Help with getting most out of Olympus Stylus 850

I am going to be snorkeling in the keys in a week and I really need some advice for getting the most or best quality out of my Olympus Stylus 850 (no strobe and no possibility of getting one). One thing I noticed from using the camera once before is that you can't use the built-in flash whatsoever as it highlights marine snow. Also it was really hard to find a sweet spot where the ISO was low as it could be and the shutter was high enough to freeze the action. A lot of what I experienced with auto settings like Underwater wide, underwater macro is blur. Any advice at all would be very appreciated!

not sure on advice, i'm a newb lurker, here's a free bump!

Hi Chuba,

If you have 'marine snow'the term commonly used is 'backscatter'-this is due to the fact your internal strobe is too close to the lens axis when it fires and any particles in the water column act as mini light reflectors back to your camera sensor

Simple remedies:

Dont shoot subjects in open water with your internal strobe-unless that water has got great visibility-Shoot subjects against a background like coral, wall, etc.

Get as close as you can to your subject if you are using your internal strobe-in your case as close as you can!! i.e. 1-2ft away-or closer.

That is the mantra of every underwater photgrapher!

Set ur white base to cloudy.

Taking pics on snorkel can be tricky-you need to have excellent control of your position still in the water- you may get blur this way if you dont- and watch your air!

You can still get good shots without the strobe but you will loose the colour- silhouettes are interesting.

I read the specs on your camera.

What caught my eye about your post is the fact you are using an olympus 850 stylus.

I use an olympus 800 stylus- so I did a brief comparison of specs of mine vs. urs.

It appears you dont have as much creative control on the 850 vs. the 800

It appears you have no manual control over speed or aperture settings-the camera will set for you?

Also the aperture range appears to be more limited i.e. 3-5.0- but again, u cant manually set this??

If your camera takes this away from you- you will have no idea exactly what its doing

Knowing the shutter speed and aperture settings at time of shoot is critical- as is ISO.

I can set aperture or speed priority on my mju- and can have a choice of speeds from 4 sec to 1/2000 sec, and aperure range of 3.0-8.0 f stop- but cant manually set both and I really regret buyng the mju 800 in this respect because it cuts down my creativity when i am using my external strobe.

to continue- (i wasnt finished and pressed wrong key!)

All in can say is chu- you will have to play with all the preprogrammed settings and see what your camera can and cant do. I never use them on my mju underwater-i dont like having the creativity taken away.

If I was you- yes use the olympus miju 850 for snorkelling but if you want to really take your photography further- research and invest in a compact digital which gives you control over speed, aperture (down to f 8.0), ISO, and that it will do aperture priority mode, speed priority mode, and manual mode where you can set both yourself.

Mate all those features together with a good housing, and external strobe and you are on to a winner.

I have seen some fantatsic pictures taken on this forum with digital compacts.

Good luck

Damo already said almost all about taking pictures with compact camera underwater while snorkeling or free diving. I would like to add only 4 advices: don't take pictures more than 5 meters deep, take pictures in brigt sunny day, take pictures in time of the day when "target" is most bright and keep ISO as low as possible.

I sold my Olympus SW because of poor IQ and now I'am using Pentax W cameras. You can check my last underwater pictures HERE and some older HERE. Movies (low quality) are HERE and 2 in (almost original quality) are here and here.

All pictures and movies were taken during free diving from 0 to 8 meters deep with "naked" (no housing) cameras W20, W30 and W60.

6 meters deep

too deep, not enough light

way to go primus

heres three of my own I took last year- sucessful snorkel dives to 6 meters- with strobe

Chu- as you can see- I didnt get close enough with strobe and should messed around with my settings more- was just too excited by finding the turtle feeding!!!

Turtle from Trawangan island Indonesia (Pentax W30, no strobe, 5 meters)

I am going to be snorkeling in the keys in a week and I really need some advice for getting the most or best quality out of my Olympus Stylus 850 (no strobe and no possibility of getting one). One thing I noticed from using the camera once before is that you can't use the built-in flash whatsoever as it highlights marine snow. Also it was really hard to find a sweet spot where the ISO was low as it could be and the shutter was high enough to freeze the action. A lot of what I experienced with auto settings like Underwater wide, underwater macro is blur. Any advice at all would be very appreciated!

(Ron Parker)

Point and shoot underwater camera can be used very effectively without a stobe.

Be patient, take many shots. I have found the following rules of thumb to help me:

1) snorkeling- ambient light is enough and decreases scatter so turn off strobe

2) If cannot turn off strobe with marine setting- then use sport setting if moving

3) get below subject if possible- or highlight subject with ambient light if you are above it

4) Use micro (ALWAYS WITH STROBE) if shallow and can hold still

5) Dont waste time on subjects that do not want their picture taken

Good luck and happy shooting and learn from the mistakes.

I am going to be snorkeling in the keys in a week and I really need some advice for getting the most or best quality out of my Olympus Stylus 850 (no strobe and no possibility of getting one). One thing I noticed from using the camera once before is that you can't use the built-in flash whatsoever as it highlights marine snow. Also it was really hard to find a sweet spot where the ISO was low as it could be and the shutter was high enough to freeze the action. A lot of what I experienced with auto settings like Underwater wide, underwater macro is blur. Any advice at all would be very appreciated!

(Ron Parker)

Point and shoot underwater camera can be used very effectively without a stobe.

Be patient, take many shots. I have found the following rules of thumb to help me:

1) snorkeling- ambient light is enough and decreases scatter so turn off strobe

2) If cannot turn off strobe with marine setting- then use sport setting if moving

3) get below subject if possible- or highlight subject with ambient light if you are above it

4) Use micro (ALWAYS WITH STROBE) if shallow and can hold still

5) Dont waste time on subjects that do not want their picture taken

Good luck and happy shooting and learn from the mistakes.

Ahhh forgot something else- get within a foot (no more than 1.5 feet) of subject (usually use macro setting) to get good color.

align flash sometimes to be on side of subject- in macro- for instance flash through soft sponge on small shrimp works really nice.

The sending of the photos is a real expert. Remember though it takes 100's of photos to get a few really nice shots. Good luck.