Help with Sony RX-100 Underwater settings

[Yellowdog]

My first underwater camera was a Canon S95 followed by a S110. I have replaced the S110 with a new to me Sony RX-100 Mark V and would appreciate any help with the best underwater photography settings - tips - information for the Sony. ( Shooting wide angle stills more than macro or video ) I generally shoot full manual in RAW and will process in LR / PS. The only information I have found online is in this article which is helpful but any other input, especially on the best focus settings, would be most helpful. I have 2 YS-01 strobes, A Kraken 3500+ video / focus light, a Fantasea Sharpeye +4 macro and the Fantasea Bigeye M67 WA lens.
Underwater Settings for Sony RX100 II & III & IV & V

 

[aviator8]

following this going to be shooting the same. I am also interested in what custom setting people use and why? for example what profiles do you save in the MR settings, do you have certain controls on the ring or other buttons and why?

 

[Interceptor121]

I wrote a whole encyclopedia on my blog years ago http://interceptor121.com then click on tag Sony RX100

The RX100 is a camera to shoot manual there is a whole article with settings in each page. With regards to Brett suggestions on that site I do not fully agree for example in wide angle with the right lens you don't need f/6.3 f/5.6 and sometimes even wider works

Looking at your rig Yellowdog I think your wet lenses are not adequate +4 is not good enough the camera already focusses at that distance and the bigeye doesnt expand the field of view. You need to invest in Inon lenses or similar quality and get a +10 diopter top make an impact there are plenty out there get a low profile one works best

 

[ScubaMarc]

I use the memory recall for 1 macro, 2 wide, 3 video mode
1
Manual
DMF
ISO 125
Aperture 11
AFS
Metering Multi
Spot Metering Point Center
Focus Magnifier Time 2 seconds
Peaking Setting on/High/Red
Shutter Type Hardware
Zebra Setting On 100
Airplane Mode On
Power Save Start Time 1

2
Manual
Aperture 5.6
AFS
ISO 125
AFS
Metering Multi
Spot Metering Point Center
Focus Magnifier Time 2 seconds
Shutter Type Hardware
Zebra Setting On 100
Airplane Mode On
Power Save Start Time 1

3 Movie Mode

The only real difference is Focus and Aperture

 

[Yellowdog]

I wrote a whole encyclopedia on my blog years ago http://interceptor121.com then click on tag Sony RX100

The RX100 is a camera to shoot manual there is a whole article with settings in each page. With regards to Brett suggestions on that site I do not fully agree for example in wide angle with the right lens you don't need f/6.3 f/5.6 and sometimes even wider works

Looking at your rig Yellowdog I think your wet lenses are not adequate +4 is not good enough the camera already focusses at that distance and the bigeye doesnt expand the field of view. You need to invest in Inon lenses or similar quality and get a +10 diopter top make an impact there are plenty out there get a low profile one works best

Thanks for the information and the link. I looked at your blog and there is a lot of great information for me to wade through. I looked at the Sony articles and from what I saw most of the information is about shooting video. Do you have more available on shooting stills? Do you remember what focus settings you are using when shooting stills? Thanks

 

[Dado]

Underwater Settings for Sony RX100 II & III & IV & V

 

[Interceptor121]

[

Thanks for the information and the link. I looked at your blog and there is a lot of great information for me to wade through. I looked at the Sony articles and from what I saw most of the information is about shooting video. Do you have more available on shooting stills? Do you remember what focus settings you are using when shooting stills? Thanks

Stills are very easy with the RX100. Multizone is useless basically either single point centre or tracking that sometimes works but can be hit and miss. Manual focus with peaking works well for super tiny stuff

In terms of ISO etc etc I shot always at whatever was the lowest setting there is a collection of academic shots here you can see the exif used on each one

https://flic.kr/s/aHsjZczii3

 

[Yellowdog]

[

Stills are very easy with the RX100. Multizone is useless basically either single point centre or tracking that sometimes works but can be hit and miss. Manual focus with peaking works well for super tiny stuff

In terms of ISO etc etc I shot always at whatever was the lowest setting there is a collection of academic shots here you can see the exif used on each one

https://flic.kr/s/aHsjZczii3

Thanks for the link to your images. They are beautiful and tack sharp and it is very helpful for me to study the exif data. I am having a problem with the tack sharp part in my own images and not sure what I am doing wrong. I am using afc, single point center and single shot but often my images are not sharp. I am a wildlife photographer on land and use a D850, often in single point and often am able to focus on the eye of a bird in flight so I get focus concepts but I must be doing something wrong below the surface. The RX-100 focuses the way I would expect it to on land so I don't think it is an equipment problem. Any ideas much appreciated.

 

[Interceptor121]

Thanks for the link to your images. They are beautiful and tack sharp and it is very helpful for me to study the exif data. I am having a problem with the tack sharp part in my own images and not sure what I am doing wrong. I am using afc, single point center and single shot but often my images are not sharp. I am a wildlife photographer on land and use a D850, often in single point and often am able to focus on the eye of a bird in flight so I get focus concepts but I must be doing something wrong below the surface. The RX-100 focuses the way I would expect it to on land so I don't think it is an equipment problem. Any ideas much appreciated.

In general AFC is not that great as the camera does not predict jerks. You can try Center Lock-on AF - > ON and use tracking but it may be hit and miss
I used a wet wide angle lens (Inon UWL-100 28AD with dome) on my RX100 MKII this gives you incredible depth of field and everything is always in focus at wide angle. With your fantasea air lens you will need to focus and will encounter issues I believe
As I said right at the beginning invest in a quality wet wide angle lens the field of view of the native camera is insufficient for most situations