I have an S90 with the Canon Case. I am close to purchasing my first strobe as my attempts using the camera were good, but not great photos. I have read through the UW Photo guide but am still a little confused. The camera has an underwater mode. Should I be using that to shoot?
S90 Shooting Mode
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PatW
Contributor
The underwater mode attempts a generic white balance approach. I have found that I get good results shooting in the RAW format. I can then modify the white balance in post processing to my heart's content.
ozziworld
Contributor
What PatW said above and try shooting in Manual Mode.
On my S90 I have set my C (custom mode) specifically for underwater use. Default settings to always start out with:
ISO 80
Flash ON (set at min power to save power)
1/500
F8
The above works perfectly for Macro as I then just adjust the power on my Inon S2000 manually to darken or lighten exposure. I can also move the strobe position or angle to effect the desired change in exposure or lighting effect.
After a short learning curb, you will find you get very good at setting the power knob on the strobe at the right setting given the conditions.
The trick would be to keep most of the settings the same on the camera, then just varying the power from the strobe. That way you learn quickly the effects of the inputs since there are less variables for you to keep track off.
Once you get the hang of the strobe adjustment, you can then start playing with adjusting the shutter speed to lighten or darken the back ground.
The effects of adjusting aperture, ISO can slowly be added to your familiarity with the camera.
If you start out on P, Tv or Av or any automatic mode, It will be very difficult to monitor all the variables that are involved since the strobe and camera is doing things differently each time.
With RAW, a lot of images can be rendered quite nicely with the proper white balance adjustment.
In fact, if you are not into Macro or getting additional lenses. I would familiarize myself first with shooting RAW and ISO 200. You can get some pretty decent images with just the on board flash. Set at Tv mode and 1/125 or higher then fire away.
On my S90 I have set my C (custom mode) specifically for underwater use. Default settings to always start out with:
ISO 80
Flash ON (set at min power to save power)
1/500
F8
The above works perfectly for Macro as I then just adjust the power on my Inon S2000 manually to darken or lighten exposure. I can also move the strobe position or angle to effect the desired change in exposure or lighting effect.
After a short learning curb, you will find you get very good at setting the power knob on the strobe at the right setting given the conditions.
The trick would be to keep most of the settings the same on the camera, then just varying the power from the strobe. That way you learn quickly the effects of the inputs since there are less variables for you to keep track off.
Once you get the hang of the strobe adjustment, you can then start playing with adjusting the shutter speed to lighten or darken the back ground.
The effects of adjusting aperture, ISO can slowly be added to your familiarity with the camera.
If you start out on P, Tv or Av or any automatic mode, It will be very difficult to monitor all the variables that are involved since the strobe and camera is doing things differently each time.
With RAW, a lot of images can be rendered quite nicely with the proper white balance adjustment.
In fact, if you are not into Macro or getting additional lenses. I would familiarize myself first with shooting RAW and ISO 200. You can get some pretty decent images with just the on board flash. Set at Tv mode and 1/125 or higher then fire away.
I have the same gear plus a couple of Intova slave strobes. Additional light does help a lot. What also helps a lot is shooting in raw format. My issue with the camera and the strobes was the exposure. There is no pre-flash in my setting and the additional light from the strobes throws the exposure off. So I always shoot in manual or custom setting, and set the shutter speed and aperture myself (depending on depth, distance and strobe power setting). You get a hang of it after a while. Just use AUTO white balance if you use strobes, after all, you can always adjust it later if you shoot in raw. Here are a few samples from my recent trip to Grand Cayman:
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