underwater settings for the d80

Thanks to everyone who helped me decide between the d200 and the d80, i felt the d80 was the better choice dollar for dollar. Now i need some help on what settings to use for underwater use

Unfortunately there is no definitive answer to such a question.

Lighting conditions change with depth and available natural light, both of these affect your choice of shutter speed greatly.

Fstop is a product of how far you are from your subject (strobe to subject distance) and how powerful your strobes are.

Best thing is to learn how your light meter works.

Compose your photo and then set your fstop according to the chart that your strobe comes with ie: what fstop to choose from how far you are from your subject and what setting you have your strobe on (i suggest 1/2 power)

Once you set your fstop then aim in the direction you are going to shoot and use the meter and set somewhere between -1 and -1/2 by changing your shutter speed. Make sure there is nothing between you and the background blue water. THis will set your background blues.

Then check your strobes are pointed in the right direction and take a shot. Check it on the screen and utilize the histogram for double checking.

I would suggest ISO 100 in bright conditions and 200 in not so bright conditions.

Also, always use raw so you can make WB and other small adjustments in post and leave other settings on default or off. I personally like to use cloudy WB in most situations as it gives a more consistent result of colours than leaving it on auto WB

Hope that helps

M

Veitch-sensei... now what about macro settings...

These work for me for the D70.

http://www.splashdowndivers.com/photo_gall...ettings_d70.htm

Thanks guys, the settings I was talking about are these , they are a little different then what my D70 has

ISO Sensitivity

AF Area Mode

Center AF Area Mode

AF-Asist

Long Exp. NR

High ISO NR

These work for me for the D70.

 

http://www.splashdowndivers.com/photo_gall...ettings_d70.htm

Thanks Mike, that was very helpfull, I have a lot to learn, I have not figured out how the light meter works, I have Ikelite housing with two DS125 strobes, how good does the TTL work with this housing, and do I set the camera on auto or manual. and do i set the strobes on TTL, just not sure how the light meter works with all this.

Larry

Unfortunately there is no definitive answer to such a question.

 

Lighting conditions change with depth and available natural light, both of these affect your choice of shutter speed greatly.

 

Fstop is a product of how far you are from your subject (strobe to subject distance) and how powerful your strobes are.

 

Best thing is to learn how your light meter works.

 

Compose your photo and then set your fstop according to the chart that your strobe comes with ie: what fstop to choose from how far you are from your subject and what setting you have your strobe on (i suggest 1/2 power)

 

Once you set your fstop then aim in the direction you are going to shoot and use the meter and set somewhere between -1 and -1/2 by changing your shutter speed. Make sure there is nothing between you and the background blue water. THis will set your background blues.

 

Then check your strobes are pointed in the right direction and take a shot. Check it on the screen and utilize the histogram for double checking.

 

I would suggest ISO 100 in bright conditions and 200 in not so bright conditions.

Also, always use raw so you can make WB and other small adjustments in post and leave other settings on default or off. I personally like to use cloudy WB in most situations as it gives a more consistent result of colours than leaving it on auto WB

 

Hope that helps

 

M

Thanks Peter, I use your settings on my D70 and it works great.

Larry

These work for me for the D70.

 

http://www.splashdowndivers.com/photo_gall...ettings_d70.htm