550 - 037 housing reflection

[lagerfran]

Hi, I got a new Oly 550 with the 037 housing, I bought an slave strobe from Inon and a cover from Olympus for the housing to block out the flash. I get what amounts to back flash inside the housing which is creating a reflection on my photos. (not all, only wide angle) I talked with the Olympus rep at DEMA and he hadn't seen that problem, and is supposedly asking his tech guys about it.

He said the flash is sending light back into the housing and the light is getting out where the rubber skirt surrounds the lens port. (does this make sense). At DEMA when we pushed the camera down into the housing (tightly) the reflection was gone. So as long as it stays tight it's not a problem. But I see it coming a little loose during a dive.

Anyone else have this problem.

 

[gary-ramey]

If I'm reading this right, light is going from the flash, inside the port and reflecting off the port glass back into the lens? Maybe a very soft, piece of window foam insulation with the sticky back? You could cut a small piece and put it directly below the flash inside the housing. You'd need to inspect it really well to make sure it didn't interfere with the housing closing correctly but it seems the answer would be just to block the flash some way.

 

[jigo]

I have exactly the same problem with my oly sp550uz. i dont use strobes yet but i also get this annoying reflection of the metal surrounding the lens when taking wide angle shots. this usually is a problem if the lens is pulled all the way back for the widest shots.

check out this thread i started: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/un...301-c-c-test-shots-oly-sp-550uz-pt-037-a.html

i would appreciate it if you let us know if you find a solution to the problem short of spray-pairiting the metal black.

 

[lagerfran]

Thanks for the idea, I'll try it. I'm going on a trip the first week of Dec, if it works I'll let you know.

Note: If it not a reflection off the silver on the front of the camera.

 

[gary-ramey]

You know after reading the entire link from Jigo the other thought that occurred to me is turning your internal strobe off during WA shots. Since the internal strobe will be pretty useless covering that anyway, you might try that as a workaround. Any macro or fish portraits will have you zooming in a little anyway.
BTW, next time your out try putting your flash on manual, set it to its lowest possible setting (in my old Oly it had 10 steps with 1 being the lowest). Set the zoom at the widest angle and take a photo. Do you still get reflection? If so, any optical strobe you buy for the camera will also have the reflection so you'll need to engineer a way to block the light from getting inside the port. When the lens is in telephoto, it does this by default which is why you don't have a reflection while zoomed in. Most housings have some dead space in them. I would find a way to place a small piece of stick foam (black) underneath the internal flash when it is in the popped up position. There is enough space created when the flash is popped up that this should work. The only problem you might have then is having to insert the camera into the housing with the flash already in the up position. Let me know how things work out, Later,

 

[lagerfran]

You know I'll try turning off the flash for wide angle as long as I don't need light, that's a good idea. But the flash has to be on to set off my slave strobe so I think I'll try the foam idea and see what happens.

I take mostly zoom (at least some zoom) shots anyway but it's frustrating when you can't use ALL options on a camera.

Thanks

 

[jigo]

What's a stick foam?

 

[gert7to3]

I think ce4... meant sticky foam. Try looking for weatherstrip foam at a hardware store. It has an adhesive back on it. A little bit of it stuck to the inside of the housing, between the lens port and the strobe ought to kill that reflection. Be sure to verify that the foam is not too thick or stiff. It could cause problems seating your camera properly and sealing your housing. Also beware of getting the foam too close to the flash. You don't want to block your strobe and keep it from extending.

 

[gary-ramey]

I think ce4... meant sticky foam. Try looking for weatherstrip foam at a hardware store. It has an adhesive back on it. A little bit of it stuck to the inside of the housing, between the lens port and the strobe ought to kill that reflection. Be sure to verify that the foam is not too thick or stiff. It could cause problems seating your camera properly and sealing your housing. Also beware of getting the foam too close to the flash. You don't want to block your strobe and keep it from extending.

Yes that is correct. There should be some really cheapo weather stripping that is very flexible that compresses very easy. You don't want any out-ward pressure on the housing at all. On the issue of the strobe, you might end up having to raise the strobe before putting the camera in the housing in order to accommodate the foam. BTW, you're discovering what I did when I came into this lovely sport. Fabrication skills are a must!

 

[jigo]

if it works, pls post a pic of how you did it. thanks!