how important is the strobe?

[all4scuba05]

going to Belize, Roatan, Grand Caymen, and Costa Maya on the 22nd. Looking to buy the Canon A520 and Housing. Doing dives no deeper than 60ft. If I don't buy a strobe before I leave here, will my pics be worthless? Only gonna print 4x6's. I understand that the further I am from my subject, the more important the strobe becomes. So if I don't buy the stobe yet, do I just make sure i'm within 2ft?

 

[Taxgeek]

Without a strobe, the best pics will be shallow, because there is more color up there. The strobe's first use is to add color. Also, strobe adds light. Without a strobe, your camera will want to use slower shutter speeds (if you've got in an auto mode), which could cause blur if they are too slow.

One thing to try, is use the camera on its widest zoom setting to minimize handshake blur (and maximize the light the camera is getting and depth of field). I don't have this particular camera, but I've seen lots of brilliant shots taken without strobe.

You might want to read the thread on white balance that's in the tips and techniques forum - that will be important to avoid blue/green cast to photos.

Good luck and have fun!
Taxgeek

 

[alcina]

You don't have to have a strobe, but you will be more limited in the types of photos that will turn out well without one.

If you want to wait to buy your strobe you can still get excellent results using your internal flash, manual white balance and natural light. It's just a matter of knowing your camera and working with it to get the best result - it's digital so remember to shoot, review the shot, adjust and reshoot!

Get close - get as close as you camera will focus. This is the only way you will keep colour and will give you the best detail. The farther away you are the softer your shot will look.

Use manual. It's not that hard to learn for the basics! In clear waters try a start point of aperture 4.5 -5.6 and a shutter of 1/125 or higher. The higher your shutter speed the darker blue or black your background will be. As you go higher you will likely need to make doubly sure you are in internal flash range as the only real light on your subject will come from that, not the sun. If you are shooting macro of sea stars, nudibranchs, sponges and other non-moving things try going to f8 and using your internal flash.

Natural light works very nicely for shallow reef scenes and for silhouettes. Again, I'd turn off the flash, set up for about f5.6 and shutter about 1/125 to start. Then I'd adjust my shutter speed to control the blue background. That's for sils. Shoot upwards and if you are doing reef scenics don't shoot directly into the sun - try to get the sun's rays hitting your subject.

Do check out the manual white balance option as it is a good way to get a nice image when the internal flash isn't going to cut it and when you don't want the photo to be a collection of blues (which can be a nice effect, too).

Shoot lots and lots! Have fun!

 

[all4scuba05]

thanks...i'll take those dives as learning experiences. I see I have a long way to go to get used to using various settings...I'll post pics when I get back.

 

[midwestdvr]

You can probably hold off on buying the strobe until you're more comfortable using the UW cam set-up. Look at Gilligan's pics, he's done some greath photos without the use of strobes (he does have one, but he uses manual white balance, I think).