Made the Jump from GoPro to TG-5: Welcoming Any Advice

[HalcyonDaze]

Pulled the trigger today on the TG-5, Nauticam housing, Fantasea UWL-400F wide-angle wet lens, and a second tray handle and YS-01 strobe to combine with the single-arm setup I had on my E-PM1. Should hopefully have it in hand next week.

 

[krukster86]

Jelly

 

[krukster86]

Wow so my old eBay account is not linked to my phone or email. Turns out my lowball bid on a used Ikelite DS-51 flash and arm combo a week ago actually won the auction. Fingers crossed I wasn't sold a dud.

 

[Barmaglot]

Wow so my old eBay account is not linked to my phone or email. Turns out my lowball bid on a used Ikelite DS-51 flash and arm combo a week ago actually won the auction. Fingers crossed I wasn't sold a dud.

Don't forget an optical receiver, as Ikelite strobes only support wired triggering natively.

 

[krukster86]

Don't forget an optical receiver, as Ikelite strobes only support wired triggering natively.

Yeah it is on my "need to buy" list as well as a fiber optic cable.

Do I need to have a constant light (I have two SOLAs and a Gobe available) as a focusing light? If so, I think I will need to get a camera tray extension to mount that. I really wish the ikelite housing had a cold shoe mount.

 

[Barmaglot]

You can use a triple clamp to mount the strobe and a light on the same arm.

 

[krukster86]

You can use a triple clamp to mount the strobe and a light on the same arm.

Good suggestion, however I have a flexible arm (Loc-line). I don't think they are compatible.

 

[Barmaglot]

I believe you can put one of these on the end of the flex arm to convert it to a ball mount.

 

[krukster86]

The strobe came in last week. O-rings needed some cleaning, but otherwise looked to be in lightly used condition. Ordered the optical receiver and a fiber optic cable, which came in this evening. I put some batteries in and tested it out. Works like a charm! I do see why the ball arms are preferred over the flex arms, the strobe with batteries is quite a heavy load above water, and the loc-line "arm" sags under the weight. I am sure it is better underwater. I plan on playing around with it in a pool some weekend.

 

[jerrydascorpion]

Does anyone have any tips for doing manual white balance with the TG5? I've taken down some white plastic and tried setting it at various depths but the images come out waaaay too red so I have been forced to stick to the underwater option. I struggled to get any sunlight in the calibration images so what the sample appeared quite grey, does that make a difference?

I haven’t tried it out yet, but I just took a TG-5 class at my LDS. They mentioned that it doesn’t have to be pure white, I think actual white balance slates are more grey. One of the big things is to make sure your internal flash/strobes/lights are off. Only use ambient light. Also you want your calibration shot to be out of direct sun. They mentioned that they will use sand as a custom white balance, but not sand that is directly in the sun. They will look for “shaded” sand.

Also from 0-15 ft you can use auto white balance. Then from 20-40 use a custom white balance. Take another custom white balance at 40 ft, and use it for 40-60. Then take another at 60, use this one for 60+.

They also mentioned to only use custom if you are shooting in ambient light. If you use strobes or video lights use auto white balance.

Again, I haven’t tried this yet, but the owners who put on the class are pretty skilled underwater photographers.