Manual settings give too little light to frame :(

I finally stepped away from the “full auto” mode this past weekend and must say that I have a lot more color and blue water in my pictures. My camera has a max f8 and while I shot at f8 and 1/125, I had the deepest blues but I ran into a problem while trying to frame the shot. Without going into pre-shutter, there isn’t enough light passing through the lens for me to see the shot even with a 10wHID light on the subject. When I pre-shutter, I’m assuming that the lens opens up to allow more light because I’m able to see the image through the LCD panel. Unfortunately, pre-shutter only last a few seconds and then back to darkness. Meanwhile I have my head buried behind the housing and unless I tie the subject down, they swim out of frame without me knowing it.

I will continue to experiment with f-stop and shutter speed to better understand the lighting and water conditions which will influence my settings. Most of those shots taken f8 and 1/125 were at 30m and turned out dark (I need more practice).

My question is do others have the same problem of not being able to see through VF or LCD panel prior to pre-shutter at the higher f-stops/shutter, or is this a limitation of my camera (Sony F707)?

Thanks for any feedback,

Mark

I experienced the same problem / symptom on my Sony DSC-S85. I never did figure out if I could fix it though.

What is "preshutter?"

Is the whole shot dark or just the foreground? Are you getting nice blues?

If you are getting a good background exposure (nice blue water) then the problem is your puny video lite.

Cheers

James

Depressing the shutter release button half-way to engage the auto-focus: Pre-shutter

The question was not "is my light puny?" I know it's puny. I only used the video light to assist in focusing the shot as well as hoping to see the shot through the viewfinder.

Let me re-phrase the question.

Under low light conditions, using the higher f-stops and faster shutter speeds, do the professional or high-end consumer cameras have difficulty displaying the framed shot through the viewfinder or LCD panel without pressing any buttons?

My experience with rangefinder type digis are that you almost have to use the LCD screen. the viewfinders are musch to small to be of much use underwater. There might be a contrast/brightness adjustment on that screen, make sure its way up if there is before you dive.

As far as your question about pro/semi-pro SLR type cameras, those cameras viewing screens brightness' are dependent on the lens chosen. In an SLR the lens will always be viewed through the finder at the widest aperture available. So if you have a 2.8 lens on your camera, it is very wide and lets lots of light in, even if you have it set at f16. The aperture blades close to the proper size when you release the shutter.

If on the other hand, you have a 5.6 lens, the aperture is a lot smaller, and the internal viewfinder will be darker. On digital cameras, the snesor size also makes a difference, in that a 1ds with full frame sensor has a much large viewing screen inside than a D60 or something with a "Crop Factor".

Finally, since most DSLRs don't have a preview function, you cant use your LCD except for review, Most housing come with an eyepiece magnifier that goes over the back of your viewfinder and helps magnify what you see in the viewfinder.

On digital cameras,  the snesor size also makes a difference, in that a 1ds  with full frame sensor has a much large viewing screen inside than a D60 or something with a "Crop Factor".

It should be pointed out that SLR viewing screen sizes can change even if the sensor size stays the same. "Cheap" film slrs have small viewing screens compared to pro models. So it isn't necessarily bound to the size of the sensor.