Just got an s70... need advice on camera settings

[matva]

hi,

i just got an s70 with canon housing (no strobe). Can anyone give me any advice on using it? Maybe some EXIF data or setting advice.

This is my understanding:
i should shoot in M mode.
There are 4 settings that are of my interest:
ISO Speed
Shutter Speed
Aperature
White Balance

Is it better to shoot in Av mode and have shutter speed done automatically?

I am mainly looking to do pictures of fish etc (non-macro) but would appreciate advice for both types of shooting.

i read the guide in the tips/tricks section but i was hoping for some more settings and possibly advice specific to my camera.

I can shoot in RAW mode so should i just adjust White Balance on the computer or is it better to get a slate and do it underwater?

 

[alcina]

ISO 50 or 100 - whichever is lowest.

Shoot RAW for sure.n Forget messing with your WB underwater.

If you are shooting in relatively bright water try these settings: 1/100, f4.5

Do a test shot with those settings: if your water is a pale blue or washed out grey or white, make it faster to get a deeper, nicer blue.

If you are going to shoot up close and personals (the best with internal flash) move your aperture to f8 for those details.

f4.5 - 6.3 is a great range for a wide variety of subjects so for most of the dive I would put it on one of those and shoot away. That way you can concentrate on your diving and composition for most of your shots...when you shoot something outside the norm (super close ups or full wide with no flash, for example) then you can change your shutter and/or aperture.

I don't like to open up more than f4.5 ish as it can make photos look soft.

If you are shooting in darker waters, I'd sacrifice ISO before I would sacrifice aperture wider than 4.0

YMMV

 

[matva]

thanks for the reply. I'll try the settings you mentioned.
So should i just shoot in av mode so i only adjust aperture?
If I understand correctly,
higher f means better quality but darker picture?
If pictures are looking too dark, i should higher the ISO before i move aperture much below f 4.0?

When adjusting whiteblance in photoshop, what if there is no white point in the picture? Wouldn't it be more difficult to adjust properly? Tuning manually never really worked for me.

I've heard about bringing some kind of fish food to a dive to attract the fish... what do you guys recommend?

 

[alcina]

No, shoot in Manual, not aperture priority. Aperture prioritywill work in some cases but in others it will cause the shutter speed to drop down too much. Better to simply keep control of it.

As you make the number larger in your aperture less light gets in. So f8 lets in less light than f4. f8 is actually smaller than f4 as they are fractions. It is helpful to maximise your depth of field. Higher f stops make the photo look less soft in many cases. F4.0 is the largest I am comfortable shooting routinely on my compact cameras. When I shoot f2.8 or 3.5 etc I feel the photos look like they aren't sharply focussed. So I try to keep my "base" around 4.5 or 5.6 ish most of the time.

I would sacrifice ISO for aperture. So I would rather shoot at ISO 200 than have to open my aperture up to f2.8.

You don't need a white point - you aren't looking for a white point, you're looking for about 18% (? maybe I have that wrong...I forget) grey. Take the eye dropper in your RAW converter and click around - see what happens when you click on red or green or blue or black or white - then find something more neutral and click there...sometimes it takes a bunch of clicks to find the right wb and then maybe even some tweaking with the sliders.

I find I have much more control in my software than underwater for white balance. I won't shoot jpeg when I can shoot RAW.

I don't recommend feeding the fish. They have plenty of food where they are. Learn their behaviours and improve your dive skills on every dive and you'll be able to get up close and personal without stuffing anything up.

 

[CompuDude]

I echo alcina's thoughts re feeding the fish, but if you must, I will pass on one tip I read recently: Frozen peas or frozen corn (off the cob). Cheap, and not horrible for the fishies. No personal experience, but made sense when I read the article. Bread is NOT as good as people seem to think for the fishies.

 

[vkalia]

One additional thought, to add to Alcina's excellent advice - consider setting the WB using the temperature scale and adjusting the tint, as another option.

Often, the neutral or proper WB setting may not be the most visually appealing one - people prefer "warmer" (more red/yellow) images than cooler ones; in film days, 81B warming filters were used to get this effect, now it is much easier.

While Manual is generally a good way to shoot with flash and prevent camera shake, Aperture mode can also be used, depending on what your goals are. I am not a big fan of black backgrounds - so I like to get some ambient exposure in. I have gotten good results shooting with -1 2/3 or -2 underexposure dialed into Aperture mode - with an external flash, the subject is going to be exposed based on the flash exposure, so it minimizes the impact of camera shake.

Breathing control helps reduce shake even further. Do note that I do good handholding abilities, but YMMV. Try both methods and see what works for you.

Cheers,
Vandit


Vandit

 

[matva]

so aperature is how wide the lens opens and the f numbers are fractions (e.g. 1/8). Shutter speed is how fast the shutter closes, small numbers means faster and less light (darker picture?). What is the effect of slower shutter speed?
So higher fstops make the object in front appear in focus while the background is blurred? Is that what is meant by depth of field?

yeah, i think maybe i'll stay away from fish food.

vkalia- isn't it possible to adjust exposure on the computer? Wouldn't underexpusure make it so there IS a black background?

 

[ocrmaster]

ISO 50 or 100 - whichever is lowest.

Shoot RAW for sure.n Forget messing with your WB underwater.

If you are shooting in relatively bright water try these settings: 1/100, f4.5

Do a test shot with those settings: if your water is a pale blue or washed out grey or white, make it faster to get a deeper, nicer blue.

If you are going to shoot up close and personals (the best with internal flash) move your aperture to f8 for those details.

f4.5 - 6.3 is a great range for a wide variety of subjects so for most of the dive I would put it on one of those and shoot away. That way you can concentrate on your diving and composition for most of your shots...when you shoot something outside the norm (super close ups or full wide with no flash, for example) then you can change your shutter and/or aperture.

I don't like to open up more than f4.5 ish as it can make photos look soft.

If you are shooting in darker waters, I'd sacrifice ISO before I would sacrifice aperture wider than 4.0

YMMV

bookmarked!