Inon D2000 help

[steve367]

I just purchased an Inon D2000 for my Olympus PT-015 housing/5050 camera. I am a beginner when it comes to underwater photography and just want to point and shoot with the best possible exposure I can obtain underwater. I dive mainly in the cayman isands. Question: should I use Manual, Aperture or Program for the STTL? Whats your recommendations. Thanks

 

[herman]

Manual is the only way to go. I use a D180 with my 5050. I shoot in manual all the time. The controls are fairly easy to get a handle on. Basically, use F-stop and strobe power to control lighting of your subject and use shutter speed to control backround lighting and color. For instance I shoot a lot with the camera on F-8 and the stobe on the STTL setting of F-8 as well. I adjust F-stop and/or strobe power to lighten or darken the subject. If I want the backround to be a light blue I set the shutter speed to something around 1/100 of a second, exactly where depends on depth, amount of light and how light blue I want the backround to be. Light blue would be slower maybe 1/60 and darker blue is faster maybe 1/125. If I want the backround to be black, I set the shutter speed a lot quicker, maybe 1/500. Exactly where you put your setting depends a lot on your preference and the water/light conditions.
While you want to get your exposure as close as possible, it's better to be a little underexposed than over because it's a lot easier to deal with an underexposured photo with photo editing software than an overexposed one.

 

[steve367]

Do you use the custom modes on the 5050 and if so what settings do you use .

 

[herman]

Not really. I played with them at first but eventually found just setting everything on the fly in manual was my best option. Remember the basics like get close to your subject- use distance to set composition not zoom. For the most part, my camera stays at min zoom (wide angle) and I move in close to my subject to get it framed correctly. UW strobes have a fairly limited distance so don't expect to properly light up objects more than 4 or 5 ft away. Most of the time I strick with F-5.6 or 8 and use the strobe power to control the exposure I want. It may not be the best way but it works for me. I tend to like med to light blue backrounds so my shutter speed is set somewhere around 1/80 but the exact speed depends on a lot and the best was I know of to get it correct is to shoot a couple of pictures and look at them UW. I have read that aiming your camera at a patch of open water at about the angle you intend to shoot, setting the shutter speed so the eV value is around -0.7 is a good place to start for light blue backrounds.

 

[steve367]

Have you tried the focus light in manual and how did it work? Just playing around with it I found on the surface found it to be unique. What size media card are you using in your 5050 I am thinking about going to the lexar 1gb pro 80x card.

 

[steve367]

this is an add on to my last question. I am proably making the operating of the D2000 to complicated. Do I need to install the magnet in strobe when using in manual and rather then set to STLL Should I set the stobe to auto and match the f-stop. Should I set the flash to slave with flash intensity to 1 ? hopefully after these questions I will get it right .

 

[herman]

My D180 has a focus light that works pretty well, I find it helps a lot when shooting macro.
I have a varity of cards. Mostly I shoot 256 and 512 because that's what I have. 1GB's were not around when I was buying cards. If you are shooting in raw mode then by all means get GB cards because raw takes up so much memory otherwise I don't see the need to buy them. I would prefer to have several 512s and swap them when I have to change batteries. If one of them dies, I still have some pictures. How much storage you need depends on your opinion of what resolution is good enough. So far SHQ is fine for me.
I keep the magnet IN the strobe. I set it to auto and match the F-stop setting on the strobe to the camera's F-stop. Depending on the subject, how reflective it is, it's distance and ambient light, you may have to change the F-stop either on the camera or the strobe. I find it a lot easier to use the one on the strobe. On a shot I really want and have the time to shoot several I will bracket the shot by an Fstop or 2 on each side of the "correct" F-stop. Like I said before, if in doubt and don't have the time, guess on the under exposed side. I don't know about the D2000 but the 180 has labeling that says "Lighten" and "darken" under the strobe F-stop markings. You can play with this on land. The distances and F-stops will be different than underwater but you can see the effects of changing the distance and F-stops.

You can make the stobe fire at 1 with no problem. You may want to consider making a mask for the diffuser that you can remove underwater. You need to block the internal flash on most shots but I find using it along with the D180 on macro shots helps light the subject better. The main strobe coming from above and the internal stobe coming head on to the subject. When using both strobes in this manner, you will have to adjust the interal strobe for the best lighting, again error on the dark side.

 

[steve367]

Thanks for the help I will be going to the cayman islands this summer and I will be trying the strobe and using the settings we discussed.

 

[ReyeR]

I just purchased an Inon D2000 for my Olympus PT-015 housing/5050 camera. I am a beginner when it comes to underwater photography and just want to point and shoot with the best possible exposure I can obtain underwater. I dive mainly in the cayman isands. Question: should I use Manual, Aperture or Program for the STTL? Whats your recommendations. Thanks

Sorry, this one went under the radar. S-TTL is unique to the D-2000 and isn't available on the D-180. The setup that herman has given is correct but for 'External Auto' mode (which is available both in the D-180 and D-2000). For S-TTL, if you want something easy to start with you can use Program mode on the C-5050 but I would recommend you try Manual as well - it's really not that hard.

1. C5050 in Program mode and D-2000 in S-TTL:
The C5050

• Mode dial set to 'P'
• Flash mode set to 'Fill-in' lightning symbol). This is set by pressing the flash button on the top left corner of the camera and turning the jog dial. Setting the flash mode to 'Fill-in' is important. This will ensure that (i.) the flash will fire every time and (ii.) this flash mode will give you better shutterspeeds and apertures in Program mode
• Flash menu set to 'Int+Ext' (OK > Mode Menu > Camera > Flash > Int+Ext)
• Set your focussing mode to Macro or AF depending on how far you are from the subject
• Set ISO to 64, picture quality to SHQ and WB to Auto
• Paste the 'Clear Photo Film' on the camera's flash. This will block the camera's flash and reduce backscatter

The D-2000

• Paste the red filter on the strobe's focussing light. Not using it MAY influence the accuracy of S-TTL
• For S-TTL to work with the C5050, the 'Advanced Cancel Circuit' must be turned ON - this is done by NOT installing the magnet
• Set the mode dial to 'S-TTL Low'
• Set the EV dial to 'B'
• If your strobe's lighting is too strong or too dim then adjust the EV dial to compensate: turn the dial to the '-' side if your pictures are overexposed or to the '+' side if it isn't bright enough
• If you find that even after you turn the EV dial 3 steps to the '+' side that your pictures are still underexposed then turn the mode dial to 'S-TTL' and the EV dial back to 'B'

2. C5050 in Manual mode and D-2000 in S-TTL:
The C5050

• Mode dial set to 'M'
• Flash mode set to 'Slow'. This is set by pressing the flash button on the top left corner of the camera and turning the jog dial.
• Flash menu set to 'Int+Ext' (OK > Mode Menu > Camera > Flash > Int+Ext)
• Set your focussing mode to Macro or AF depending on how far you are from the subject
• Set ISO to 64, picture quality to SHQ and WB to Auto
• Paste the 'Clear Photo Film' on the camera's flash. This will block the camera's flash and reduce backscatter
• Start with a shutterspeed of 1/125s or 1/250s and f-stop setting of f/5.6 or f/8.0. As you gain more experience you can play around with these settings

The D-2000
Same as Program mode.

Remember to get close and take lots of pictures. Good luck and don't forget to enjoy!

HTH

 

[steve367]

Thanks for the hands on teaching. The owners manual sets the ISO at standard 100 and I would have proably followed that ISO setting. I assume the reason you can bump the shutter speed to 1/125 or 1/250 is because of iso 64. Does the ISO matter if I am using a wide angle lense and/or is there a special settup for WA.