Shutter speed or Aperture

[Richard H]

Hi guys,

I have a G9 with Canon housing and a singe Inon Z240. I will take macro photos only. I can't use STTL and choose my shutter speed and aperture. I can only use Shutter speed priority with the camera choosing aperture (it seems to always choose an aperture of 2.8) or aperture priority with the camera choosing shutter speed (it seems to always choose 1/60th).

Would you recommend choosing aperture priority or shutter speed for taking macro photos ?. I'm off to Lembeh in 5 weeks.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Scubakevdm]

Hi guys,

I have a G9 with Canon housing and a singe Inon Z240. I will take macro photos only. I can't use STTL and choose my shutter speed and aperture. I can only use Shutter speed priority with the camera choosing aperture (it seems to always choose an aperture of 2.8) or aperture priority with the camera choosing shutter speed (it seems to always choose 1/60th).

Would you recommend choosing aperture priority or shutter speed for taking macro photos ?. I'm off to Lembeh in 5 weeks.

Thanks for your help.

I have always choked my aperature down as small as I could get it so that I could have a deeper field of focus. I'm no expert though.

 

[ScubaSteve]

My recommendation would be to keep control of the shutter speed because as light reduces (camera is not reading the strobe I think you said) the camera will slow down the shutter producing blurry shots. I am assuming here your subject is moving even slowly and that your buoyancy is not perfect). This is my amateur recommendation.

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[RAWalker]

The real deal would be to go manual on both aperture and shutter.Let the camera handle the focus. Using shutter speeds between 1/60, 1/125 or 1/250 depending on how much action is in the shot. Then adjust your aperture for the amount of depth of field you need. The final variable is the strobe you'll need to adjust the intensity. It seems to be a lot to do but the more you do it the faster, easier and more intuitive it will become.

 

[fisheyeview]

I always shoot in manual, and adjust my own settings. For macro I try to shoot at 1/125, and as small an f-stop as possible for the depth of field.

 

[fisheyeview]

And don't let Kevin fool you with that, "I'm no expert though".

 

[Larry C]

When setting up my camera, I use four different settings for different situations. For macro shots, I always go full manual. If you need to set your strobe manually for these, it shouldn't be a big deal. Typically your subject isn't going too far. You'll probably want minimum settings and more direct lighting-not straight at the subject, but angled close to get the edge of the light. Your shutter speed will depend on what kind of background you want. If you want a lot of detail, you can go as low as 1/60. If you want a black background, as high as 1/500. Aperture should be as small as you can go to get the detail you want. For a strong background I use f5.6, which gives a good balance between depth of field and background lighting. Super macro, I use my macro settings, but go manual on focus as well. I always set the minimum aperture (f8). Wide shots, the lighting will vary. If I'm shooting into the sun, I use aperture priority at f8 and let the camera decide the shutter speed. If I'm backlit, I use shutter priority with at minimum 1/60 (1/80 for action shots) and let the camera decide the aperture. I'll usually take a test shot as I approach the area I plan to shoot in to check the background lighting and adjust the shutter speed to get the best color.

 

[oly5050user]

Hi guys,

I have a G9 with Canon housing and a singe Inon Z240. I will take macro photos only. I can't use STTL and choose my shutter speed and aperture. I can only use Shutter speed priority with the camera choosing aperture (it seems to always choose an aperture of 2.8) or aperture priority with the camera choosing shutter speed (it seems to always choose 1/60th).

Would you recommend choosing aperture priority or shutter speed for taking macro photos ?. I'm off to Lembeh in 5 weeks.

Thanks for your help.

only taking macro??Why not shoot in manual? If camera only works as you state then go with aperature priority..highest # f stop you have to give you depth of field.With the strobe you have you can adjust the light output and also hold closer/further away as needed.Others gave you good advise for different situations also.I usually shoot macro in a ttl mode with an oly5050 or nikon p5100 camera,on manual with an f stop of f8 and different shutter speeds(anything from 1/60-1/500 or more) to either lighten or make the background completely black.

 

[Richard H]

Thanks for your help. As this will be the first time I have used a strobe and I wanted to make this as easy as possible I am keen on going STTL which doesn't allow a manual set up. I may try manual. Thanks for your advice.

 

[simonmittag]

I am also using manual for most shots. In my completely unprofessional opinion, Aperture priority mode is hard to use under water, due to lack of light and resulting slow shutter times. This goes especially for macro.

I do use Aperture prio mode with wide angle, pointing upwards, measuring the blue water column in relatively good visibility and find it gives useable readings, however I prefer manual.

I frequently check the histogram for exposure correction after shooting. With manual I tend to use fewer different settings, mostly 1/125 to 1/250s and f/16-22 for macro.

Hope this helps.