Setting up the Olympus E-330 for underwater

Hi, and thanks to everyone so far who has been a great help in the past on here.

I just got my Olympus E-330 taken down for the first time this past weekend, for some good pictures for the first time using it. I have some basic questions, on where to start, with the setting's when shooting under water pictures.

My rig is a Olympus E-330, Ikelite Housing, Dual Ikelite DS-125 strobes, With TTL sync cord, 8" dome port, with stock lens, 14-45mm lens.

I was shooting on P mode, with ISO set at 100. I wasn't sure where to start, so I picked there for a starting point. I saved the images in RAW, and HQ.

A couple of questions:

1: My Mode 1, is there where I can save all my setting for UW pics, so when I'm not using the camera UW, It will not be shooting for UW ?

2: Alot of my pic's, I checked where taken with a exposure time of 1/50th to 1/60th sec, shouldn't I be around 1/125th?

3: F-Stop - Most were taken with a F-stop of 4.30 to F/5.0 , should I be around F/8.0 ?

4: Auto exposure Bracketing : This seems like a good Idea, but when I'm shooting a 4.0 gig card, and olny have 250 shots in RAW/HQ, the Auto exposure Bracketing will take 3 photos with a exposure -1 to +1 , what do you think?

5: LCD and view finder : Do I need to close the Optical view finder when shooting with just the LCD?

6: RAW and JPEG, I found where to set RAW, is HQ or SHQ JPEG?

7: White balance : Do I set the White balance to 4,800k to match the strobes output, I shoot the strobes in TTL.

8: What lens would you recommend for a begginer for shooting fish, 4' or less away, that might be better then the stock 14-45mm lens that came with the camera. Remember, I only have a 8"dome prt, I'm not set up for macro yet.

9: Manual mode, should I be using this mode ? Also In manual mode, do the camera still auto focus?

10: My housing came with two zoom/clamp rings, should I have them installed ? I couldn't figure out how to focus, so I would get where I wanted to be, then half depress the shutter buttun, and let the camera focus, then take the picture.

Any suggestions would be great. I was pleased with the images from yesturdays dives, as I didn't know what to expect.

One last thing, I'm using 2 - 8" bouancy arms, 1 large and 1 small, and the rig at depth was just slightley negitive, but coming up it because very positive in the dome port, is that normal?

Also shooting in shallow waters, like 25' will that be a problem?

I live in Florida, and dive at 60' water, where visibilty is generalley around 30-40', and on good days 80+.

I also go down to the Keys alot, and will be shooting reefs in 15-30' of water, that have good light.

What setting should I be using for both?

Hi, and thanks to everyone so far who has been a great help in the past on here.

 

I was shooting on P mode, with ISO set at 100. I wasn't sure where to start, so I picked there for a starting point. I saved the images in RAW, and HQ.

 

2: Alot of my pic's, I checked where taken with a exposure time of 1/50th to 1/60th sec, shouldn't I be around 1/125th?

 

3: F-Stop - Most were taken with a F-stop of 4.30 to F/5.0 , should I be around F/8.0 ?

 

4: Auto exposure Bracketing : This seems like a good Idea, but when I'm shooting a 4.0 gig card, and olny have 250 shots in RAW/HQ, the Auto exposure Bracketing will take 3 photos with a exposure -1 to +1 , what do you think?

 

 

6: RAW and JPEG, I found where to set RAW, is HQ or SHQ JPEG?

 

7

9: Manual mode, should I be using this mode ? Also In manual mode, do the camera still auto focus?

 

 

What setting should I be using for both?

Some general thoughts even though I do not have you camera rig, but played with some of the Olys before and also having used some Ikleite housings and strobes:

In P Mode the camera is selecting the shutter speed and aperture and picks what it thinks is correct. In the other Ikleite equipment I have purchased there were some instructions for set-up of the housing with the camera and the strobes. If I recall correctly for the last set up I looked at it was recommened by Ikelite for the strobes and/or housings to start with the camera set on manual with an ISO of 100 or so, f/Stop of 5.6 and Shutter of 1/100 - 1/125 Of course I tweaked from there.

You can set the resolution to RAW or RAW + SQ, RAW + HQ or RAW + SHQ (Setup 1 Menu)

The camera will still auto focus even in manual mode.

I have not used your rig, but I would guess there is a manual with the housing for a place to start with settings for the housing/camera combination. These items will change depending on the shooting situation - what you should do is do some practicing above water to see how changing f/stop, shutter speed and ISO changes what you see. Depth of field, noise, etc.

Definately take a few moments to go through the manuals that came with the housing, camera and strobes, usually some good information in there.

Also poke around the various posts here that discuss various shooting situations and what people do to capture photos under various scenarios (clear water, macro, wide angle etc.)

I bet Jim and some of the others though can give you more details when they come by

Glad you are enjoying the new rig, I recall you being a bit hesitant after the eBay win

> My rig is a Olympus E-330, Ikelite Housing, Dual Ikelite DS-125 strobes, With TTL sync cord, 8" dome port, with stock lens, 14-45mm lens.

I have a similar rig, but no TTL, I use the manual EV controllers.

> I was shooting on P mode, with ISO set at 100. I wasn't sure where to start, so I picked there for a starting point. I saved the images in RAW, and HQ.

100 is what I always try to shoot.

I shoot raw, but only because it works well with my workflow (apple aperture). I believe Jim Lyle shoots jpeg and TTL, he may be more help.

> 1: My Mode 1, is there where I can save all my setting for UW pics, so when I'm not using the camera UW, It will not be shooting for UW ?

i haven't done that, I always shoot manual.

> 2: Alot of my pic's, I checked where taken with a exposure time of 1/50th to 1/60th sec, shouldn't I be around 1/125th?

I'm not really sure what the program would pick in any given condition. Were the exposures good? You may want to switch to A so you can set the aperture, which may give you more control over background exposure. or M, but then you're off TTL.

> 3: F-Stop - Most were taken with a F-stop of 4.30 to F/5.0 , should I be around F/8.0 ?

Same answer.

> 4: Auto exposure Bracketing : This seems like a good Idea, but when I'm shooting a 4.0 gig card, and olny have 250 shots in RAW/HQ, the Auto exposure Bracketing will take 3 photos with a exposure -1 to +1 , what do you think?

it may also be too fast for the strobe. Raw should overcome a lot of exposure variation, so should more experience with it. Check your shots with the histogram and go to A if you don't like what P gives you, so you take more control and get what you want.

> 5: LCD and view finder : Do I need to close the Optical view finder when shooting with just the LCD?

I don't think it matters much in water, not much light down there, but ideally, yes.

> 6: RAW and JPEG, I found where to set RAW, is HQ or SHQ JPEG?

yes.

> 7: White balance : Do I set the White balance to 4,800k to match the strobes output, I shoot the strobes in TTL.

Set it to auto and don't worry about it. Or better, set it to cloudy, to restrict the variation a bit, and don't worry about it. It won't matter to raw, only to jpeg. Depending on your workflow, it can be nice to have a good white balance, you can take a photo of a white card at the start of the shoot and set WB on that. I never do that in water, but I do it on land when I'm taking photos of my wife's beadmaking, where we get huge variation in lighting around the flame and I want to put a stop to the dumb stuff auto WB does.

> 8: What lens would you recommend for a begginer for shooting fish, 4' or less away, that might be better then the stock 14-45mm lens that came with the camera. Remember, I only have a 8"dome prt, I'm not set up for macro yet.

the 14-54, only because it's faster, or maybe the 50mm, which is very bright (f2) and will do macro. You already have the 14-45, though, so the 14-54 is pretty redundant, so I'd lean toward the 50mm. It'll work in the dome but a flat port would be more ideal.

> 9: Manual mode, should I be using this mode ? Also In manual mode, do the camera still auto focus?

manual exposure and manual focus are 2 different, independant settings. Use manual mode if you want full control, but now you're no longer in ttl on strobe, either.

> 10: My housing came with two zoom/clamp rings, should I have them installed ? I couldn't figure out how to focus, so I would get where I wanted to be, then half depress the shutter buttun, and let the camera focus, then take the picture.

were you able to zoom the lens? I believe you need the clamps to do that, using the knob on the side of the housing.

> Any suggestions would be great. I was pleased with the images from yesturdays dives, as I didn't know what to expect.

if you are happy, don't change anything!

One last thing, I'm using 2 - 8" bouancy arms, 1 large and 1 small, and the rig at depth was just slightley negitive, but coming up it because very positive in the dome port, is that normal?

The housing should not change buoyancy with depth, it should have been the same throughout the dive.

Also shooting in shallow waters, like 25' will that be a problem?

> I live in Florida, and dive at 60' water, where visibilty is generalley around 30-40', and on good days 80+.

> I also go down to the Keys alot, and will be shooting reefs in 15-30' of water, that have good light.

> What setting should I be using for both?

Whatever works for the lighting and subject. Use the histogram, check your shots as you go. If there were only 1 setting and we knew it, you could set your camera before you put it in the housing, you wouldn't need all them knobs and buttons. ;-)

I'm using Aperture priority with my E-330 and underexposing by -2.0 EV for dark blue backgrounds.

Jim Church said, "take a picture of the water." When you first get in, and are at the depth you are going to take pictures, point the camera slightly upwards and push the shutter - look at the image in the review screen - if it's too dark or too light, change the aperture and try again. The shutter sync speed is 1/180 sec, but 1/30 sec is not too slow for hand held images u/w.

White balance of 4800 to match the strobes, or cloudy, or auto - all work for jpeg - WB isn't relevant if you are shooting RAW files.

You need the zoom clamp for your zoom lens! Read the Ike instructions.

You may find that the viewfinder is better in very bright, shallow water - the LCD screen may be hard to see. Early morning and late afternoon you can use live-view, but at high noon, on a sunny day, you may not be able to see the screen.

I haven't used the mymode - read the manual.

I'm using Aperture priority with my E-330 and underexposing by -2.0 EV for dark blue backgrounds.

 

Jim Church said, "take a picture of the water." When you first get in, and are at the depth you are going to take pictures, point the camera slightly upwards and push the shutter - look at the image in the review screen - if it's too dark or too light, change the aperture and try again. The shutter sync speed is 1/180 sec, but 1/30 sec is not too slow for hand held images u/w.

 

White balance of 4800 to match the strobes, or cloudy, or auto - all work for jpeg - WB isn't relevant if you are shooting RAW files.

 

You need the zoom clamp for your zoom lens! Read the Ike instructions.

 

You may find that the viewfinder is better in very bright, shallow water - the LCD screen may be hard to see. Early morning and late afternoon you can use live-view, but at high noon, on a sunny day, you may not be able to see the screen.

 

I haven't used the mymode - read the manual.

Thanks !! So Aperture priority is ( A ) on the dial correct?

The shutter sync speed is 1/180 sec, but 1/30 sec is not too slow for hand held images u/w.

So I'm guessing a shutter speed of 1/125th is where about I want to be? The camera in P mode was shootimng mostley about 1/50th sec.

WB = 4,800 - cloudy, or auto. I was using auto, but thinking of using cloudy or 4,800 cutmoum, I'll play around with it.

I thought I needed that Zoom clamp!! Thanks , I'll look into installing it, it seemed hard to install

I'll read the manual, thanks, seems like I get alot better opiouns here then the manual. I watched a 2 hour video on the camera that I bought, now I'll start with the manual, dam thats alot of reading, lol

Thanks for your help!

Thanks RogerC and Therealdrew. I appreciate it. I'm printing the responces, and think I got a good starting point.

One last thing, I set the camera to flash always on, to fire the strobes.

I am in TTL mode doing that correct?

Yes, A is aperture priority.

Unless you are shooting fast moving fish, 1/50 sec. is OK.

Yes, the camera flash should be forced to fire.

TTL if the housing TTL light is on. If you hold both strobe buttons down on the housing, you can switch to manual strobe control. [in both TTL & manual strobe control via the housing electronics, the DS-125 should be set to TTL.]

Yes, A is aperture priority.

 

Unless you are shooting fast moving fish, 1/50 sec. is OK.

 

Yes, the camera flash should be forced to fire.

 

TTL if the housing TTL light is on. If you hold both strobe buttons down on the housing, you can switch to manual strobe control. [in both TTL & manual strobe control via the housing electronics, the DS-125 should be set to TTL.]

Thanks, The TTL light was on, so I was good there, dam so much to learn!!

So 1/50 sec is ok for slower fish, and for fast moving fish, move it upto to say 1/125 sec?

Thanks, The TTL light was on, so I was good there, dam so much to learn!!

 

So 1/50 sec is ok for slower fish, and for fast moving fish, move it up to to say 1/125 sec?

Well, if you're in aperture priority, you control the size the shutter opens and the camera controls the exposure time, modified by the EV. So you 'move up' to a faster exposure by either reducing the exposure compensation value (EV going more negative, or less exposed) or by increasing the aperture size (lower aperture number = bigger opening of the shutter, like wire gauges where lower numbers are fatter (e.g. 12 gauge) and higher numbers are smaller (e.g. 22 gauge). Or shotgun shells for that matter. Of course increasing aperture size also has an impact on the depth of field you can keep in focus, so there is a tradeoff there too.

If you want direct control of both aperture and exposure time, you go manual...but from my understanding you lose TTL metering and flash control then (anyone feel free to pee laughter on me if I've got this wrong).

I've not housed mine yet, but I've been playing with the E330 around the house....turning down lights or closing the blinds part-way to create a dimmer room and then playing with the settings to get a feel for what changes what. Hopefully the familiarity will help me once I do get it housed. And I know its a pain, but you gotta read the manual. If I can do it...

Well, if you're in aperture priority, you control the size the shutter opens and the camera controls the exposure time, modified by the EV. So you 'move up' to a faster exposure by either reducing the exposure compensation value (EV going more negative, or less exposed) or by increasing the aperture size (lower aperture number = bigger opening of the shutter, like wire gauges where lower numbers are fatter (e.g. 12 gauge) and higher numbers are smaller (e.g. 22 gauge). Or shotgun shells for that matter. Of course increasing aperture size also has an impact on the depth of field you can keep in focus, so there is a tradeoff there too.

 

If you want direct control of both aperture and exposure time, you go manual...but from my understanding you lose TTL metering and flash control then (anyone feel free to pee laughter on me if I've got this wrong).

 

I've not housed mine yet, but I've been playing with the E330 around the house....turning down lights or closing the blinds part-way to create a dimmer room and then playing with the settings to get a feel for what changes what. Hopefully the familiarity will help me once I do get it housed. And I know its a pain, but you gotta read the manual. If I can do it...

dam, I think your the 3rd person that said I will have to read the manual ,lol, there is so many pages with little small typing, how can you rememebr all this!!

Thanks for your help, I keep printing all the responces, and I'm creating alittle book for cheating UW.

I'm going to start taking pics, and writing down on a slate, some of these notes.

I'm also looking into a digital class, they have one In Key Largo coming up this weekend for $500 bucks.

I would have jumped right on it, but I can't get off Friday.

Any suggestions on classes? People seem to have positive feedback on them.

Also any suggestions on books to read, sortta like a UW " Digital Photography for dummies " ?

dam, I think your the 3rd person that said I will have to read the manual ,lol, there is so many pages with little small typing, how can you rememebr all this!!

 

Thanks for your help, I keep printing all the responces, and I'm creating alittle book for cheating UW.

 

I'm going to start taking pics, and writing down on a slate, some of these notes.

 

I'm also looking into a digital class, they have one In Key Largo coming up this weekend for $500 bucks.

I would have jumped right on it, but I can't get off Friday.

 

Any suggestions on classes? People seem to have positive feedback on them.

 

Also any suggestions on books to read, sortta like a UW " Digital Photography for dummies " ?

Don't give me too much credit - I only "think" I know it, by playing around with it on land. My brain may automatically empty when wet. I don't "remember" everything in the manual by any account...I learn by doing and repeating until it kinda becomes half-remembered.

Really there's three basics to picture taking itself as I understand it: aperture, exposure time, and focus. Some of them effect each other (e.g. bigger apertures have smaller depth of field or range of distances that will be in focus, while smaller apertures can focus over longer ranges, near to far; or exposure effects focus because too long of an exposure and either your hand movement or the subject's movement will blur the resulting image). But once you get these three things in your head, all the camera options like aperture priority, exposure priority, manual, etc. are pretty much variations on that where the camera takes control of one or another of these factors but lets you manage (or influence) the rest.

Then there's other issues like white balance which influences the color balance, ISO selection which impacts noise and 'dynamic range' of the image, etc. Both of these behave a bit differently underwater due to water's effect on light in different ways than air, but master the first part .... erm.... first.

Try this thread on Scubaboard - it helped get me over the plain old "point and shoot" mentality:

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=156914

Of course beyond all the mechanics comes the ART of photography. How to know how to frame something to look good, what subjects to shoot with what techniques, etc. I ain't even gonna PRETEND to go there, myself. I ain't qualified (and likely never will be )

Thanks Rtrski, It sounds like your well on your way

I'm diving tomorrow am again, and am setting up the camera as we speak by shooting in Apeature mode

I'm going to switch between A and P mode, and also a few other things, so I can see the difference

Thanks for the link for scuba board, I use the same name over there, I'm going to go read it now.

Wish me luck for tomorrow, this is my 2nd weekend in the water with it!

Thanks Rtrski, It sounds like your well on your way

 

I'm diving tomorrow am again, and am setting up the camera as we speak by shooting in Apeature mode

 

I'm going to switch between A and P mode, and also a few other things, so I can see the difference

 

Thanks for the link for scuba board, I use the same name over there, I'm going to go read it now.

 

Wish me luck for tomorrow, this is my 2nd weekend in the water with it!

So, how did the pictures come out???

So, how did the pictures come out???

I shot last weekend in A - Aprioty mode, and this weekend I went back to P - mode, with a shutter speed of 1/125 sec, F stop 5.6 , and white balance on cloudy.

We had about 40' vis, and my friend just emailed pics he took with a Olympus SP350, with a single strobe, and I sent him back my pics with my set up. He still cannot not belive the difference. He's Ebaying his UW water camera set up this week, and moving up, lol

All I can say is, I'm VERY HAPPY with this set up !!

The pic's look like right out of a magazine, they are un belivable, even with no editing, I can't belive how good they come out !!

I never thought shooting a DSLR really would be this easy, all though I have a ton to learn yet, I'm not even shooting in manual yet, but for the first 3 weeks using my set up, I could easlley post them, and you would think I was shooting UW pics for years!!

Learning the strobes is alittle tough, I tend to over exposure alittle, so I have to learn moving the dual strobes around for the best lighting.

I'm very happy with the " Live view " on the LCD, it has very little lag, nothing compared to the Olympus C-5050 and C-5060, or even the C-8080 for that matter, this camera shoots on the fly

Battery life is great, I have the live view set to 1 min, then it shuts off, and I just click a button, and it tunrs the camera right back on.

I'll have to post some pics, If I can figure out in Photoshop how to shrink the pixel's to fit them on the forms.

Thanks for asking, I could not be happier, It was a great choice, and I'm very happy with the set up !!

Thanks for asking, I could not be happier, It was a great choice, and I'm very happy with the set up !!

Glad to hear it - I won't be able to afford housing mine until next year (you'd think the darned kid could pay her *own* way through college!!) so I'm living vicariously through you and jlyle. Of course more you since like you I haven't done this much before, while jlyle is practically a professional far as I'm concerned. (At least he's been doing UW photo for years and even placed in contests!)

Grats, and definitely post a link if you get some pics uploaded somewhere!

Glad to hear it - I won't be able to afford housing mine until next year (you'd think the darned kid could pay her *own* way through college!!) so I'm living vicariously through you and jlyle. Of course more you since like you I haven't done this much before, while jlyle is practically a professional far as I'm concerned. (At least he's been doing UW photo for years and even placed in contests!)

 

Grats, and definitely post a link if you get some pics uploaded somewhere!

Sure will, if you want I can email you some. Any ideas on the web to post the pics, thats not so expensive?

hi

Flickr is free on the web