External Strobe

[Tavi]

Hi All,
We are leaving for Grand Bahama in two and a half weeks. Last Christmas I bought my wife ( Debbielou ) an RC Reefmaster Camera. I only bought the basic Camera. I took some Pics in the pool last week. I know I was to far from my subjects,(I wanted pics of wife and son, but didn't want to distract the class). All the pics look kind of dark and blueish. This was an indoor pool.
Will we be able to get any good pictures with the camera as is, or should I get the external strobe? Shallow Reef maybe okay, but I want pictures from deeper dives too.
I'd hate to burn 10 or 12 rolls of film and find out they all came out too dark.
This is all pretty new to us any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Tavi

 

[bdombrowski]

In my opinion, your only hope to get reasonably good shots with the reef master is to get the external strobe. Not only will it give you more power, but the ability to angle it from the upper-right corner of the view field help reduce the nasty effects of back-scatter.

Stay close to your subjects also (i.e. less than 4 apparent feet.) Even with the most powerful underwater strobes, the manufacturers recommend that the maximum camera to subject distance be 6 apparent feet.

You may want to see if a snap-on close-up lens is available for the reef master camera.

Good luck,

Brian

 

[Tavi]

Brian,
Thanks for the opinion and advise.I appreciate it.

Hey, I checked out your homepage. Nice Pics.

Tavi

 

[herman]

Without question get a strobe. UW photograhpy without one after about 10 ft is iffy at best regardless of the camera in the clearest of waters. As Brian said, get close and I think you will be pleased with some of the shots. I get maybe 3 or 4 really good shots out of a roll so don't be to hard on the photos, uw photography is a different animal that take some getting use to. Another thing worth considering is to use the new photo processing service that Kodak has introduced http://www.seaandsea.com/sea_processing.html . They have a lab that specalizes in UW photos and they can make the shots look a lot better than a place like Kmart. Kind of pain to have to send them off but the results is worth it from the pictures I have seen. By the way, the magic is in the printing of the image on the paper, not the negative processing, so if you have a print that was processed by someone else that is almost right and you want a better copy, they can handle the new print as well. Darn, looks like I will just miss you, I will be in Freeport May 10-13. If you would like any info on Freeport, drop me an email, I know a couple of good places to eat..

 

[Tavi]

herman,
Thanks for the advise and the tips.
One of the local dive shops does the Kodak Sea and Sea processing. We plan on checking it out.

Tavi

 

[Tavi]

Hi,

I just got back from the dive shop. I bought the Strobe, The close up lens and the case.Thanks again for your opinions and advise. We'll let you know how the pics come out when we get back.

Tavi

 

[The Chairman]

Hey all,

I just bought a strobe myself, I was in Blue Springs with 72 manatee all around and the pictures came out crappy. 10ft of water, bright day, and only one good manatee picture. All the deeper shots in the hole (down to 80') had TONS of backscatter. I will try that Sea processing to see if they can make it even better.

If I get ANY type of results, I guess I may take the HUGE plunge and go with Nikonos.

Pete from Orlando...

 

[bdombrowski]

Just one comment about the SEA processing from Kodak. This is a digital alteration of the actual image on the negative. Just like scanning your image then changing the image with Photoshop. You will see some artifacts as a result of this. (i.e. Specks of backscatter will turn into stars instead of circles.)

I've never used the SEA processing because I sell my photos at art shows. I feel that would be 'cheating' in my particular situation.

However, if you just want your shots to be "white balanced" and filtered for personal use, who cares? The SEA processing may give you a better yield per roll.

 

[Tavi]

We plan on being in Orlando for a week next year. Are there some good places to dive near there? I think we've already seen enough of the mouse. We also plan on spending a few days in Ft Lauderdale.

Thanks Tavi

 

[The Chairman]

Hey Tavi & All,

Well, you CAN dive with the mouse at "the Living Seas" in Epcot. I have not done this, but it looks kinda interesting. However, there are more springs in the State of Florida then all of the rest of the states combined. If you come in the winter months (Jan & Feb) you can dive with Manatee, which are protected. There is also a tremendous coast line within a few hours of O-ville. Anything from old Spanish wrecks (if you can find them) to reefs, modern and ancient. If you like to hunt for fossils, then there are lime quarry pits, Rivers, and even some ocean sites which all have numerous fossils in them. However, you can only find marine, amphibian and mammilian fossils, since Florida was a huge reef system when the dinos were here. If you like to cave dive, then we have TONS of interconnecting caves in the North FLorida area, and a few down here as well. Blue Springs (an hour from O-ville) is 125' to the bottom... there is NO light at around 80'. Florida is a great place to live and dive! -Just don't ask us to count anything... ;-)

Pete from Orlando...

Oh Yeah, if anyone IS coming down here, let me know what you ARE interested in, and I will get you specific info on it. Time permitting, I will try and come dive with you as well.