New S90 & Ikelite owner/enthusiast

[trident00]

I just wanted to stop in and say thanks to all that participate in this forum. I have learned alot from many of you. I based my camera purchase primarily from what I have learned here.
I just recieved my s90 and Ikelite housing. I have a blue water filter on the way.

I will be diving the keys this labor day weekend and plan to give the new setup plenty of use. I have not purchased a strobe or tray yet. I need to let the funds catch back up a bit after this trip and gear expenses.

I would welcome any tips, advice, or the like, in learning this camera and using it this upcoming weekend. Since I will not have a strobe, all your input and custom setting for available light would be much welcome. I know my fist step is to read through all the helpful back posts.

Cheers, Walt

 

[Puffer Fish]

Walt... first, decide what sort of images you are going to take....macro... fish...people....

Second... shoot raw... you will need it without a strobe.

Next... If you are diving with low light... if you can, take advantage of that F2 lens... and keep your iso down.

Spot focus... spot exposure calculation if possible.

Make sure all the fancy face/red eye stuff is off.

If you have a wide angle dive light.. they work fairly well.

Hope that helps... oh, and have fun.

 

[trident00]

I appreciate the reply. I am not really planning on focusing only one type of photography this trip (ie macro or wide angle etc). I am sure I will be taking pictures of other divers, schools of fish, and also some closer shots of interesting subjects. I currently have the camera set at manual 80 ISO and aperature priority when using the cameras flash and the ikelite diffuser. It seems to be working well in dim indoor environments. I am also playing with different ISO settings using no flash and somewhat diffuse indoor lighting. Seeing how high an ISO I need in different environments. Alot of trial and error tonight. My Cat and one of my parrots are the guinnie pigs tonight. I turned off the red eye and all that stuff. I have it set for center priority.
Thanks, Walt

 

[Puffer Fish]

I appreciate the reply. I am not really planning on focusing only one type of photography this trip (ie macro or wide angle etc). I am sure I will be taking pictures of other divers, schools of fish, and also some closer shots of interesting subjects. I currently have the camera set at manual 80 ISO and aperature priority. I turned of the red eye and all that stuff. I have it set for center priority.
Thanks, Walt

Very difficult to take several different types of images and learn much from any issue you might have.... but your camera.

Without a strobe, will bet ISO 80 will not be very usable all the time....so would suggest that you be ready to go a bit higher.

 

[Nemrod]

The S90 really does quite well all the way up to ISO 400, I would not hesitate to crank it up there for natural light shots on your deeper dives, ISO 100 on the shallow, bright sunlight reefs and ISO 200 at intermediate depths.

Try to keep your shots close, no more than six feet to subject, and especially with natural light, try to aim up, not downward. Don't be afraid to crank a little flash in there either, for a touch of color.

I find that the S90, like many Canon cameras, tends to overexpose, so I like to shoot 1&1/3 stops minus, use your control ring for that, assuming Av mode.

Have fun.

N

 

[trident00]

I definitley agree. I edited my last post. Been alot of playing and learning tonight. With the cameras flash and diffuser I can get away with the lower ISO supprisingly well. Without the flash its an entirely different game. I am figuring using the flash for more of the macro shots and trying to find a happy ISO medium for the distance/scenery shots.

I appreciate your responses.

Cheers, Walt

 

[trident00]

Thanks Nemrod. I appreciate your insight as well. Makes sense to me.

What is the feeling about using a bluewater filter. Can I put it on and leave it there for both shots with and without the flash? Macro and wide angle?
Would it just be an issue of taking a white balance?

Thanks, Walt

 

[Puffer Fish]

White balance is so good with that camera, that all a filter will do is reduce the total light coming to the camera...in the old days of film (which I think both Nemrod and I knew pretty well).. filters were required...if you have raw...it should not be needed.

 

[PatW]

I would very much encourage you to use RAW. You can correct the white balance in post processing. If you are lucky, something in the photo will be white or close to it. Then you can point at the "white" spot and click it and the white balance will be corrected. If you think that the "white" spot really was not quite white, you can modify the result a little.

I have found that shooting manual works pretty well. I just leave the apeture pretty constant and change the shutter speed.

In the keys, there is plenty of diving in pretty shallow water. Your camera should give you good results in depths of less than 30'. Of course, even at 30', you will lose most of your reds and oranges.

Also, quite a few fish like hanging out under ledges. I think in that situation, you would really need a strobe because it is deeply shaded there.

 

[trident00]

I've been reading more and more about post processing and white balance. One place mentioned taking white balance shots at the different depths you are shooting pics.
I also thought I saw to take a picture of a white object down at the photo depth, and use that picture to aid in correcting other shots. Does that make sense?
I have not yet gotten up to speed with the canon post processing programs.

Thanks all for the continued info.

Cheers, Walt