About to give up and sell my rig.
- Thread starter RDRINK25
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
- Messages
- 1,844
- Reaction score
- 520
- # of dives
- None - Not Certified
I shoot a Rebel T4i with the Tokina 10-17 and my advice would be:
1. Practice on land with the camera on manual mode until you begin to figure out the relationship between Aperture, Shutter speed and ISO. Shooting in Auto will help you understand what the camera sees, but you need to understand why it's giving you x,y,z settings IMO.
2. Shoot in raw and review the settings used to take the shot. Programs like Lightroom will also help you understand what would happen if you change the exposure on your shots. This will further enhance your understanding of point #1.
3. As someone else said, make sure you snap a few shots and everything is working properly before you even get on the boat.
4. Practice some more...
5. Repeat steps 1,2,3 and 4
Without being there it's hard to say why you couldn't focus from your post. If you were indeed shooting a 3200 ISO in bright daylight at the surface maybe everything was blown out over exposed and there wasn't anything to really be able to focus? But if you were in Auto mode the camera would have adjusted itself to the available light and would have given you a near ballpark exposure, so there's something missing in this picture <pun intended>
On a bright daylight I'd set my camera to 200 ISO at f7 and that's before I even jump in the water. I love shooting near the surface and in the shallows with just available light!
6. Finally, don't give up... Anything worth doing is not going to be easy! Keep asking specific questions if you have them and pretty soon you will see your pictures improve.
1. Practice on land with the camera on manual mode until you begin to figure out the relationship between Aperture, Shutter speed and ISO. Shooting in Auto will help you understand what the camera sees, but you need to understand why it's giving you x,y,z settings IMO.
2. Shoot in raw and review the settings used to take the shot. Programs like Lightroom will also help you understand what would happen if you change the exposure on your shots. This will further enhance your understanding of point #1.
3. As someone else said, make sure you snap a few shots and everything is working properly before you even get on the boat.
4. Practice some more...
5. Repeat steps 1,2,3 and 4
Without being there it's hard to say why you couldn't focus from your post. If you were indeed shooting a 3200 ISO in bright daylight at the surface maybe everything was blown out over exposed and there wasn't anything to really be able to focus? But if you were in Auto mode the camera would have adjusted itself to the available light and would have given you a near ballpark exposure, so there's something missing in this picture <pun intended>
On a bright daylight I'd set my camera to 200 ISO at f7 and that's before I even jump in the water. I love shooting near the surface and in the shallows with just available light!
6. Finally, don't give up... Anything worth doing is not going to be easy! Keep asking specific questions if you have them and pretty soon you will see your pictures improve.
OP
RDRINK25
Contributor
So I have been outside and inside today trying to practice. A few question...
1. I have the Sea and Sea hosing and the tokina focus gear but how to manual focus? The gear goes on the zoom and when the camera is in the housing it will only zoom in and out. If you have it on manual focus there is no fine adjustment?
2. I have been shooting with the 10-17 and settings are 100 iso f11 and 1./160 but my shutter is staying open way to long. Is this because it is trying to find more light? Should I have a flash on at this point as so a strobe in the water?
1. I have the Sea and Sea hosing and the tokina focus gear but how to manual focus? The gear goes on the zoom and when the camera is in the housing it will only zoom in and out. If you have it on manual focus there is no fine adjustment?
2. I have been shooting with the 10-17 and settings are 100 iso f11 and 1./160 but my shutter is staying open way to long. Is this because it is trying to find more light? Should I have a flash on at this point as so a strobe in the water?
- Messages
- 1,844
- Reaction score
- 520
- # of dives
- None - Not Certified
1. The zoom gear is to change the focal length of the lens from say 10mm (180º field of view) to 17mm (100º filed of view) and anywhere in between. My housing has a focus knob to manually focus, but I mainly use auto focus which to me is much faster since I'm usually shooting wide my aperture is small (f7 and smaller) so the depth of field (space where everything is in focus) is going to be large and focusing is not an issue. Not to mention that I cannot switch AF/MF once the lens is in the housing so I pick AF.
2. Are you sure your shutter is at 1/160 and not 1/60? 1/160 is rather fast and shouldn't cause your shutter to stay open long. Look at the meter in your viewfinder or the LCD display it should indicate if you're over (right of center) or under (left of center) exposing the subject when you half press the shutter button. 100 ISO is for really really bright sunny days so available light should be plenty. There shouldn't be a need for a flash unless you're trying to fill in some shadows.
If auto focus is on i choose to use the center point only for autofocus. Also is your dome compatible with your lens?
desperoadie
Registered
As about everone said: hang in there. I have been shooting topside for a long time with mediocre success at best.
Shooting u/w is 10x harder than topside... keep on practicising, start with simple things and move on from there.
Shooting u/w is 10x harder than topside... keep on practicising, start with simple things and move on from there.
Something else to double-check on is the AF mode: One Shot, AI Focus, AI Servo. For your testing, to confirm focus lock, you should use One Shot. Underwater, when almost everything is moving, I tend to use AI Servo (sometimes AI Focus if I'm switching between WA underwater landscapes and WA creatures). However, AI Servo will never give you focus lock confirmation.
I am assuming that we're talking about using the viewfinder and NOT Live View. If you're using Live View, that would pretty much totally explain your slow-focus issue: Live View uses a different method of autofocus (contrast detection) as compared to the phase detection that would be used if you don't use Live View. In my experience, Live View focusing is always significantly slower autofocus. I don't know if that can be 100% chalked up to the differences in focusing method; I'm far from an expert on the inner working of the camera.
I am assuming that we're talking about using the viewfinder and NOT Live View. If you're using Live View, that would pretty much totally explain your slow-focus issue: Live View uses a different method of autofocus (contrast detection) as compared to the phase detection that would be used if you don't use Live View. In my experience, Live View focusing is always significantly slower autofocus. I don't know if that can be 100% chalked up to the differences in focusing method; I'm far from an expert on the inner working of the camera.
Last edited:
IMO you need to strip back all of your accessories (lenses, strobes etc.) and learn to use the camera first. My suggestion is to get at least half a dozen shallow water (max 30') dives in, using ambient light only. I may be off base here but it sounds like you bought a Ferrari without really knowing how to drive a Buick.
My first settings would be AV Mode, ISO 100/200 and start from there.
Next move in to Manual mode.
Next you add a single lense or strobe.
Keep a logbook of what you're doing- wetnotes may help also. RAW files hold the data but you may wonder why you chose those settings underwater- ergo wetnotes.
My first settings would be AV Mode, ISO 100/200 and start from there.
Next move in to Manual mode.
Next you add a single lense or strobe.
Keep a logbook of what you're doing- wetnotes may help also. RAW files hold the data but you may wonder why you chose those settings underwater- ergo wetnotes.
Similar threads
