oly epl1 help me please (+)

[wetjed2]

just bought a lightly used EPL1 with a PT-EP01 oly housing and a sealife sl960d strobe. I am totally a newb when it comes to anything other than point and shoot. What have I gotten myself into? Where do I start? Thanks for ANY light you may shed on my delima.

Thanks again,
Jed Cooper

 

[fisheater]

Buy Martin Edge's book, The Underwater Photographer (4th Ed.).

 

[PhilW]

+1 for Fisheater's excellent suggestion.

 

[decimal86]

just bought a lightly used EPL1 with a PT-EP01 oly housing and a sealife sl960d strobe. I am totally a newb when it comes to anything other than point and shoot. What have I gotten myself into? Where do I start? Thanks for ANY light you may shed on my delima.

Thanks again,
Jed Cooper

hey that's how i started. but i bought an Inon Z240 type 4. ok my adv is strap-on (no...not that strap-on) your gear and tank and jump in the wet and set everything to MAN.

ISO100, and just shoot corals and adjust the combo of shutter speed and aperture to get colour saturation. nudis are also a good subject since they move slowly. the reach of your flash when it comes to wa will only be seen if you shoot and practise. or else you will not know when to press the shutter release when something big swims by..

i shoot in Jpeg not raw so i see the pictures straight away. after the first dive or 2, you will have a very good idea of what settings to use when it comes to macro and fishes swimming.

i guess you have the 14-42 mm lens? versatile but it needs a wet lens outside for greater magnification.

some of my shots with an Inon UCL wet lens

Puerto Galera 150411 pictures by decimal86 - Photobucket

 

[SEMO Scuba]

I have a small fish statue that I have taken hundreds of pictures of in my living room learning my camera and its controls. Put your camera in the housing and take pictures of small things in your house with your camera in manual mode. Set the aperture and take pictures at different shutter speeds. Then change the aperture and do it again from small to large aperture. Take pictures with and without your strobe. Look at them and try to assess why some have proper exposure and why some are over or under exposed (too light or too dark). When taking pictures with your strobe don't take more than one per minute so your strobe does not overheat. Read the manual for your strobe and see what it says about using it out of the water. READ YOUR CAMERA MANUAL. RESEARCH THE THINGS THAT YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND ABOUT YOUR CAMERA'S FUNCTIONS AND SETTINGS.

This web site has wonderful information: Beginners guide to underwater photography|Underwater Photography Guide