Settings for taking pics during night dives

[hammerhead man]

I was wondering what settings should be used when taking pics during a night dive. Obviously you cannot meter the subject because of the lack of light (other than the light given off by a focus light). Therefore, what settings do you use so that your strobe does not under or over light the subject?

Regards,

Bill

 

[hammerhead man]

I need to add that I use a Sea&Sea DX-1G.

Regards,

Bill

 

[gustele]

Basically there is no difference between shooting at night and during the day in case the strobe is your main light source. I am assuming you have an external strobe. If not your only options are to shoot at very close distances.
If you are using an external non-TTL strobe the distance between the camera and the subject in combination with the guide number of your strobe dictates the aperture. I have the same camera and work with a Sea&Sea YS-110 in TTL-mode. I put the shutter speed at 1/125sec and normally I use an aperture of F/5.6. The guide number of this strobe under water is 11 at ISO100 and using meters for the distance, so this would give me a range up to 2 meters. In practice I am shooting at 1 meter max and most of the time at a closer distance. For a non-TTL flash this would mean that you have to reduce the aperture to F/8 (1.4m), F/11 (1m) or even less below 1 m. You can also reduce the output of your flash if your strobe has that option. Check the result on the LCD panel and adjust if necessary. That is the beauty of digital photography.
My main problems during night dives are the amount of equipment to handle (camera, dive light, console, inflator and only 2 hands) and the fact that the camera needs a certain amount of light on the subject to focus correctly. The YS-110 has a build-in focus light so that helps. Otherwise you need an extra focus light or you buddy should shine his light at the subject.

 

[hammerhead man]

thanks gustele, that really helps alot. I have a pair of YS-110's and ususally shoot night pics in a point and shoot mode but would rather use the manual mode. What power setting do you use on the 110's. Normally, I put the power setting at 1/2 (the middle) and that seems to work well.

Regards,

Bill

 

[gustele]

Hi Bill

For some reason the DX-1G doesn't work well in point & shoot mode in combination with the strobe(s). So you have to shoot in manual mode. Most of the time I have the YS-110 at full power (rightmost dial) with the strobe setting on TTL (leftmost dial). The strobe is connected through a fiber optic cable with the housing and is triggered by the internal strobe. At first I thought that the TTL-mode was not working (camera on automatic), but since I switched to manual mode TTL is working correctly. Even at close distance (10 - 20 cm) I get a correct exposure by zooming completely in and an aperture of F/11 or less. So apparently the strobe doesn't release its full power in this mode and that is exactly what I expect from a TTL-flash.

Another tip if you didn't find out yourself: shoot at the lowest ISO-value possible. In the beginning I was disappointed in the quality of the pictures. It took me monthts before I realized that this was caused by me shooting at 200 ASA. Now I am shooting at 80 ASA and are very happy with the results and the camera in general. The only problem that I have with this camera is that the LCD is too dark when shooting in manual mode. The LCD panel is used as a visual feedback if the picture will be under exposed. With almost always insufficient ambient light under water this is often the case and that means that the LCD is dark.

 

[hammerhead man]

Thanks for the tip. I actually shoot with ASA 100 and that works well for me. Most reviews I read say that the noise increases significantly with higher ASA settings.

Regards,

Bill