RX100 with Snorkelling with Whales + dolphins in the South Pacific - advice please

[sipadiver]

Hi,

I'm going on a 5 day trip to Niue, a small South Pacific Island in August. Its going to be mainly a snorkeling trip as scuba diving is not allowed in close proximity with the whales and dolphins.

The migrating whale season is in August. And the dive operator will be sending us in a small zodiac boat to follow the Humpback whales. Once sighted the swimmers will jump into the water and swim alongside the giant mammals. For the dolphins, we will be required to hold the rope of the boat and be dragged alongside while the boat follows the dolphins - one swimmer for each side. I've done it before and it really is amazing.

I had some problems with my camera (OlympusXZ1) I tried playing around with the settings - but the situation is dynamic as the subjects will be at different levels, depths and one setting for one level is not good for another. I don't think I have the time to mess around with the settings in that sort of situation either.

I just bought a Sony RX100. Should I simply shoot in auto?

Background info - I've clocked nearly 300 dives so far. At least 200 with a camera - i take good shots but I'm let down by my lack of technical expertise.

 

[Interceptor121]

Is this for stills? The camera will do fine in program mode at the surface
But you will need a wide angle lens as the sharks or whales are large and the field of view of the camera in water tiny

 

[sipadiver]

Mainly stills. I have a GoPro2 for video mode. Will be getting my partner to use that.

---------- Post added July 11th, 2013 at 05:07 AM ----------

I got the Inon fisheye lens. I'll bring it along.

 

[supergaijin]

I'd use Shutter priority of 1/250th at the surface where there is plenty of light. Should be enough to freeze the action.

 

[Interceptor121]

At the surface with plenty of light reflections the camera will most likely go well over 1/250
What inon fisheye lens have you got?

 

[sipadiver]

I got the UWL 04. I did use the shutter speed of 1/250 on the last trip. But I locked in the F stop at F8 because a lot of the photography was done on the boat .

You only get about 5 mins in the water due to the nature of the operation. And I forgot to swap back to F5.

Would I also need to do a white balance - I don't think so yeah? cos its being shot so close to the surface.

One problem I may have with the fisheye is trying to purge the air sac that is trapped in between the wideangle lens and the UW housing. Would soaking it in a tub of water on the boat help?

---------- Post added July 14th, 2013 at 09:07 PM ----------

I took photos during the 2011 trip. Feel free to check them out. Feel free to let me know how I can improve on the photos.

I was very disappointed with the dolphin shoots because of the incorrect F stop setting.

 

[Interceptor121]

You are at the surface the camera knows what to do just shoot in program or you will only miss shots

 

[kkfok]

Hi,

I'm going on a 5 day trip to Niue, a small South Pacific Island in August. Its going to be mainly a snorkeling trip as scuba diving is not allowed in close proximity with the whales and dolphins.

The migrating whale season is in August. And the dive operator will be sending us in a small zodiac boat to follow the Humpback whales. Once sighted the swimmers will jump into the water and swim alongside the giant mammals. For the dolphins, we will be required to hold the rope of the boat and be dragged alongside while the boat follows the dolphins - one swimmer for each side. I've done it before and it really is amazing.

I had some problems with my camera (OlympusXZ1) I tried playing around with the settings - but the situation is dynamic as the subjects will be at different levels, depths and one setting for one level is not good for another. I don't think I have the time to mess around with the settings in that sort of situation either.

I just bought a Sony RX100. Should I simply shoot in auto?

Background info - I've clocked nearly 300 dives so far. At least 200 with a camera - i take good shots but I'm let down by my lack of technical expertise.

I have used my RX100 in a Nauticam and snorkeled with Humpbacks at Socorro. My experience is to set it custom white balance 9900K M2 to 9900K M3 which is necessary for shots even at the surface. I shoot mainly video but I think it is the same for still. You can check this out for the result. The baby humpback (4:20 to 5:20) was shot at 9900K M2.

Socorro Islands Diving Trip February 2013 - YouTube

 

[Interceptor121]

Frankie did you set colour temperature to 9900 or did you set custom WB and got the 9900 error?

 

[kkfok]

I just set the color temperature and then shift it towards magenta.