Problems with TTL.

Hi to all the crew,

I have recently started using my new D70S in Ike TTL housing and a couple of Ike's DS125 flashie thingies. I have been persisting with the TTL setting but my results are erratic to say the least. I live and dive in the southern half of OZ and the climate is "variable" and temperate. Coming home from a shoot, when I open the images in Photoshop Elements, the pics vary from under to over exposed. The bulk however are usually over exposed. Now I can quite honestly say that it has been a good while since I took a decent pic that didn't need to be fiddled with in some way. Am I that bad a picture thingie taker or should I hit the TTL box with a hammer and shoot only manual?? Help is required on this topic before I have to return to taking "Grandma's little helpers" to steady the ship down a bit!!! BTW. Camera settings are manual and lenses vary from 105, 60macro to 10.5 fisheye.

There's a great topic going on right now on Wetpixel about why the use of TTL with a DSLR is not required in most situations. I suggest you have a look.

This being said, there are several reasons why TTL would not yield good results, assuming all camera and strobe settings are correct, and that the correct sync cord is used.

For macro, if your strobes are close to the subject, they could be too powerful, and the quench signal would then come too late, resulting in over-exposure.

For wide-angle, especially with the 10.5mm, unless you're shooting something massive from close range, it won't fill the frame. For these situations, to obtain best results, you should set the metering mode to centre-weighted for best results.

Cheers,

Mat