Upcoming Sea & Sea DX-1G camera

There don't seem to be many examples out there, so I figured I should post my shots. I had a chance to take my new Sea & Sea DX-1G (aka Ricoh GX100) diving and snorkeling on Catalina Island:

http://chrisnelson.ca/gallery/2007/11/02/

These shots were all taken with available light, no flash or strobe. Some processing from DNG using ACR, mostly just some slight tint adjustments for white balance.

These shots were all taken with available light, no flash or strobe. Some processing from DNG using ACR, mostly just some slight tint adjustments for white balance.

I saw the slideshow, nice pictures and thanks for the samples! It would be interesting to see more samples from the camera. So you took everything using raw then i take it?

Here are a few photos I took last week. Please keep in mind that I am pretty much a newbie trying to feel my way through manual controls underwater.

I shot these on my 50th dive and my 6th time using a camera underwater (after 4 initial issues with battery problems with my strobe). I have the DX-1G, Heavy base with handle, Ultralight arm and YS-110 strobe.

The shots look better full size but I find them soft. I have since learned that perhaps I should have used spot focus and a higher F Stop / shutter speed since I have a strobe...these were mainly 4.1 or so at a shutter speed between 80-100. I am also trying to find the balance for my strobe which I am just learning to use manually.

The pics have only been adjusted from Raw format for white balance.

....and a few more....

I hope to do better when I go back to Phi Phi and Sipadan in Dec/Jan

Here are more from my first attempts when I was at Sipadan Island.... many of these were taken without flash as I could not figure out why my stobe would not fire more than a few times (turned out to be faulty rechargeable batts which I had just bought!). Even the Nudibranch was shot using a torch to illuminate the subject.

More from Sipadan and 1st attempt using DX-1G....

Not very good IMHO....if anyone out there can show us the true capability of this camera, PLEASE let us see!

More from Sipadan and 1st attempt using DX-1G....

 

Not very good IMHO....if anyone out there can show us the true capability of this camera, PLEASE let us see!

eskasi

Think you are doing good for only having the rig in the water a few times.. What mode are you using?

Have you tried the Sea&Sea Mode for the shots without flash..

My quick observation of the shots shows me you need so work on your strobe placement and use of the Macro more.. Move closer to the subject and adjust the strobe power to suite.

I still have another month till I get my 1G in the water ..Kona Dec 18th

Joe

www.divewithjoe.com

eskasi

 

Think you are doing good for only having the rig in the water a few times.. What mode are you using?

Have you tried the Sea&Sea Mode for the shots without flash..

My quick observation of the shots shows me you need so work on your strobe placement and use of the Macro more.. Move closer to the subject and adjust the strobe power to suite.

 

I still have another month till I get my 1G in the water ..Kona Dec 18th

 

Joe

www.divewithjoe.com

Thanks for the advice.....I certainly do need to figure out the strobe placement. I can't seem to get a good/consistant feel between power and strobe placement. Will thake time I suppose ... When in Mabul Island (macro heaven) off Sipadan, the water vis was quite bad and it was very hard to get shots right with as little backscatter as possible. I agree....less water between subject and lens the better I suppose.

Trouble is it is so hard to get time to shoot-adjust-shoot-adjust-shoot....when with a group. The only place when I can do something like that and take my time shooting pics is on the resort at Mabul Island which we use as a base to go to Sipadan Island. Over there, you can do unlimited free self shore dives as long as you have a buddy. The aquatic life there is amazing starting just 2m from the edge of the Jetty (which is just 5m from where you kit up and store your gear!)

Can't wait to get back there again!

Oh...one more thing...when should I use the macro mode? and at what distance should I turn macro on/off? I read somewhere that some people leave Macro mode on all the time onless taking reef scapes, etc. The shots I took were all on Manual mode. I did not try the sea n sea mode yet. At times, I also used the add on WA lens....

Thanks for the advice.....I certainly do need to figure out the strobe placement. I can't seem to get a good/consistant feel between power and strobe placement. Will thake time I suppose ... When in Mabul Island (macro heaven) off Sipadan, the water vis was quite bad and it was very hard to get shots right with as little backscatter as possible. I agree....less water between subject and lens the better I suppose.

 

Trouble is it is so hard to get time to shoot-adjust-shoot-adjust-shoot....when with a group. The only place when I can do something like that and take my time shooting pics is on the resort at Mabul Island which we use as a base to go to Sipadan Island. Over there, you can do unlimited free self shore dives as long as you here are a lot of options withtrave a buddy. The aquatic life there is amazing starting just 2m from the edge of the Jetty (which is just 5m from where you kit up and store your gear!)

 

Can't wait to get back there again!

Oh...one more thing...when should I use the macro mode? and at what distance should I turn macro on/off? I read somewhere that some people leave Macro mode on all the time onless taking reef scapes, etc. The shots I took were all on Manual mode. I did not try the sea n sea mode yet. At times, I also used the add on WA lens....

Sounds like you are have fun..and that is the main thing.. Fun first, good diving then pictures..

there is a chart on page 43 of the manual you can look at. I would just use macro when I want to shoot something small and close up.

I know the camera has hundreds of features, I would try to master one feature at a time.. If you do macro. stay with that a while and just hunt for macro shots. Get the macro setting in your mind and work on it. Then move to WA..and do the same.. Macro is easier to lean WA ( I THINK) and SHOOT,SHOOT,SHOOT. With film we only had 36 shot..with digital, just abour unlimited..

Joe

Hi,

Got the cam/uw housing a few days ago in The Netherlands........ and guess what! No probs with dark display in "M" mode!!!!!! I'm new here and will post some pics asap!!!

Brgrds,

Pennywise

Hi Joe.

 

With P&S small cameras, you really want to shoot in the lowest available ISO you can. Image quality degrades quickly with increasing ISO.

 

Now you have to use the LCD to compose shots, but a large percentage of P&S camera makers think it is a good idea, to have the LCD brightness indicate the approximate exposure level.

 

So, as the lighting gets darker, the screen gets darker, trying to tell you it will underexpose, even though you know it would be fine, WITH FLASH, duh. But the stupid dark screen won't let you compose the shot.

 

Most cameras these days have some alteration of the screen brightness, when you turn on the flash, to let you compose on LCD at night. It seems often, they behave differently, depending on the exposure mode!

 

Almost all the cams have live histograms too, so you can judge your exposure off that, and leave the LCD just for composing the shot.

 

I am surprised that a high end camera like this would have the problem so badly.

Hi Joe

small world - I was diving in Kona in late November and early December with my new DX-1G too. I'm wondering what you thought of the camera and any tricks that you picked up for higher quality images? I have used an UW P&S in the past, but this was the first time with a strobe. It was very difficult for me to get the strobe where it needed to be, partly because of heavy surge (and therefore a moving target). This was obviously my problem, not a fault with the camera. My macro shots were the best. The strobe didn't cast enough light on anything beyond 3 feet. I couldn't tell any difference in using the SS mode. What mode do you shoot in? I adjusted the EV to -0.67 at the advice of a pro. Here are two of my best shots (eel and dolphin) and two "typical" shots (moorish idol and puffer). I found the LCD to be dim, but not impossible, and the RAW mode took way too long. I loved the small size and easy set-up. The WA lens was very easy to install and remove while on a dive. Mahalo!

Sarah

PS: If anyone is planning a dive trip on the Big Island, Bottom Time Hawaii was far and away the best operator on the island. We tried a few. Great new boat, new top-of-the-line equipment, small groups, personal service, etc.

Sarah

I was diving with Kona Honu Divers last week . Did 10 dives with the DG-1G. Here are some of the shots.

KONA Dec 2007

Overall I am please with the camera and results.. I am going to go back to my Nikon D-70 DSLR.

I felt that I had more control with that outfit. But I have to lug the 3 bags of camera gear do the same shots!!

I had the same issues that you had with he outfit and thinking about sell the whole thing..

Housing 2 Strobes Wide Angle = a lot of extras.. MAKE SOMEONE A GREAT DEAL.

Joe - Peoria Arizona

Joe - I think your pictures are great! I recognize some of the dive sites from my trip. I wish I understood how you were able to get so much color in your shots. Are you using one strobe or two? I have the YS110 that came with the package. Any idea on why my pictures are so dull? I set the EV to -0.67, white balance is set to cloudy, Aperature control or automatic. 100 ISO.

Here's my version of some of your photos (same dive site perhaps!). Thanks so much!

Joe - I think your pictures are great! I recognize some of the dive sites from my trip. I wish I understood how you were able to get so much color in your shots. Are you using one strobe or two? I have the YS110 that came with the package. Any idea on why my pictures are so dull? I set the EV to -0.67, white balance is set to cloudy, Aperature control or automatic. 100 ISO.

 

Here's my version of some of your photos (same dive site perhaps!). Thanks so much!

 

Sarah

I have been doing tis stuff for years.. Photoshop CS3 with the new Raw Converter, works wonders.

My White Balance is set to flash and all the shots are in the manual mode. There is more to this than meets the eye. It takes practice both on land and underwater to really understand what the heck is happening.

The camera is a wonderful little camera and does some outrageous stuff (ie parrot shot at the farmes market in Kona )

I also shoot a gaggle of shots of the same thing changing settings moving strobes. Takes a little away from the diving, BUT...

Only one YS 110 on all the shots that are on the web site.

Joe My Webpage

Some of my latest shots on my 3rd time out using a UW cam. Slowly getting the hang of it. Auto WB, manual settings/strobe, 1 YS-110 strobe. Shot in RAW which is much more forgiving if exposure/flash settings are wrong. Very little or no PP but some cropping was done on many of the macro shots except for the one pygmy photo (no PP or cropping for that shot.....I was most proud of myself given the insane current and terrible vis!). Wide angle shots were taken using the add on WA lens....

I got more if anyone wants to see....

Hi Joe

It's me again. I was playing around with my DX-1G tonight (above sea level) just for fun and discovered something that might explain my dissatisfaction with my last group of photos.

I have been using the target light on the YS-110 strobe to help me get the hang of strobe positioning. The target light automatically shuts off when the strobe fires. The problem is that the TTL reads the image as brighter than it really is once the target light is turned off. My strobe was insufficient to properly light the area when I used the target light. With the target light off, the TTL settings were appropriate.

Do you use the target light? Does this make any sense to you?

Thanks again for the pointers!

Sarah

Sarah

 

I have been doing tis stuff for years.. Photoshop CS3 with the new Raw Converter, works wonders.

 

My White Balance is set to flash and all the shots are in the manual mode. There is more to this than meets the eye. It takes practice both on land and underwater to really understand what the heck is happening.

The camera is a wonderful little camera and does some outrageous stuff (ie parrot shot at the farmes market in Kona )

 

I also shoot a gaggle of shots of the same thing changing settings moving strobes. Takes a little away from the diving, BUT...

 

Only one YS 110 on all the shots that are on the web site.

 

Joe My Webpage

Wow! Is this with the DX-1G? Where were the shots taken? Curious why you use manual strobe settings if you have TTL capability?

Some of my latest shots on my 3rd time out using a UW cam. Slowly getting the hang of it. Auto WB, manual settings/strobe, 1 YS-110 strobe. Shot in RAW which is much more forgiving if exposure/flash settings are wrong. Very little or no PP but some cropping was done on many of the macro shots except for the one pygmy photo (no PP or cropping for that shot.....I was most proud of myself given the insane current and terrible vis!). Wide angle shots were taken using the add on WA lens....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got more if anyone wants to see....

Hi there....shots were taken at Sipadan and Mabul Islands in Borneo Malaysia. I used a DX-1G with a single YS-110 strobe.

The DX-1G has no TTL capabilities as I have learned. In full manual, you set the aperture, and Shutter speed and then manually set the flash output. As a newbie, I had to take multiple shots to get it right and got lucky with some shots which had to be taken at the right moment like the barras for example. I had a rough idea of what I wanted....waited for the scene to set up then crossed my fingers that the choices were right.

If you shoot in auto or Aperture Priority mode, the camera will make adjustments as necessary to Shutter speed or ISO for example....it does not change the flash output power as TTL should do! In fact, we cannot adjust flash output on this camera! (Hopefully that will change with a software update as it did with other Ricohs). As such, the Strobe outputs the exact same amount of light EVERYTIME you shoot because it takes it cue from the onboard flash which is the same EVERYTIME! Because you used the target light in Auto or A mode, the camera thought that was the exact amount of light available....made all its calculations and made the shot as such ...even though the Target light goes off and flash comes on. Your exposure will always be off......In manual mode, you make all the settings Fstop, Shutter, Flash power....hope (or know) that those are the right choices for the composition that you need....then if you use your target light to help with focusing, it does not affect the final image....it goes off and the flash is activated at the power setting you require.

Shooting in Raw is also A LOT more forgiving if you get the exposure wrong. Lightroom can do wonders to salvage an otherwise unusable pic! Thank god for the digital age!

I hope this was helpful...here are a few more shots from that trip...

Hi,my name is Fred,

I bought my Dx-1g last May and I'm really happy with it, it's light, good size,etc. I use it in my trip to Egipt and if I just had the strobe it would be fantastic. Next investiment to do!!!

You can see the photos in my web site www.sevenseasdiver.com .I know it's gonna be a long journey until I can use all the potenciality of this camera, but I'm a calm person:-)).I just used the sea&sea mode and the Macro.Waiting for the WAL. You have great pictures.Congratulations!!!!

Have a nice life,

Fred

There don't seem to be many examples out there, so I figured I should post my shots. I had a chance to take my new Sea & Sea DX-1G (aka Ricoh GX100) diving and snorkeling on Catalina Island:http://chrisnelson.ca/gallery/2007/11/02/take

These shots were all taken with available light, no flash or strobe. Some processing from DNG using ACR, mostly just some slight tint adjustments for white balance.

Hi everyone,

I borrowed the DX-1G for a short weekend and this was what I came up with...

Some impressions on the camera:

- the onboard flash is next to useless and wasn't useful for anything further than 50cm.

- why in the world did they make the command dial window tinted? I couldn't see what mode I was in at all!

Anyways, some pictures to share. All were taken in RAW and tweaked for white balance in post. No flash was used.

Cuttlefish at 12m

Whaleshark at 18m. A rarity in these waters!

You can see more of the pictures here: http://www.colouredshots.com/site/underwater.htm

Nice!

What is your method for tweaking white balance, just fiddle with it until it looks nice on screen?

I am a newbie to Lightroom and RAW processing so it would be interesting to know how you guys work.

The photos I have taken so far are mostly in dark and fairly low-visibility conditions. Typically I can only make the white balance slightly better even at maximum correction (blue is gone, and red too). (I'll try to post some examples later)

Then I generally adjust exposure according to highlights and increase contrast so black is black.

But how do you handle noise correction, do you use LR's features for this, another tool or do you skip this step altogether?

cheers

/O