Canon A80 and Preflash

[cosmoose]

Hi, have an A80 and canon housing. Am considering a SeaLife SL960D universal strobe for digital cameras. This has the ability to cancel up to four preflashes when synching off of the built-in flash. Anyone know how many preflashes the Canon A80 has on auto mode? Any other tips for the A series underwater are welcomed.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[Chad_Ordelheide]

Welcome Cosmoose,

The A80 is a nifty little camera. Not quite as quick as the new ones but once you learn how to use it you'll be fine. Your first question. As far as I know, our A80 (I use it too) has only one preflash. In full manual there is not preflash! As far as tips, you'll find many threads on that exact subject if you do a search in Scubaboard. There are some threads that are quite elaborate and tell you everything you need to know. My quick tips are....Take lots of pictures and learn from each one! If you taking close ups(Macro), try taking them in the Av mode set at F8.0, Macro On (Obviously) and set you white balance to cloudy? Now days I'm doing a lot more in full Manual but you might not want to go there yet unless you understand the ins & outs of photography. Good Luck!

 

[cosmoose]

I just got the SeaLife SL960D digital flash and tried it out as they say; set preflash to 4, take a photo, if the flash does not fire, decrease to 3, repeat until flash fires. The flash is firing when it is set to three flashes... ????? Well, I guess I'l just have to see how it works underwater in about three weeks. Will let y'all know.

Scott

 

[stonefish35]

Hi ,

I'm using an A95, which is almost identical to the A80. My strobe is the Inon D180s. Actually,

I just switch off the preflash as i find the preflash to be of no use underwater. As I tape up the part of the housing in front of the flash, and stick a piece of exposed 35mm flim inside the housing to reduce the camera's flash. And my adapter for the 67mm lens have a difuss plate, I really think the preflash will be of no help to me at all.

Hope this helps.

 

[cowjazz]

I just got the SeaLife SL960D digital flash and tried it out as they say; set preflash to 4, take a photo, if the flash does not fire, decrease to 3, repeat until flash fires. The flash is firing when it is set to three flashes... ????? Well, I guess I'l just have to see how it works underwater in about three weeks. Will let y'all know.

Scott

Here is how I adjusted my Sea and Sea YS-25 strobe without getting wet:

Point your camera at your strobe, and take a picture. If you do not have a picture of your strobe firing (or a totally burned out white picture), adjust your strobe's pre-flash setting. Repeat this process until you get a picture of your stobe firing.