Aquatica A5000 Tips (add your own)

Well at the suggestion of yahsemtough I decided to start this tips thread for Aquatica A5000 owners (although I'm sure owners of other CP5000 housings will benefit also).

As some of you might know I'm having trouble with my dual sync cord setup so until that is fixed I am using a single sync cord and the other strobe as a slave. Well I' noticed that when I have my strobes close for macro, the slave stobe pops twice. The first flash is from the strobe syncing with the camera preflash (which is totally useless) and the second flash is from the other strobe. If the strobe is set to low enough power it is not a problem as it will fire twice. But if the strobe is set to near full power it will not have enough juice left for the second flash. Now you might ask how the slave is "seeing" the internal preflash on a solid aluminum case. It is actually coming through the TTL sensor window. Now the solution. I did a little testing to see what I had to do to keep this from happening. All you have to do is wrap a little bit of black electrical tape around the side of the shaft of this window that protrudes into the housing. this keeps out enough of the preflash to prevent the slave from going off.

Ok I'll add a macro confirmation/tip. I do give credit for some of the settings from a old post.

In general I found that settings of 1/500 and F8 while using 100 produced good results when I set the dual Sea and Sea 90DX's on -4 settings. I was not happy with the TTL settings as they seemed to overexpose the shots in my opinion. All other camera settings were set based on a thread on actual camera set-up. ie WB on auto.

I shot in RAW mode and really liked the ability to adjust the WB after the fact along with exposure. Yes, there is a delay if shooting RAW but, it gave me a chance to review the image while it loaded and, think of new settings and angles.

As for the Battery power of the camera. I was able to run the camera with the internal strobe off for two dives. If the camera was turned on at 8am it was good till noon if shooting approximately 80 frames.

This is an excellent idea chaps. We should extend this for all camera types.

Right, tips with Oly E10/20 next please. I'll add in due course.

Mark

If you use Ike 125s or 50 strobes, you will find the manual controller much better than TTL. Other wise I use the settings mentioned above for macro. For closeups and wider I find I can set the shutter speed back to 1/125 th.

Also use the 19 mm lens for all your shots.

You used the 19mm lens for all your macro? Interesting.

I do reiterate the backing off to 1/125 on wideangle shots. Also adjusting the strobes accordingly.

All the shots on my Web site labled as taken with the CP 5000 were taken using the 19 mm lens. Even the macro shots. I only take the dome port (I use an Ike housing) off when I travel by plane.

Just doing some testing with the new Ike manual strobe controller. Cannot emphisize enough that for the 5000 if you are using Ike DS 50 or 125 strobes this is the way to go.

I usually break down my housing and remove the orings when not in use. My understanding is it will prevent the orings from forming and becoming compressed while in storage.

Interesting on the 19mm for macro. I have found some subjects that I would feel would be too small for me to shoot with that wide angle set up but I will give it a try next time out and see what the results look like.

Dave, do you use 1 controller for the primary strobe and then a sensor for the second strobe?.....or........two manual controllers?

What is your "default" setting to start with?........do you change the settings much during a dive or do you change for every shot?

I'm trying to decide about adding the manual controller for my dual DS-125 setup. It seems that I'm always going on trips with new gear to try to learn.

Karl

So far only have one manual controller. I have been using it on my primary strobe. Second strobe is set up with Ike's TTL slave sensor. This way I only have to change the power for one strobe and the other mimics the first. By varing the strobe distance I get ratioed lighting.

Usually start shooting around -2 for closeups and macros. Each type of shot I just fire off a shot and look at it in the LCD. Gives me an idea of what type of settings to use for that type of shot on that dive. Then I just bracket the heck out of any good shot. Usually I quickly home in on the settings for that type of shot on that dive.

As I've said before, I find it easier to get good exposures with the manual controller than trying to get them with TTL.