40D questions

[bfuqua]

I just purchased a 40D, Ikelite case and a DS125 strobe. Now that I have spent my son's college fund and will have to put off retirement for a few years I was hoping someone on line might have some setting tips for me. My wife and I are going to Roatan next month and plan to spend the better part of a week playing with the setting and learning how to use a dslr.

We have had a Oly C5060 for several years and were itching to move up a notch...or two.

Any advice for a starting point?

 

[alcina]

First, use your camera on land at every opportunity. Make yourself shoot nothing at all while sitting at your computer if that's what it takes. You must understand how it works and what buttons and dials do what before you stick it in the housing - it will make life so much easier

Second, what lens are you shooting?

Third, have fun!! My housing just cleared customs and I am now waiting for delivery

Fourth, you may find that moving your focus to the * button is beneficial. I always have mine on the * for underwater work. I just find it works for me about a million times better. Experiment with both and don't be too hasty to choose one. You may also find that one way works better for some things while the other way works better for other things.

Fifth, have fun! I love mine

 

[pakman]

bfuqua, congrats on the purchase. It's a nice camera... My new 40D housing (S&S) is on its way from Japan as I write...

I 2nd Alcina's recommendation and try to use it as much topside now to get familiar with all the controls and read the manual!

Alcina, the 40D has a dedicated focus lock button next to the old "*". Looks like the Ike has a control for this (you can use your right thumb to activate it).

Use the "info" button on the bottom to display camera settings on the big 3" LCD. I suspect that will be easier to see than the small display on top. Actually you can see most of the important settings through the viewfinder but while diving it will be nice to glance at the 3" LCD to confirm your settings. The battery on the 40D lasts a looong time so don't worry about running the LCD all the time.

I might also suggest turning on the highlight priority, especially if you're doing any wide angle ambient/ sunball shots. This will limit your ISO to 200-1600 but I find it does handle shadows and highlights well topside.

If you tell us what lens you have, we could probably give some more specific recommendations.

 

[alcina]

Alcina, the 40D has a dedicated focus lock button next to the old "*". Looks like the Ike has a control for this (you can use your right thumb to activate it).

I haven't tried that - the * is in just the right place for me. My housing is a Subal and I haven't even seen one yet LOL

 

[pakman]

Subal, eh? ooh that is one sweet looking housing. I love the way they relocated main dial to below the shutter trigger and the rear command dial to the top as well. Sigh, at nearly 2x the price of the S&S housing, I couldn't justify it

 

[bfuqua]

Thanks for the info. The housing came yesterday and the the camera arrived today. I will be spending the weekend shooting everything in sight (including the fish in our aquarium).

I would like to hear everyone's lens recommendations. I purchased the IS version of the 18-55. This seemed to be a good lens for out of the water and thought I would experience the camera more before I popped for the underwater lenses..

again, thanks

 

[Blackwood]

Thanks for the info. The housing came yesterday and the the camera arrived today. I will be spending the weekend shooting everything in sight (including the fish in our aquarium).

I would like to hear everyone's lens recommendations. I purchased the IS version of the 18-55. This seemed to be a good lens for out of the water and thought I would experience the camera more before I popped for the underwater lenses..

again, thanks

I don't shoot underwater with my 40D, so take this with that consideration.

My favorite lens is the 17-40 f/4L. No IS, but fast enough that I rarely need it, and markedly cheaper than the 16-35 f/2.8L.

That lens is on my body probably 90% of the time.

I also use a 24-105 f/4L and a 70-300 DO IS.

 

[pakman]

I would like to hear everyone's lens recommendations. I purchased the IS version of the 18-55. This seemed to be a good lens for out of the water and thought I would experience the camera more before I popped for the underwater lenses..

again, thanks

I presume you'll be using that with a dome port right? Do try to shoot with a higher aperture setting/ stepped down (in other words, try to avoid shooting with the aperture wide open - f/3.5 at 18mm or f/5.6 at 55mm) and I think you'll get some sharp images. With the 40D, don't be afraid to up the ISO to avoid having to open up that aperture too much.

Another tip is setting the focus to center point as sometimes the focus point the camera decides on might not be what you wanted to focus on.

Oh and shoot RAW... it will give you more fudge room if you don't nail that exposure...

 

[alcina]

If you're looking for underwater lenses, please check out the Sticky at the top of the UW Photo area - there is a good getting starting list there covers most of the top contenders.

If you're looking for an all rounder on land, check out the Sigma 18-200 OS. I have had the older version for ages and it's great. A friend just bought the new OS version (after using my older one) for her big holiday and loves it. Excellent value for money and great range.

You've already bought the 18-55 and port for it, so your best bet is probably to use that and learn to get the most of it. Once you have things down and see where you'd like some more options (macro, wide angle etc) you'll be able to narrow your lens choice down considerably. Eventually you'll end up with a few

 

[bfuqua]

Alcina

Ready the sticky notes at the top of the UW Photo area - Thank you so much for taking the time to put all of that information together. I am sorry I passed over them before as they are great help.

THANK YOU for putting so much information together.