Question for C-5XXX users about my C-5000/Sealife 960

[ConchyJoe]

I have a C-5000 with an Oly case. I got a Sealife 960D strobe and diffuser for xmas. The strobe is optical, and I taped over the camera strobe.

We just got back from diving in the Bahamas.

I took some pretty good pictures, which I will get posted, but I have a few questions.

I set the camera to Portrait shooting mode, and shot mostly in spot macro mode.

Most of my pictures turned out fine when there was a lot of ambient light.

When I shot under a ledge, most of the time with shot was very dark, even when I turned up the flash all the way. Adobe Elements corrected a lot of this, but I wonder what I am missing.

I am used to a Nikonis III and a Giddings flash from 25 years ago, which was as simple as looking on the chart on the flash.

Any advice would be appreciated, and some of my thoughts are:

Should I set the camera to a more manual exposure setting? Shutter or aperture priority? Set the camera to 60th/sec and let the aperture take over and adjust the flash to fit?

Is the strobe synching to the shutter speed? I can't imagine it is but don't know.

Should I be using spot/macro? Or ESP/Macro?

Thanks in advance for any tips/techniques.

This is under a ledge, portrait mode, spot/macro, Sealife flash wide open

This is an Elements quick fixed version

This is under a ledge, same settings, but more ambient light

This is an Elements quick fixed version

 

[herman]

The lobster is not badly underexposed, a slight F-stop, distance or strobe change would fix that.
The shark is a different matter. At first glance I though the stobe had not fired but after looking closer, there are shadows under the shark so it did fire. How far from the shark were you?? Your (and most) strobes are not going to preform well out past 6-8 ft, my guess is you were too far away for your stobe and F-stop to small.
As for setting, go full manual. Because these photos basically have no distant backround shutter speed is not an issue. Fstop, distance and stobe power are the determining factors that control the esposure for these photos. Get closer, crank up the strobe power and open up the Fstop.

 

[ConchyJoe]

Herman,

Thanks for the help. I suspect I will have to experiment.

I was only 2-3 feet from the shark, so that is what confused me.

How do you set your 5050 from a manual perspective? What shutter speed and fstop? My thought was whatever will get me the depth of field I need for 12-24 or 26 inches.

 

[alcina]

ConchJoe - if you cruise through the Pink Link in my signature you will find some basic getting started settings for using manual along with some tidbits that might help.

I agree - it looks like your strobe simply didn't light the subject. Strobe aiming can be a bit of a bear sometimes. If you were close enough, then my guess is the strobe head wasn't facing the right direction. They are easily bumped out of alignment, maybe it wasn't set tight enough or it was simply aimed incorrectly. Happens to the best of 'em.

More practice is definitely the key - and that means more diving...good deal, eh?!

 

[ConchyJoe]

Alcina,

Great info! Unfortunately I will have to practice in a dark room for now.... But film is cheap when it is digital!

I remember shooting 40-50 exposures of extra loaded Seattle Film Works, and then heading to the surface. Now I shoot 100 exposures a dive, and get better results.

So I am confused about one thing.

You say:

"Don't be afraid of high shutter speeds if you have an external strobe. All the light on your subject can come from your flash/strobe and the high (1/800+) shutter will give you those velvelty black backgrounds."

I am used to syncing at 60th/sec. Is this not the case anymore? Can you expand a little on this subject?

Thanks again everyone.

Next stop, Marathon in August and St. Lucia in October!

 

[Fabulous]

Looks like the Sealife is not synchronised to the camera. The 960D has a preflash setting from 1-4. Test it at home by adjusting the setting until you get it right. The other possibility is that the optic sensor is not aligned with your cameras flash.

The shadow/low light could be simply the tail of the out of sync strobe flash or leakage from your camera flash.

 

[alcina]

With my 5050 and Inon or Ike strobes I don't have to worry about my synch speed. I routinely shot at 1/800 or higher when I wanted to get black black backgrounds. The strobe provided all the light I needed for the subject itself.

With my Canon 20D I can't use a shutter of more than 1/320 or I get a partial black bit on the image as that is the fastest synch speed the camera can do. Just one of the tricksy things about dslrs!