another question

[ivansie]

Guys, thanks for your replies and I hope I can continue to receive more input on this. I will start looking for other posts on starting setups and also looking into some online/offline offerings in terms of cameras.

One questions, if you are mainly going to take pictures during the day in tropical waters, do you need a flash? what kind of flash?

I know there are probably more add ons that you can put later but initially what will be the minimum required for "decent" pictures and by decent I mean pictures that you can print probably 4x6 or 5x7 with good quality.

Does underwater cameras usually come with flahs built in??

thanks
ivan

 

[Finesse]

That would depend on alot.....

Depth, Clarity of water, what your objective of the dive was etc...

Even with bright sunshine you'll lose all the "reds" and the shots will begin to go blue/gray the deeper you go.....hence the need for artificial lighting.

Built in flashes are fine in really clear, NON turbid waters and if your really really close.... but if you have alot of particles suspended in the water the onboard flash is going to light them all up.....ITS SNOWING !!!!! You may already know that the further the light source is away from the lens the less the chance this will happen.

Another issue with built in flashes is that some add on lens will block the flash (like a Wide Angle Lens)....I learned this first hand.

Some pics that have been posted from our very recent trip were taken without the strobe as the subjects (Mantas) were generally to far away and outside the strobes effective range.

You can definitely take pics without a strobe but may not get the results that you see posted by some of the photographers on this board.

Whatever you do just have fun with it!!!
Scott

 

[DiveTub]

My I suggest an excellent book for you, and anyone interested in underwater phtotgrphy to read

The Art and Technique of Underwater Photography
Mark Webster
ISBN: 0863433529
Format: Paperback
Category: Photography
Publisher: Newpro UK Ltd
Imprint: Fountain Press
Pages: 160

Dimensions: 292 x 222 mm

 

[Finesse]

In the first pic (Acropora sp.) the flash was off, didnt work, or the operator screwed up (my money is on the last choice ut: )


Coral with natural light at around 50' mid morning (and the built in flash may have gone off)

Then here is the same species of coral (different piece) but this time the strobe was used. again around 50' mid morning

As you can see more of the natural color is seen in the later pic whereas the first pic has more blue hues in it.....