Samsung Digimax question

[MaxBottomtime]

I have the V5 camera and the SPH-V3/V4 housing. I took it out Saturday for the first time and all my shots were overblown and out of focus. Today I used the Auto setting and everything was still blurry. Is there a trick to getting good focus like zooming in a little? The housing has a flat port, so I don't think I'm getting a virtual image. The focus looks good in the LCD screen before I depress the shutter all the way.

 

[Azotomix]

Sorry can not help you on this matter but I have a question.
I am interested in the Samsung V5 but in the net I can not find the it’s housing. Only the one for V3 or V4. You are saying however that you have the SPH-V3/V4 housing for the V5 and seems to work. Can you use all the camera button or there are some which are not working?

Samsung is saying that the housing for the V5 is coming out around mid July (In Italy) and the SPH-V3/V4 housing is going out of production. The new one will not go down to 70 m. So I do not know what to do.

Are you happy with your housing?
Let me know

Ciao

 

[MaxBottomtime]

There's one on eBay now.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3824978717&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT
All the buttons work and the camera fits perfectly in the housing. I had the power button stick at 160 feet on the second dive it's been on, so I'm not sure about its claim of the 230 feet depth rating. We'll see.

 

[Azotomix]

Thank you
Did you take some nice pictures which could be shown on the board or all where nt so nice as you where saying.

Are you using the inside strobe or do you have an external one?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I don't have an external strobe yet. I've used the camera twice with bad results. Saturday's shots were overblown and out of focus, so yesterday I used the Auto setting and still got out of focus shots. Did find a new shipwreck though.

 

[Bedo]

I bought a Samsung V4 with housing, changing from Nikonos V to entry-level digital, and have used it quite a bit in the Red Sea (Saudi Arabia).
As an experienced underwater photographer, and BSAC instructor I found quite a few shortcomings with the camera, although I have had some sucess too.
1) The internal flash is vastly overpowered for underwater, without a diffuser, even when using the exposure compensation (-2 stops)
Fix: I use a Underwater Kinetics Light Cannon (HID Video Light) on a home-made bracket, and use this even during the day. I get much better results.
2) The 'Super-Macro' (6cm) cannot use the internal flash
Fix: Using the HID Video Light, I get good results in 'Super-Macro' mode

Generally, my advice would be to take as many photographs as possible, and practice with all of the various settings (Eg: Spot/ Multi metering), but expect a lot of rubbish to start with. I got lots!

I hope this helps someone

Safe Diving

 

[Ian T]

All the pictures in my gallery were taken with the Samsung V4/V6 cameras with the above mentioned housing. It took a few dives to get the settings right. We would use the same settings for the 1st half, change halfway through, look at the results and then on the next dive we tried 2 new settings.
Then we ran into some problems with the housing and the cameras but that is a whole 'nuther story...