Thrilled with my 5060 and PT-020

[simonc]

Hi everyone,

I'm completely new to UW photography and on the strength of this forum, purchased a 5060ZW and the PT020 housing. Best choice I ever made. THANKS!!!!!

I followed the instructions of several forum members and set mymode to ISO100, schutter 1/100 and f5.6, flash off, SHQ images with a 512MB compact flash card.
Each morning I cleaned and lightly greased the o-rings and cleaned the o-ring tracks with a soft toothed brush before replacing the o-rings. I used a torch-light to confirm no lint/hair/sand etc in/on o-ring etc then closed the case and buckled it shut. I then tested the seals in a water tank before going diving for the day. I never opened the case between dives, only at the end of the day back on land to clean and regrease for the o-rings etc and to change the battery.

The results......outstanding. For a 1st timer I'm thrilled. In the watrer and on the land, absolute simplicity. Battery life was great too.

Check out my pics at http://homepage.mac.com/simoncool/PhotoAlbum1.html

Thanks a million ScubaBoard!

SimonC

 

[scubaaaronh]

Nice pics.

Did you use the white balance settings underwater at all? What kind of depth were you in? Did you use the camera housing mode?

I am going to bonaire in 7 weeks and am trying to get a better feeling how to set my cam for salt water compared to mucky fresh water.
Thanks

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Excellent pics, I can't wait to get my 5060 back from getting repaired - it takes some amazing pics when its not flooded

 

[simonc]

Nice pics.

Did you use the white balance settings underwater at all? What kind of depth were you in? Did you use the camera housing mode?

I am going to bonaire in 7 weeks and am trying to get a better feeling how to set my cam for salt water compared to mucky fresh water.
Thanks

I do the on-touch white balance using a white slate every 5-10m. My slate is on a retractable cord which helps. If near white sand/coral then I use that. Always try to shoot out into the blue, not down to the coral. Depths ranged from 5m to 20m and camera was set to housing mode.

 

[scubaaaronh]

I do the on-touch white balance using a white slate every 5-10m. My slate is on a retractable cord which helps. If near white sand/coral then I use that. Always try to shoot out into the blue, not down to the coral. Depths ranged from 5m to 20m and camera was set to housing mode.

COOL THATS THE WAY I AM SETTING AND USING IT IN FRESH WATER. tHANKS

 

[redtail]

what's the quick key combination to recalibrate to set the WB you do at every 5-10 meters?

 

[ReyeR]

what's the quick key combination to recalibrate to set the WB you do at every 5-10 meters?

1. To set One Touch WB:
OK (Menu) >> Mode Menu >> Picture tab >> WB >> One Touch WB (the icon of a frame with two arrows pointing at each other below it) >> (fill the frame with a white object and press) OK

WARNING!: Don't forget to set it back to 'Auto' for normal use (see 2 below to avoid this).


2. If you're likely to use it a lot then the most efficient way of doing this is to (a) program a My Mode with One Touch WB selected, and (b) program the WB menu into the Custom buttom (top of the camera, near the shutter release).

a. My Mode: Typically, set the shooting mode, picture quality, macro, internal flash off etc. Then, as explained above, set the WB to One Touch WB (OTWB). Now save this as a My Mode. Next

b. Custom button: OK (Menu) >> Mode Menu >> Setup tab >> Custom Button >> WB

Now, when you want to shoot with OTWB select My Mode on the Mode Dial. Then select the My Mode you programmed in (2a). To do a OTWB press the Custom button. The WB menu should show up and the OTWB option will already be selected (if not then check 2a and 2b again). WHILE HOLDING THE CUSTOM BUTTON DOWN press the OK (Menu) button, you will go straigh into OTWB menu. Now select Yes, fill the frame with a white object and press the OK button again.

HTH

 

[scubaaaronh]

what's the quick key combination to recalibrate to set the WB you do at every 5-10 meters?

Where are you located it might be easier over the phone then to try to type it but i will try. If you dont understand send me private message and i will try to get on the phone with you and explain it.

with your camera in the picture mode hit the ok button. then hit thedown arrow button ahould havw "WB" in the oval then hit the down arrow key to the bottom oval. It has a square and two triangles then hit the right arrow key point at something purew white(dive slate) and hit the ok button again. you must do this every few feet of difference 5-10 depending on depth and ambiant light available. in fresh water this will need to be done more often. Make sure when you resurface you change the white ballance back to the auto mode or all your pics will be bright red. For the few dives i take a camera on i am not going to worry about a flash to much the one in the cam is good enough for the close ups i take. When you use the flash change back to auto white balance or your colors will be messed up. Here is a link no flas and with the flash using white balance in 40 ft of water and 20 ft vis. very dirty water.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/holoway@sbcglobal.net/my_photos

I cant wait to see what it does in bonaire in a few weeks. I have friends that used this same rig no flash and their pics were awesome. They only used the flash on macros and close ups ortherwise they used white balance. Good luck and if any questions ask away.

 

[orangeBloke]

Another thing that you can do on the white balance front is to use the WB+/- option to set increments of redness and then save them in the custom white balance settings for use later.

As there are only four custom settings I find it best to set the manual adjustment the most red value and save that under custom 1. Then I knock the redness down two notches and save that as custom 2 and so on untill all four custom settings are used.

It won't be as accurate as using one touch white balance with a slate but if you're in a hurry or there isn't something white to point at it makes a good alternative. Just scroll through the custom white balances to find which one best suits your current scene. Better still do this while shooting in RAW format so you can compensate for the white balance later

 

[simonc]

Another alternative is white balancing against sand or coral. It works well too. However, nothing beats the slate. I haven't tried a red filter on the housing, others have and say it works well!

Organgebloke. As you are in Singapore you should consider the FREE U/W photography workshops that Canon are running. Not many of the attendees use canon. You log on at http://www.finsonline.com/dwsignup.html

I went to the 1st one and it was OK.

Bye,

Simonc.