Help me, Please?

[DYOUNGER]

I've had two Nikon P&S cameras lost to floods within Fantasea housings. Took good pictures up until the floods. Decided to step up a bit but not to bite off the "big one" one and buy a DSLR rig. Bought a Nikon 5600 and put it in a Ikelite housing with a Ikelite DS-50 strobe with manual controller. Absolutely love the way the system went together, looks, and handles in the water. The problem is, I cannot get a single decent photo. If I only use the strobe on the camera the pictures turn out way underexposed. If I use the external strobe triggered by the internal strobe I get whitewash not matter what the setting on the manual controlled. I have tried changing the exposure setting on the camera and it makes some difference but not near enough. The camera, as best I can tell, has very little manual control other the exposure compensation.

I am fustrated to the point of scrapping this setup, biting the "big one" (DSLR) and hopefully getting something I can manipulate.

I would love to hear from anyone with suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Wolverine]

Hmm I am unfamiliar with the Ike strobes but suggest you power down the strobe so that you do not get a white wash. Also reduce the size of the aperture. That usually helps. Shutter speed will not really affect the whitewash. Think the setup is fine but you would probably need to go more manual to get the most out of the set-up.

 

[Rafael]

What about using one of those plastic covers to cover the strobe in order to reduce the brightnes of the light.

 

[alcina]

OK, I haven't used this set up but I have used a strobe fired by an internal flash (no controls on the external).

First, try moving your strobe back away from your subject. Also turn the power out on your strobe down. That might help. In this setup it is unlikely that your camera will control the lighting, your strobe will. You can do all of these "tests" on land.

Actually, FIRST, contact who you bought the rig from and ask them what settings you need to use!

I don't believe moving to dslr is the answer for the vast majority of divers. A far better and more realistic solution, IMHO, is getting a good digital camera that allows full manual control in the housing.

Olympus 5050 is still a great system. Canon has the A series range. Fuji has the 810 and the newer 900. You'll have to do a little digging as all cameras have pros and cons but there are choices out there that won't break the bank, have a reasonable learning curve and will produce lovely results.

You could also post a couple of shots with the setting information so we might be able to troubleshoot from that?

 

[DYOUNGER]

THANKS! for all the responses so far. I have powered the external strobe to its lowest setting and still get white wash. I have used the dense plastic diffuser on the external strobe and still get white wash. The camera, as best I can tell does not have any manual settings other than +/- 2 steps of exposure compensation

I am still reading and experimenting to see what is wrong with me or the camera setup. I just put out my post to see if anyone might point out something I am over looking.

As far as checking with a local dealer, there are none. I have spoken with all of the local camera shops and they have no knowledge when it comes to UW photography.

 

[bobf]

The Nikon 5600 is an auto ISO and automatic exposure digicam. Your only manual overide option for exposure control is the +-2EV that you mentioned. Not the best options (very limited) for exposure control while shooting through water (ok for air). But I am still surprised that you are experiencing blowouts, even at -4.5EV setting on the manual controller attached to the DS 50.

My first suggestion is to confirm the manual controller settings and DS 50 settings:

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/mansenswitch.html

Be sure you have the set the controller to either DS 50 or "D" (depending on how new the controller is).
Also be sure to set the controller to "B" (or "P") to denote if you have a preflash camera (sorry, not familiar with your camera, my assumption though is that the 5600 is a preflash camera).

The DS 50 has setting options in the back. Check to make sure that the DS 50 is set for TTL and not Manual. My assumption (not 100% positive) is that if the strobe is set to Manual, then regardless of the manual controller setting, you might get a "full dump" and subsequent image blowouts.

Now try this test:

Set your complete underwater rig up in a dimly lit room. Insure though that there is enough light in the room for your camera to lock in focus. Aim at a target (a plant?) around 24" from strobe to subject and also lens to subject. Does the Ike housing come with a flash blocker? If so, be sure to block the camera's onboard flash with it. Dial in -2 EV on your camera. Be sure to always aim the manual controller so that it only sees the (onboard) flash that it is taking "orders" from and never at the light emitted by the strobe it is controlling (in this case the DS 50). Set the manual controller to its lowest setting (-4.5). Install the diffuser on the DS 50 strobe. Take a picture. The resulting image hopefully will not be overexposed.

(the suggested manual controller EV setting of -4.5 in this test is only to insure minimal strobe output and that the manual controller is functioning as intended.......iow, I'm not implying that it is a starting point for actual use underwater )

If your image is still "blown out", contact Ike:

ike@ikelite.com

Ike may have some insights to share.

Also, while your system is still set up, you may also wish to try another land based test. Aim the rig and external strobe at a mirror. Depress the shutter to capture the mirror's image to confirm that the strobe is firing in sync with the shutter event. If the resulting image shows the DS 50 has fired, then the controller settings are correct and camera and strobe are in sync.

hth,
b

 

[DYOUNGER]

Thanks, bobf, you nailed it. The link to the perfect Ikelite site held the answer. I switched the strobe to ttl and whamo, nice color balanced pictures. Nowhere in the manual for the "manual" controller does it state to set the strobe to TTL. I was letting that male engineer mentallity work against me, 1) never read the instructions and 2) don't always think logically, the answer may be illogical. When using a non-ttl camera with a "manual" controller, logic prevails upon you to set the strobe to manual not ttl. Since you have brought light and hope back to my life, I might rest again knowing that maybe I've not wasted another bucket load of money on the wrong UW equipment.

 

[justleesa]

how about moving the strobe further away? You might need longer extention arms.