Check your ISO Setting

Oh boy - this is one for the "Duh!" recordbook.

I was shooting wideangle on Thursday in Grand Cayman, and I didn't realize that when I pushed the camera into the housing, the control switched the ISO setting to 1600!!!! That's 3 or 4 stops up from what I normally shoot!

Since I'm not used to shooting the S2 in clear Caribbean water I figured "wow, this water is really clear, I'm getting f16!" Well....no.

For those that are interested in the technical details and would like to see some samples of noise at ISO1600, send me an email or a private message.

And for everyone else - check that ISO setting when you get in the water.

Cheers

James

I an expert on doing "duhs". What's really bad is when I do them again. This is called deju vu amnesia, "I feel like I've forgotten this before"

I've accidentally knocked my ISO speed to 6400 while shooting ISO50 Velvia. I kept wondering why my slides came out black.

When I called the repair shop he said, "Do you have your camera in front of you?"

"Yes"

"Look down at the dial on the left."

"I see the problem now. Uh, sounds like you seen this problem before."

"Yup."

I'm glad I wasn't there in person for a dose of embarassment.

Sadly, I could have just as easily knocked it the other way to ISO 100, but Nooooo, 6400 it was. "Look at my slides of black fish on black coral in black water."

I've had many of those "It doesn't seem to be quite right" moments. It usually means there is something wrong.

Hey, at least judging from the one shot you posted, it doesn't look like it was a complete loss!

I have one also. Actually two. I was adjusting settings to bracket etc and thought..sh--. I must have water in the housing or something as the camera went into programmed mode. I later realized I had hit two buttons at the same time to switch it .

Then on land, while carrying my camera the size switch got hit so I was shooting TIFF instead of RAW and only noticed when I got low on pics storage and could not figure out why.

I knew something was up, but at 90 feet on a wall is not the time to be fiddling around - especially on a "led dive" where you are "technically" supposed to be following a group. I could still faintly see their bubbles in the distance...

I realized I was shooting faster than I should have been but I thought "hey, this is cool!"

The shots look fine on the web, but I don't think they are suitable for print. I'll get some sample crops up online when I get a chance.

I definitely knew something was wrong when I exceeded my flash sync at f22 - that just doesn't happen! I was trying to get sun rays and silouettes and just couldn't do it.

Cheers

James

You switch on the camera once you've hit the water, and the viewfinder remains black. Your heart stops and you say - OH NO, FLOODING!!!!!

But then you realise that you've simply left the lens cap on! Trouble is, of course, the camera's in the housing!

At least, this has only happened to me once!

John

I uploaded one of the photos to Pbase for y'all to review:

http://www.pbase.com/image/13248449/large

You can get the full EXIF and if you click on the original, you can get the full 6 megapixel JPEG

Comments? There is lots of general noise and some pattern noise.

Cheers

James

I've done this several times with my CP 5000. With the D100 you have to turn a dial to change ISO. A 2 step process so it's very hard to do by accident. The ability to change ISO on the fly is one of the best reasons to shoot digital in my opinion.