I just completed a 10 day cruise to Tahiti, followed by 8 days in Hawaii. I had a total of 11 dives, 5 and 6 respectively. I took along my camera, etc. with the new Inon D2000 flash and Inon WAL, that I bought from Ryan about 2 months ago. I also started out shooting RAW for the first time. I even bought Photoshop CS so I could work with these photos when I got home. I practiced with the camera/flash, etc. diligently, sent photos to Ryan for analysis, implemented his recommendations, and started doing pretty well. All this seemed to go down the drain when I boarded the plane to leave.
1. After my first dive in Rangiroa, I downloaded the photos to my laptop. I expected to see files that were labeled .RAW but rather found something there labeled .ORF. Thnking I might have done something wrong and lost the photos, I stopped shooting in RAW. Now that I'm back, I find a post letting me know that .ORF is what it should be, so I blew it there.
2. Now shooting in SHQ, rather than RAW, my photos started turning out dark and I couldn't figure out why. However, I was so excited about the new flash unit that I didn't bother checking the photo results (afterall, they should be perfect, right?) to find this out until I shot about 20, mostly black, photos. Dumb!!!!!!!
3. I opened up the f-stop, from the setting Ryan proposed, and the photos improved. However, what I did not realize was the flash was not firing. I knew I wasn't seeing a flash but didn't think anything of it, since I didn't know exactly what I should see. I knew I could see it on land but wasn't sure how it should look in water.
4. Once I knew the flash wasn't firing, I opened the f-stop even more and slowed the shutter speed and took some reasonable "blue" photos. I hope I can revive the color since several of the photos were of my first Frogfish, a large one about a foot long.
5. The flash unit seemed to be fine, and since it fires optically, I checked the camera. The camera's internal flash was not firing. I must have changed a setting somewhere along the line, but I was not aware I could actually turn it off. I frogged around again and got it working.
6. Finally, everything seemd to be in working order and I reset Ryan's proposed settings. However, I shot three photos before I figured out I forgot to turn the flash on. Sheesh!!! Dumb or what?
All was not lost, since I actually had the camera working properly at different points during the 11 dives. I have a great photo or two of a large Napoleon Wrasse that appeared during a shark dive in Bora Bora. I also got a few good ones of some smaller fish that have eluded me in the past, a nudibranch and a flatworm.
In spite of all the practice, I seemed to be overwhelmed by the new set up once underwater. I'm going back to the drawing board and start over, especially as to why my internal flash wasn't firing. All-in-all, I'm greatly disappointed in my performance with the new equipment. I actually shot better photos just using the C5050 and PT-015 with internal flash only.
Has anyone else started out this way or am I the sole idiot onboard? If I'm the sole idiot, I might have some almost brand new equipment for sale, cheap!!!!
Denny
(makes some far wors but if you have a similar package, I'm sure a little touching up here & there isn't breaking too many rules !)
