a shot and look at the exposure - adjust the exposure by changing the flash power. Macro you will be in quite close mostly and the variation in distance won't be that much so you stay around one setting for that. For wide angle adjust until you get a good exposure then try to take all the shots at about the same distance. If you need to change distance adjust flash power accordingly.

I would try and use those settings on macro in C1 then the same settings with just the 1/2-1 stop of negative exposure compensation as the change for C2 for wide angle. Tryt that for a while and see how it goes and adjust one thing at a time when making changes.
 
Wow. I've had my TG-6 for 3 days now. I was hoping to gain some powerful insight from this thread. I have just discovered I need to go back to Photography 101 :(

Cheers -
 
My own setup

DIY platform. two Big BLue VL 4200P video lights... PT059 housing.... and my old Hero4 which I used until I got the TG6 last August.
Yes lots to learn on how to use the TG6 it's great for macro video or photos.

TG6 HERO4 SETUP.jpg
 
Yes save settings in C1 and C2 and keep apeture for manual adjustment underwater.

GLASS SHRIMP SUPER MACRO.jpg
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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