Intova IC 800 Flash Shadow!

[The Chairman]

This really blows! Any ideas or workarounds? I settled on backing up and cropping, but this only made particulate matter in the water a bigger issue for me. ARRRRRRRRRGHHHH! Here is an example:

I was loaned this camera for a liveaboard trip to the Sea of Cortez. I kept seeing a round shadow in the lower left of many of my pics. Finally it dawned on me that the Flash was being masked by the housing! What a poor design.

I also found that the rechargeable AA batteries would rarely last an entire dive, focus was iffy and the shutter delay was excessive. If I ever get a camera, it won't be this one!

BTW, you can follow my Blog here: The Blog From the Sea of Cortez
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[apertyx]

I have the 700, and found the same problem. Didn't have it on the 500 cause the barrel didn't extend ... poor internal flash location. Only an outside strobe would fix it, unfortunately ... but I found that "sleeping" the lcd screen helps save the batteries ... a little. Not the best, for sure.

 

[IntovaJoe]

Sorry to hear of your unhappiness. Lets work one point at a time. The lens barrel blockage is a very common problem with underwater housings and has a very simple solution-a diffuser. Some manufacturers build the diffuser right into the housing. We chose not to because many customers use these out of the water and need extra flash. The diffuser mounts with a simple clip on system and also alleviates much of the backscatter problem of ny camera that has a flash next to the lens.

Batteries: We have not had battery complaints with this model. Since you are using rechargeable batteries, I suspect the mah rating may be low, which limits their effectiveness. You need to get the highest mah rating you can find and batteries will not be an issue. Even with heavy flash or video usage.

Focus and shutter laf are probably related to the settings you shot under. Digital cameras process a lot of information and it is much more difficult to do so underwater. If you use an Auto or Program mode, you are making the camera do a lot of thinking before it can allow shutter to snap. It also needs to auto focus. Then, once shutter snaps (a fraction of a second) it needs to write the data into memory.

For best results use cloudy setting and manually set white balance to water conditions. Use standard not fine resolution and try shooting at 6MP. You will be telling the camera what to do based on water conditions and not making the camera think and make bad decisions.

Used properly, this camera is the best dollar for dollar value on the market.

 

[The Chairman]

Thanks for the feedback, IntovaJoe.

Honestly, I would have stuck a bunch of AAs in the bag had I known I would have the camera. It was handed to me as I walked out the door by the owner from the shop next door. The ScubaBoard offices are next to DAYO Scuba. As it was, we could not find the right store with batteries in Puerto Penasco and so I borrowed 4 rechargeable batteries and a charger from my boat mates. These could not keep up!

Do you have an external flash available? Will a third party flash, like Inon work? If so, do you have the adapters for it?

 

[mkutyna]

Intova has a few options available for flashes. 2 I think. If you do a search on Amazon for intova flash you can find both of them. Only one is listed on Intova's website :: INTOVA ::