Question about strobes and video

[k374]

At this point I just want to take some recreational pictures while diving and don't want to carry around strobes or anything bulky like that. My question is this.. what is the expected quality of pics using just the built in flash? I don't see too many divers carrying strobes with their cameras.

Second question is with regard to HD video, the cameras I am considering are the SD940 and the S90, the former has HD video (720p) and the S90 does not. I would imagine that the HD video quality would be much better topside but underwater is it that big of a difference since the conditions are low light anyway. I wasn't able to find any video samples from the S90. I also read that the S90 does not auto focus while shooting video which is strange.

 

[herman]

Good UW shots can be done with the internal flash/strobe if you understand it's limitations and choose shots carefully. The internal flash will only properly light an object 2 or 3 ft away from the lens at best so forget strobe lit shots more than that. Whlle on the subject of distance, the distances UW look a lot closer than they actually are, the camera on the other hand stills "sees" them at the real distance. You need to practice getting close to your subject, a lot closer than you think. If you can not reach out and touch your subject, you are too far away with a P&S and internal flash. In addition, the flash angle from the on board strobe is such that it causes a lot of backscatter- bright snow looking spots in the photos. Choose shots that are less then 3 ft and have a solid background- a school of fish against a wall or coral head for example. Macro can also be done fairly effectively with the internal flash but care has to be taken not to get too close. The flash angle is such that the lens and/or housing will shadow the flash, leaving a dark spot on the photo.
Bottom line, yes it can be done but you must determine the window where your camera works best and stay within that and avoid backgrounds in the photo that go outside the camera's sweet spot. Most likely it's going to be a zone somewhere between 10 inches and 3 ft.

 

[herman]

And one more thing, your extended arm is a good yardstick, the area between your elbo and your finger tips is going to be close to the sweetspot for the camera. Makes a good test to learn to judge what the distance actually looks like UW.

 

[song]

Enjoy the diving and take home memories with a P&S camera. I rather like the "challenge" of seeing what I can capture without strobes & focus lights, plus I do not want to haul a giant camera rig around. Herman makes some good points about a dark shadow in a corner of the pictures. I've learned to live with it.

Every now & then I'm happily surprised with the shots I get. My avatar of a tube worm in Puerto Vallarta was taken with a Canon SD750 and 2 small hand-held flashlights (one held by a second photographer with a P&S). A certain award-winning professional photographer (who only shoots 35mm UW) was really shocked when I showed him that picture and the little camera it came from.

I've also attached a dragon eel from Kauai taken with the Canon & integrated flash. The pink anemone fish from Indonesia was taken with with Panasonic ZS3's flash.

I take tons of crappy pictures, but that's the beauty of digital and big memory cards.