Question about 5050 settings?

[jonahfab]

This June I am heading to Belize, making my first trip to the caribbean. I am used to taking pictures in the green Atlantic off New Jersey. My set up is a 5050 with pt- 015 housing, and a inon 180 strobe with diffuser. My question is if anyone with a similar set up could steer me in the proper direction as to the settings they use in the caribbean. Something to just get me in the ballpark so I don't spend my first couple of dives missing stuff because I'm screwing around with the camera. Also I am planning on taking wide angle and macro photos. Thanks in advance.

 

[herman]

100 speed, F5.6 @ 1/100 is a good place to start for all around shots at reasonable distances-1 to 6ft or so. You can vary the speed from 1/60 to 1/500 depending on what color you want your backround. 1/60 for light blue, the faster you go, the darker the backround will get. The easiest way to shoot is to pick an F-stop and speed then use your strobe power to adjust for depth and reflectivity. For macro F8 or 7 depending on the reflectivity of your subject, if your using your strobe, shutter speed does not matter much but I tend to prefer a fast speed, 1/250 or 1/500. For wide angle your better off with a fairly low F-stop 3 or 4 and you will need to slow the shutter down a good bit get a nice backround 1/40 to 1/80 for med depths, faster for shallower.

 

[alcina]

I'd start with your lowest ISO (64 I think on the 5050), f 4.5 or f 5.6 and 1/100 or 1/125.

For macro, f8.

For wide angle, f 5.6...shutter to control the background water colour. Higher shutter = darker blue water. I hate the wishy washy light blue as a background, so I usually up to 1/160 or higher in bright conditions to get some richer blues. Strobe lights subject.

HTH

 

[pummkin]

1) Bring a white slate with you. Hang it on your BCD.
2) Set one of your four access buttons to WB for easy access.
3) Use the custom white balance to capture the white slate at the depth you are taking a photo. (Press WB, go to the Custom button, the One Touch WB screen will show. Press OK while pointing the camera at the white slate. Don't have to be in focus as long as you fill the frame. Continue pressing OK till you exit to the Preview screen.) You may have to do this every other feet you descend/ascend to, to get the right colours. This function tells the camera that at that particular depth, the colour of white & the camera will automatically adjusts all the spectrum according to the White. The preview on the LCD will look pinkish. Ignore it. Take the picture. Use this function WITHOUT ANY STROBE.
4) Set your options in My Mode. You have up to 8 different mode settings that you can customise. One for macro, another for wide angle, one with strobe & so on......

You can view some of my shots taken with the C5050 without strobe/flash. here.

This is a frogfish taken at Mataking Island, in Sabah, Malaysia.