1st attempt at u/w photos

[H2ODoc]

Just got back from our Cozumel trip and my first time with the A610 and u/w housing.

Overall, I'm somewhat disappointed in my pics. We took about 700 total pics and not too many came out as crisp and clear as I hoped they would. I'm not sure the reason, but I didn't quite get that deep blue and super crisp and clean focused result that I was going for. Got any ideas?

Even though they aren't great, I still learned a lot from this board- manual WB adjustment, etc.! Thanks all!

Here's what I tried:

- using camera's built-in white balance for u/w - most pics came out too blue.
- using manual white balance really helped adjust colors. I used the sand to adjust
- I had the ISO set to 200 the whole trip. I'm thinking I should have set it to Auto since I really don't know what this setting does! Some of the pics seemed too washed out.
- I mostly used Shutter speed priority (Tv?) and had it at 125 or 160 most of the time.
- I used the flash, but with limited sucess. My best pics seemed to be when I was shallower than 60 feet and when I did NOT use the flash. On some dives, I'd switch between flash and non flash. I found that I had to go to auto WB when using the flash, then back to manual when I didn't use the flash.
- I'm mad at myself for not thinking to use the manual WB when I took some u/w videos using the camera - I'm sure they would have been much better if I had adjusted for video WB.
- Oh yea - I dropped the camera on a concrete floor at the end of the trip and now the zoom toggle doesn't return to middle anymore on its own. Not only that, but they don't make this camera anymore, so if I were to buy a new Canon, I need to buy a new u/w housing too! Arrrrgh! :shakehead

Ideas? Here are my better pics. Even with these, I don't think they are that great.

 

[phunk]

Nice pics, they came out much better than my first attempt, also in coz recently.

 

[alcina]

Looking good.

Set your ISO to 100 (or 50 if you have it). The ISO is your "film speed". At 200 you are letting in a lot of light and this is why you found overexposure/blow out. Using the lowest ISO is the way to go in Coz waters. You will also have less noise in your images with a lower ISO.

Your internal flash is only going to work well at about 3-5 feet. If you are further away than that, you'll have lmited success most likely. It's very good for those macro subjects that you want to POP. It's not so great for more wide angle shots such as you've displayed and I think going with the manual white balance was a great choice!

The UW settings (more variations of "auto" mode, really) just don't work all the time, as you've found.

Your water looks pretty good, so I think your shutter speed was probably pretty spot on. if you use ISO 100 you'll most likely not want to go much higher than 1/160 or you might find the water is too dark.

 

[Jim Ernst]

Hey Doc.

I read in your post something that really caught my attetion, you learned a very valuable lesson!!

You stated you found that you were not able to use you flash with manuel white balance!! This is very correct you can not use manuel white balance with a flash or you will most likely turn your pix red/orange.

You should always use auto white balance with a flash/strobe, and no flash/strobe with manuel white balance.

I think your pictures are very good !! And remember a rule of thumb if you will.

You are doing good if you shoot 100 pic's and get 10 great ones!!!

Keep up the good work, again nice pictures!!

 

[driftin' by]

Hey Doc! Awesome first attempt. As we talked about while diving... you're a better man than I am with this UW photo thing and shooting with manual WB. I did a poor job at preparing for this trip and studying up on using my camera. As a result I wasn't very pleased with my pics either. I'll post some after I get a chance to do some post editing. Got anymore worthy of sharing?

Sorry to hear you dropped your camera. Although they don't make it any longer you can still find the A610 for sale at both retailers and ebay. Alternatively, the WP-DC90 will also accommodate the 7.1mp A620. It's probably wise to have a couple spare bodies lying around since you've invested in the housing. I should talk because I have yet a grab a few extra A95's for my WP-DC50 housing.

Thanks for sharing and remember, it'll get better with time.

 

[BKP]

...
- Oh yea - I dropped the camera on a concrete floor at the end of the trip and now the zoom toggle doesn't return to middle anymore on its own. Not only that, but they don't make this camera anymore, so if I were to buy a new Canon, I need to buy a new u/w housing too! Arrrrgh!

...Ouch!

Sorry about the camera dropping, however, you did a much better job than I, on *my* first u/w photo attempt... (of course, I'm one of those that "RTFM" was coined for...)

 

[grayeagle]

h2odoc; great pic's, i too just got back from cancun on the 27th with my first try, with digital anyway. i used my wifes canon shurshot a75. thinking on taking a class though cause i dont really know the camera, what does what etc, mayge more diveing more practice.

 

[H2ODoc]

I'll post some after I get a chance to do some post editing. .

Driftin' By.... how about we see that one of the eel that you got close up? Or was it something else that looked good? I don't remember for sure. I was afraid of losing one of my fingers to that creature, so all mine are from 3' away! On the boat, it looked like it was a GREAT pic...

 

[H2ODoc]

Got anymore worthy of sharing?

Here are a few more (I also forced Photobucket not to downsize them as much as the other ones....)

Black tipped reef shark. Not the closest of closeups, eh?

Cropped pic of a Grouper with the abyss in the background:

Aquarium type pic with diver in the background:

If the fish was swimming into the picture, this might have been my favorite of the whole trip:

Anemonemone (say it in Nemo's voice):

Good pic where white balance eliminated the blues:

 

[mikerault]

Might as well jump right to the 30D and avoid the inbetweens...

I love mine...other than the ERR99 on the first dive ALWAYS!!! After reset it works fine the rest of the day arrrrg!