Getting started....

[TinaMarie]

We went to the Keys over Thanksgiving for our first ocean dives. On the first one, I found myself wishing I had a camera, on the second and third I took a disposable, and for the next day I rented the dive shop's 35mm film camera and shot 4 more rolls.

I'm reasonably proficient with digital. I've done some stuff with film, but the learning curve always seemed awfully steep - you take a picture, but it's days later before it gets developed, and by then you've forgotten what did and didn't work. I finally bought a digital camera after I found The Perfect Shot, tried half a dozen settings, then got the film developed to discover none of them turned out.

I currently have a Olympus 3040 that I love. It looks like most people are using a 5050. I'm probably going to take the LDS underwater photography course, but I'm a bit worried that it will end up slanted to whatever the LDS owner prefers, not really what will work best for me.

Questions:

Anyone want to recommend a good book for someone getting started? Looking at my first roll (the other 4 are still out being developed), I have some ideas of what I was doing wrong (I seemed to alternate between "too far away" and "washed out the colors with the flash"), but...

Are there advantages to film (over digital) that would offset the greatly-increased learning curve?

I see housings for the 3040 (thanks for the pointers!). How does warrenty stuff work on things like that - if it floods, do they replace my camera?

Some of the setups seem big. How do you manage to end up in the water without losing pieces?

(and, if anyone wants a laugh: http://pictures.tinastoys.org/Scuba/Disposable/ is the roll from the disposable camera, developed at Eckerd)

(and, yes, I did read http://kayakdiver.com/camera/gettingstarted.pdf first)

 

[f3nikon]

Underwater Photography by Charles Seaborn
Sucessful U/W Photography by Howard Hall ( go to Howard Halls website or Amazon)


These guys are good, the books are about film but applies to digital, 100%!

 

[alcina]

Anyone want to recommend a good book for someone getting started?
Jim Church's Essential Guide to Composition
Jim Church's Essential Guide to Nikonos Systems - all about Nikonos, but the basics are applicable to almost all shooting.

seemed to alternate between "too far away" and "washed out the colors with the flash"), but...

Number 1 problem is too far away.
Number 2 problem is exposure...exposure will be much more quickly learned with digital...shoot, review, adjust, shoot, review, adjust...repeat!

Are there advantages to film (over digital) that would offset the greatly-increased learning curve?

None that I know of Digital is great for learning.

I see housings for the 3040 (thanks for the pointers!). How does warrenty stuff work on things like that - if it floods, do they replace my camera?

The manufacturer of the housing may offer a warranty on the housing. This will most likely not cover the camera itself, but might do in reality. Best bet is insurance. Check homeowners, DEPP and DAN.

Some of the setups seem big. How do you manage to end up in the water without losing pieces?

All the pieces should be connected. You'll need a lanyard that goes on your wrist and a clip system to hook it to your BC. Have crew hand it down to you once you are in the water and hand it back to them before climbing back on board.

HTH

 

[RonFrank]

Questions:

I have some ideas of what I was doing wrong (I seemed to alternate between "too far away" and "washed out the colors with the flash"), but...

Are there advantages to film (over digital) that would offset the greatly-increased learning curve?

I see housings for the 3040 (thanks for the pointers!). How does warrenty stuff work on things like that - if it floods, do they replace my camera?

(and, yes, I did read http://kayakdiver.com/camera/gettingstarted.pdf first)

IMO the ONLY reason you would even consider film over digital UW is that you can get some VERY good deals on film based cameras. The learning curve with film is MUCH steeper, and one is limited by exposures. If you make a mistake with film, you are likely to repeat that mistake over the entire roll, maybe several.

If you are going to dive with a camera, get insurance. It is offerend through several agencies. If the camera floods, it would likley be replaced as it's more expensive to fix most consumer digitals than to just get another. This is up to the insurance agency, their call, not yours. They may even opt to replace the camera with a used model.

Your mistakes with the camera were ALL exposure. Too much flash over exposued close objects, not enough exposure on the images where flash was basically useless. Balancing flash with ambient light is something that most take for granted, and don't bother to learn, but it is a skill that is VERY valuable. One should not necessarily rely on the camera automation and meters which are easily fooled.

And there in a nut shell, is why digital is the way to go. Those types of mistakes will still happen, but a quick check of a histogram can eliminate future mistakes while still on a dive, and can aid instantly in making changes in exposure settings, and flash settings as well.

If you were shooting negative film, then the over exposure errors can likely be taken care of in printing. Amazing how many people assume that the negative is not usable based on very bad priting by cheap one hour labs. Check the negative to see if the exposure is usable, do NOT just assume that it is bad.

IMO the idea is to get as much right in camera as possible. But if you did not get it right, negatives are VERY forgiving of overexposure.... which is the opposite of digital.

Ron