Feedback on my first use A710S with Inon D2000 strobe

[jgl51]

First I am a beginner so ..be kind!

My equipment:

-Canon A710IS
-Ikelite housing (see separate post for some issues)
-Inon 2000S strobe with optical cable (Fantasea)
-ULCS “hardware” and arms
-UWL-100 wide angle lens for wide-angle


1)Macro

Settings:
-Macro mode
-WB: Auto
-Manual
-ISO 200
-f.8
-1/60 starting shutter speed
-Color: Off
-Strobe: Full
-Depths: between 18 and 24m (60 and 80 ft)


Well the first issue with macro was...buoyancy. I thought I was pretty OK but in macro I need to improve… Here goes my pride!


Second main issue was the difficulty to use the zoom at all. Underwater I found the zoom control much too sensitive. So I did not use it and just adjusted the focus / distance by getting closer to the subject.

Strobe on full was OK for dark subjects. For lighter colors (white; light grey) it was too strong and I need to use an other setting (do not yet know which one, either STTL low or Auto with compensation on the strobe). Any tips welcome!


I attach below a few sample pictures for your criticism and..advice. They have not been retouched at all:



2)Wide angle

Settings:

-Manual mode
-WB: Auto
-ISO 200
-f.2.8 and 3.2 (see text below)
-1/125
-Color: Off; vivid; vivid red (see below)
-Strobe: Full
- Depths: 25m (ca. 80 ft)

First observation was that with f.2.8 after the first dive I noticed strong vigneting See corners of first picture). So for the second dive I adjusted the zoom to eliminate the vigneting. The good part was that the image was now clean, the bad news was that I could not open below f 3.2!!!

Second observation was that the system is very limited when shooting dark objects. My main subjects were blue gorgonians. With full strobe and f 3.2 I had to get as close as 20 inches (50cm) to get a half-decent picture (for me, not for a pro!). As you cannot open more than 3.2 with this camera, you also see the limits of the strobe. With 20 guide number (land) it is too little as the blue gorgonians do not reflect much light. In fact they absorb it! (I only have one strobe).

In conclusion the ideal distance was 50 cm. 1m was OK with lighter (reddish) objects.

Then I tried the Canon “Color” settings. I tried “vivid red” and “vivid”. My eyes could not tell any difference when looking at the pictures on my PC. I did not try the Custom mode, as I was not familiar with it. In any case, based on the other tests I do not believe I t makes any difference.

The strobe pilot light is convenient but on the weak side. I have seen a shop offering a stronger LED conversion. I hope INON reads this thread….


A few, not retouched, pictures are attached below:


Conclusions:

I plan to continue using this system (he!, it is new!) for a little while to improve subject choice; composition, zooming, focusing, lighting and …buoyancy control!
However these first dives very quickly showed the limits of the system. If I were to buy equipment today I would choose both a different camera (wider exposure range) and a stronger strobe >24.
Also I wished Inon would write a manual an average person can understand. Pretty useless if you ask me. On the other hand the UWL-100 is a jewel of a lens. (I did not try any wide angle without it).



All suggestions and tips (especially with the strobe) are more than welcomed.

 

[alcina]

I've only had a quick glance at your post and the teeny thumbnails but two things pop to mind:

1) why would you want to shoot wide open? It would be a rare day for me to drop below f4 on my compacts.
2) you can safely drop your shutter to 1/80 or 1/100 - that would give you more light if you needed it or let you use a smaller aperture for the same exposure.
3) the Inon 2000 has plenty of power - can't imagine needing any more for these types of shots. But you do have to be in range - water eats light. And you do have to have the strobe aimed correctly. Can't comment on the aiming light as I make sure mine is always turned off.

Looks like some pretty photos and it's nice to see a detailed thought process after the dive. Really helps for the next time!

 

[jgl51]

G'day!

Thanks for the quick and specific feedback. Will experiment with your comments next time I dive.

Is there an other way to post pictures so they are not...teeny??

 

[alcina]

Check out the Sticky - you can get there from the Pink Link in my signature. Scroll down a few posts and you will find several ways to pop your images up here with each method explained clearly and simply (we hope!)

 

[DiverDonn]

Are you kidding me?
I just got back ( last night) from a week in Cozumel with the exact same camera and housing (using an Ike Strobe) and WISH I got colors like that. Your shots look great. I will be posting mine later in the week, but don't think I have too many, if any, that shows those colors. Maybe you have a MUCH better strobe, but I would be very happy to have those shots. Don't sell yourself short, for a "beginner" you did really well. DD

 

[fatbadak]

There's nothing wrong with your pics. I have and Inon D2000/ canon A620 set-up, and when I took it out the first time.....well, it wasn't as good as yours. mind you, it was in Tioman and the viz was about 12 feet!

 

[innocent bystander]

It looks to me like the flash was not synching with the camera, test the camera flash out of the water, it may be that the camera emits a pre flash which fires the main flash, then the shutter fires with no flash, this happens very quickly and ithe double flash is not noticeable, I have an S70 where I need to turn off the pre flash for the external strobe (Nikonos) to synch with the shutter.

The pic with the close up fish should show the white growth much lighter, it looks like it was only lit with your modelling light.

You should be able to shoot in macro mode up near f8 and may even need to back the strobe power down to get correct exposure.

Mark

 

[Zeeman]

Just for your info - my settings on my A640, with Inon D2000 for macro were usually "about":
1/100
F 5.0 (or +)
Strobe set to (usually) one of the bottom 3 settings.

I usually check every shot after taking it - I usually take at least 3 or 4 of each thing - often more if the subject is interesting, or the pic looks like it may have been screwed up. I'm also very new to this, and found the best way to learn is to just screw with the settings in a systematic way, so first shot in a series is always f 5, the next about F6, the next about F7 etc.. and then see what looks good later. Also play with shutter speed and so on. After about 6 dives of screwing around, I started to get a pretty good idea of what to play with for a "better" shot. Still much to learn, but I am very happy with the pics I came back with from my Philippines trip - they are the best I have taken to date, and there is nothing better than seeing improvement to motivate you to practice more!

Z..