Strobe for Sony DSC-P73

[LAWDIVER]

I have a sony DSC-P73 with the Sony MPK-PEA housing. My question what external strobe if any can I use with this camera. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Cecil]

Have you tried it with the internal strobe? I have a P5 and use it with just the internal, a tiny camera with a big external strobe will not fit in your BC. The internal will work fine inside 3' or so. Any slave external should work if you turn off the red eye reducer. The other issue is that the camera will not compensate for the extra light from the external strobe. It will take some experiments to dial in the right exposure.

 

[Jason B]

It will take the INON D-180 & D-180S.
The INON D-180 is very popular.

 

[LAWDIVER]

I have tried it with the internal flash and the pictures come o.k.. I would like more flexability with using the camera and figured the stobe would enhance the colors. Any ideas?

 

[marpacifica]

When using the external strobe, you'll have to shoot on manual settings. If you can set the f-stop and shutter speed manually, that's the first place to start. Try f/5.6 and 1/125 sec. Look at the result. If too bright (you can verify with the histogram or ballpark it just on the monitor), use a smaller(higher number) aperture or use a faster shutter speed. Most strobes have intensity settings and those are usually easy to adjust if you don't want to fiddle with apertures or shutter speeds. If the test photo is too bright, lower the intensity of the strobe. An external strobe, depending on its rating, may be able to give you up to 4-6 feet distance on the range, but usually it's the stuff within 3 feet that gets lighted the best. The internal flash is good to about 3 feet, too, but it's angle of coverage is smaller than an external flash so you'll get a smaller part of the frame lighted properly. Hope this helps and good luck for the next dive!

 

[LAWDIVER]

Would the sony hvl-ml20m help, I know it is not a strobe, but would it help as far as brining out some color and helping the camera focus? Any ideas?

 

[Cecil]

I've only heard mixed results with a light. The general feeling is that it's not enough light to do any good. A strobe will put out a lot more light. The best answer is and always will be get close, then closer. The least water between you and your subject is best.

The other thing that can be done is to adjust your colors in a photo editor such as Photo Shop. It's pretty amazing how much better UW pictures look after the colors are tweeked.

 

[ReyeR]

Would the sony hvl-ml20m help, I know it is not a strobe, but would it help as far as brining out some color and helping the camera focus? Any ideas?

Don't bother with the HVL for the P73.

As suggested above, the D-180 would be suitable. And as marpacifica said, flick the DSC-P73 into (M)anual and start with a shutter speed of 1/125 and an aperture of f5.6 (depending on zoom position) and take it from there. Dial f5.6 on the D-180 and take a shot - too bright turn the knob anti-clockwise, too dark turn it clockwise. Want a darker background? Select a higher shutter speed.

Does the P73 fire a pre-flash in M mode and with fill-in flash on lightning symbol)?

 

[LAWDIVER]

Does the P73 fire a pre-flash in M mode and with fill-in flash on lightning symbol)?

It does pre-flash, however you can disable the pre-flash!

 

[ReyeR]

It does pre-flash, however you can disable the pre-flash!

Out of curiosity, can you tell me how? Are the steps shown in the PDF manual? Thanks.