Struggling with C-8080 & DS-125

[BobArnold8265]

Hi,

I'm an old Nikonos user who last year made the switch to digital with an Oly C-8080 and Ike DS-125. I have used my digital set-up on two trips in the past 6 months and am disappointed and frustrated with the results. On land, when I put the camera in the housing and hook up the DS-125 strobe, the exposure in TTL mode (automatic) is perfect and with just a little tweaking is also very good when the camera is set at manual exposures.

However, once I get this set up underwater the results are terrible. Each frame is tinted extremely blue and each apears very bright (washed out ?). On my last trip in Aruba, I tried something different each day but again have not seen good results. I have tried the camera on auto (TTL) and manual exposures and have played around with the flash settings for external and slave flash. Bottom line is that my pictures are marginal at best and that's with a great deal of enhancement from Adobe Photoshop.

Does anyone have any recommendations on what settings I should be using on my C-8080 ??? I'd like to start over from scratch and maybe experiment in the quarry until I get this working right. Thanks for the help and suggestions.

Bob

 

[alcina]

What settings on the camera were you using?

I would recommend manual mode so you control your aperture and shutter. I also like manual on my strobes. Even if you decide to use mostly ttl, knowing how to control your own lighting will make those situations where the ttl doesn't guess right workable again - you will be able to manually change the settings to get the desired results.

If your photos are blue, the light from your strobe is not reaching your subject so:
- you are too far away
- your strobe is not angled properly
- your strobe is not firing

If your photos are blown out, then:
- your aperture is too wide
- your strobe intensity is too strong, move it back or turn it down...I'm surprised at this as the ttl function should work more or less.
- your shutter speed could be too low, but you will also see a lot of motion blur if this is the problem.

Hope that starts to give you an idea of how to fix the problems! Practice is the best thing - good luck. You can also post examples if you don't think the above covered it and we'll do our best to trouble shoot.

 

[cudachaser]

I'm a former Nikonis user adapting to the C8080 and Ikelite 125 strobe. Agree totally with Alcina...you really got to play with the strobe intensities and distance from subject is really plays a factor

 

[gert7to3]

Alcina's [UW Photo information...] link has a more comprehensive treatment of this subject.


http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=156914

 

[jlyle]

Pre-set the camera's EV to -1.7 for dark blue backgrounds. Or, when using manual control, monitor the EV value, when you change shutter speed or aperture, and keep it negative.

With the Oly 5050 & DS-125 strobes:

 

[oly5050user]

Hi,

I'm an old Nikonos user who last year made the switch to digital with an Oly C-8080 and Ike DS-125. I have used my digital set-up on two trips in the past 6 months and am disappointed and frustrated with the results. On land, when I put the camera in the housing and hook up the DS-125 strobe, the exposure in TTL mode (automatic) is perfect and with just a little tweaking is also very good when the camera is set at manual exposures.

However, once I get this set up underwater the results are terrible. Each frame is tinted extremely blue and each apears very bright (washed out ?). On my last trip in Aruba, I tried something different each day but again have not seen good results. I have tried the camera on auto (TTL) and manual exposures and have played around with the flash settings for external and slave flash. Bottom line is that my pictures are marginal at best and that's with a great deal of enhancement from Adobe Photoshop.

Does anyone have any recommendations on what settings I should be using on my C-8080 ??? I'd like to start over from scratch and maybe experiment in the quarry until I get this working right. Thanks for the help and suggestions.

Bob

sounds like either you are too far away from subject,but you say you used nikonos so that may not be problem..what housing are you using? is it a ikelite? if ikelite are you using a sync cord to fire strobe? try setting up system and fire it into a mirror.If you see strobe fired in image it is syncronized if not check settings to get it to work..get a wide angle lens for it and you will be able to get closer to subject so that the colors will be there..I use nikonos 5's and a oly 5050 in a ikelite housing w/125 strobe and wal..check my gallery scroll down on image and some of the settings are there on a file..

 

[jetlife2]

I experienced exactly the same with my 5060 and TTL DS50 when I first used it. I was horrified and confused. I fumbled around for ever trying to make it work until! AHA!

I know these are different model numbers than you have, but fundamentally they share the same heritage and software.

I ended up with completely blown out neon blue and white shots. It was my first trip to the Great Barrier Reef. AAARRGH!! I could not understand!

Fear not! You have a great rig. But it needs to be operated correctly.

SOLUTIONS:

1. You cannot, cannot use Program mode underwater. This is the major source of the issue. You must use full manual (not A, not S) and adjust. Start with f5.6 and 1/125 sec. at ISO 200. Adjust from there. Go lower ISO if you can. I do not recommend any auto mode of any kind, full manual only. Use the EV level indicator (top right of screen, shows for example -.5, +2.0, etc.) Dial exposure (shutter speed) until you are within the range 0.5 to -1. Why not use A mode (aperture priority, which is theoretically doing the same thing, i.e. adjusting shutter speed at fixed aperture)? I don't know. I tried it, it's not reliable.

2. You must, must, get the strobe settings right. Int + Ext or Ext only, Slow 1, use -0.7 or slightly more if you like, it's personal preference. Set strobes to TTL and leave them there. I asume you have the hard ike TTL sync cord. If you are using the optical sensor to fire off the internal flash, you have to be sure it is set correctly.

3. You must have the ike reflector (white) in front of the internal (camera) flash.

4. You really, really, should shoot RAW. This is the second major element. If you have shot any of those blown out shots RAW, they most likely will be retrievable, because they have greater bit depth than JPG, and you can reprocess the data and pull them out. I was lucky enough that about 25% of what I shot was RAW. The JPGs were blown out and lost. But the RAW files lived on and even the worst could be retrieved. Use Lightroom or even the software that came with the camera to fix the white balance and exposure.

Everything I just told you really works, and furthermore, you can learn from the same source I did:

http://www.splashdowndivers.com/photo_gallery/underwater_photography/index.html

Good luck and persevere!

Regards

 

[victor]

Bob
Which housing are you using?
I also have an 8080 and am strugling with similar issues at present.

Most people here recommend the go manual route, but not all.

Quoting from the splashdowndivers site "Photography - Ikelite TTL for Olympus 5050/5060 Cameras: The results were outstanding. For the first time ever I got perfect lighting under almost every imaginable condition e.g. shooting under reefs, against the sand, against the sky, with cloudy skies, sunny skies, etc. without changing any camera settings during the dives! This TTL system really rocks!"

I think we can get TTL to work even if it's not real TTL.

I have the budget now for my strobes now it's time to make the big decision.