Do you use the 'Underwater' or 'P' setting for Olympus TG-5?

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morecowbells

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Just purchased an Olympus TG-5. I know there will be quite a learning curve since I have only used Sealife cameras in the past. Some internet sources recommend using the underwater mode, others suggest using the 'P' mode, with auto white balancing, ISO 100-400 range and light compensation to 0.3. The Micro setting seems fairly easy to navigate, but if I want to photograph a turtle, eel, etc. I am not sure what settings would work best. I have a Sea Dragon video light from my Sealife camera. Any input or suggestions greatly appreciated.

Janine
 
I would suggest using A mode over P mode. The TG-5 actually only offers 2 apertures, f2 and f2.8. f8 is achieved using an ND filter as is of limited benefit unless for example you are shooting video in bright day light. P mode will shift to f8 on occasions and on auto ISO push to high ISOs with f8 as well. Light is in short supply UW particularly when using lights and f8 just wastes that light. You would use A mode with the video light. I would suggest trying to keep ISO at 100, use f2.8 unless you are deeper and are short of light then switch to f2.

For ambient light shots you might try UW mode but be better off maybe using A mode. shoot in Raw and colour balance in post. If you are shooting video then taking a custom white balance will help. The issue with UW mode is it is only correct at one depth and this in general would be shallow based on common usage as a snorkeling camera.
 
I would suggest using A mode over P mode. The TG-5 actually only offers 2 apertures, f2 and f2.8. f8 is achieved using an ND filter as is of limited benefit unless for example you are shooting video in bright day light. P mode will shift to f8 on occasions and on auto ISO push to high ISOs with f8 as well. Light is in short supply UW particularly when using lights and f8 just wastes that light. You would use A mode with the video light. I would suggest trying to keep ISO at 100, use f2.8 unless you are deeper and are short of light then switch to f2.

For ambient light shots you might try UW mode but be better off maybe using A mode. shoot in Raw and colour balance in post. If you are shooting video then taking a custom white balance will help. The issue with UW mode is it is only correct at one depth and this in general would be shallow based on common usage as a snorkeling camera.

Thank you so much for such helpful information and helping me think outside the box. I did read that keeping the ISO under 400(preferably at 100) is optimal, I did not realize the 'P' setting may bump up that number. Dumb question, but what is an ND filter? Is it the same as a standard color correction filter? I definitely look into your suggestions.
 
I didn't know either so I looked it up. Neutral Density Filter: "...is a filter that reduces or modifies the intensity of all wavelengths, or colors, of light equally, giving no changes in hue of color rendition. It can be a colorless or grey filter." but those appear to be physical filters. @Chris Ross Is that somehow achieved digitally?
 
It's not digital, a filter actually is moved into place internally to reduce light input by 3 stops- believe it is used for video to reduce shutter speed in bright light. stopping down the aperture to f8 would really degrade the image from diffraction so they use an ND filter - but it really is not explained in the manual.

I think for a start switch to A mode and f2.8 ISO100, if shutter speeds are too low try f2 . There are two custom presets you can save to so save that setting for use with the light and keep the other setting for ambient light work, for that start with f2 ISO100 and try out UW mode. So you can have C1 for lights and C2 for ambient. You'll need the ambient for bigger things the light can't illuminate as they are too far away.
 
Start here, I believe there are six videos in all.
 
I don’t like their a mode. The uw modes do just fine,That being said we use one strobe and never diver deeper than 30 feet, most our our diving is in the 20/25 ft range
 
The Backscatter videos were very helpful. I feel comfortable in attempting to use my video light and shooting macro subjects. I will play around with different modes when shooting a subject with ambient light(too far away from light source).

Next question, which video editing programs do you recommend? I read that you can use the Olympus App, I just don't know how the quality compares with other apps. Thank you everybody for taking the time to help me out:)
 
You can download davinci resolve - the basic version is free, might be a bit of a learning curve but they have reasonable tutorials. Mind you I'm no video expert and I find the tools provided by all video programs a bit unwieldy compared to stills editing.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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