Help with settings for my new OM-D EM-5

[PHIL RUDIN]

It has been a long time since I used the Olympus UFL-2 strobe and for the price I was not impressed. If I remember correctly the UFL-2 needs to be hard wired to the camera housing to be able to use the FP mode and then the flash needs to have the power set manually before each new shot. The strobe is basically the guts of an Olympus FL-36r land strobe in a very buoyant U/W housing. It is short on power for a strobe that cost as much and several of the features did not work well for me like the ability to set lighting ratios for TTL photography. This is much more well controlled if you shoot the strobes using manual power settings. I don't think the manual you have attached makes any reference to how to set up the camera and strobe(s) to make the FP mode work underwater. So rather than a fiber optic cord you would need a proprietary bulkhead, an Olympus strobe to housing cord and the bulkhead to camera hot shoe wiring. Other things that don't work automatically unless hard wired include the zoom feature that changes the angle of coverage of the strobe as you zoom a lens in and out. This can be done manually when using fiber optic cords but you tend to just leave it as wide as it goes rather than to fool with it.

You can see in fresh water how buoyant the strobe makes the rig, think what two would be like.

 

[Andreni]

At the beginning of our 3-week holiday in Ambon and Raja Ampat with my new OM-D EM-5 and new Inon-flash I often was very frustrated and helpless (over- or underexposed, not sharp, light of flash not where it supposed to be, etc.). But at the end I got some pictures I like. I know they are still far from perfect but they are getting better. If you are interested to have a look at them and maybe feel like helping me to improve with your tipps, here you find them: https://www.flickr.com/photos/129373933@N02/ .

Thanks

 

[gstrek]

Nice images from wide angle to macro. It looks like you have figured out your camera and strobe!

 

[Andreni]

Thanks gstrek! It really was a bit of a challenge with a new camera and a new (much more powerful) flash.
I'm stil not satisfied with the wide angle shoots. But maybe I have to buy another lense to get the results I like.