Setting suggestions for Manta Ray night dive

[cageybob]

I use a Canon A630 with Sealife SL960D strobe and had very good results using Aperture Priority for diving in Lembeh Straits last year. The bulk of the shots were close up or macro. I am going to Hawaii next week and will be doing one dive in particular that I am looking for help with, the Manta Ray night dive. I am thinking of using Shutter Speed Priority with the intent that I would use shutter speed to hopefully freeze the action while the camera will decide the aperture for exposure. Anyone here do similar dives with big animals on a night dive and can offer some suggested settings to start with?

 

[String]

Does the strobe work with TTL or not?

I suspect it'll be 1/60th flash speed if the strobe is used.

Or try it in AV mode, lens wide open and let the camera select shutter speed.

 

[cageybob]

No TTL, Fiber optic trigger cable. I had good luck with AV before. I will try both, but would hate to spend too much time experimenting with the camera and forget to enjoy the dive. Guess I'll have to torture myself and do the dive a second time, as long as my non-diving spouse doesn't mind :}. Found some other posts with similar ideas in another forum thread here. Some useful tips all around.

 

[cageybob]

Aperture Priority did the trick. Shots came out fairly good. Only problem was the amount of backscatter due to the multitude of divers enjoying the show! Killer time, though - 20 mantas!!!

 

[Nemrod]

Wide angle lens so you can get right up on him so the strobes will be effective, dual strobes to light him up from corner to corner.

N

 

[LeeParrish]

Aperture Priority did the trick. Shots came out fairly good. Only problem was the amount of backscatter due to the multitude of divers enjoying the show! Killer time, though - 20 mantas!!!

Wow, 20 mantas. Who did you dive with, I'm heading over to the Big Island in a few weeks and hope to do the same dive?

 

[cageybob]

Wow, 20 mantas. Who did you dive with, I'm heading over to the Big Island in a few weeks and hope to do the same dive?

Jack's Diving Locker. Very well run dive shop. I was a little concerned, thinking cattle boat. etc., but they broke the groups up nicely. Set-up on the boat and gear handling was superb. Extremely organized. There are other dive shops that anchor in the same spot. But I can't say enough good things about Jack's. As far as the Mantas, it's very unpredictable as far as the number. What else was cool was the manta dive was actually a 2-tank dive and we saw a manta and a school of dolphin on the first dive.

Here's a link to a video I took with my camera (not great vid quality, but very cool subject matter)
http://cageybob.shutterfly.com/664

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Aperture Priority did the trick. Shots came out fairly good. Only problem was the amount of backscatter due to the multitude of divers enjoying the show! Killer time, though - 20 mantas!!!

Are you sure the backscatter was due the other divers? I was there in late November of ~'02, when the swell was significant, and the rocky bottom does not really stir up too bad. The swell was rolling divers like bowling pins and the krill still seems to be the majority of the backscatter.

In my photo's, which are mostly too hot, the backscatter is pretty much just the krill! And one Ike 200 SS did a fair job of lighting.

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