Please adjust my expectations...

Soon taking a dive trip to Belize. A friend and I have been wanting to do this for years, it's finally happening. I've been on a handful of ocean dives, i.e. not much experience -- novice.

After reading a lot of posts on this board, I bought a Canon WP-DC12 to house my husband's Canon A570 IS. We already had the camera and it seemed like the best solution, being new to underwater photography and not really knowing how often it will be used.

I do a fair amount of photography with a Nikon D40; I 'get' the Canon, but it's not second nature like the Nikon.

I do not have a strobe.

Is it possible for a novice diver to easily manage a few good snaps? Will the lack of a strobe result in very disappointing photos? Do I need silicon gel packs inside the camera housing? This is not mentioned in the housing manual. And last question, it's not clear to me if I should take the camera out of the housing at the end of each dive day, or if it's ok to leave it in the housing for five straight days of diving. (That even sounds like a dumb question to me, but I need to ask!)

Last question: I would love to see more of your photos from dives in Belize, please post links to pix!

Its possible to shoot without a strobe but I'd recommend getting a cheap strobe before you leave. You'll be much happier with your photos. If that isn't possible, you should turn off the internal strobe and white balance at depth and make the most of available light when shooting fish and other scenes. Get as close as you can to the subject before taking the shot. Have your subject at camera level or higher so that you're shooting up. If you're not going to be below 40ft, you can try installing a magic filter inside the port. You'll want to use dessicant, or silicon, to keep your housing from fogging up. Small cameras in small housings usually generate enough heat to make the inside of your port glass fog up. Dessicant can prevent that. You'll need to remove the camera from the housing usually due to needing the batteries or memory card replaced. Otherwise you can leave it in there as long as you like.

Inside a foot (closeup, macro) you can use the internal flash with difusser and get good results. Set WB to cloudy or manually set it. Beyond a foot turn the flash off. Play around with the UW mode, white balance and manual settings. A strobe will definitely help this camera. Expect to change the batteries atleast daily depending on how much you use the flash, review times and how long your lcd is on. These are all things you can control to maximize time on a set of batteries.

Have fun!

Jeff

Thank you both for you comments and suggestions. You both seem to agree a strobe would be worthwhile. In one of the beginner threads, an article said strobes start at $175. -- Is that the price of a "cheap strobe"? If it is, I'm going to be doing a lot of closeups. (Starting to understand the prevalent fascination with wide-angle.) I suppose by the end of the diving week I'll have the settings figured out. Any photos I get will be better than the single-use film camera I took snorkeling in Hawaii several years ago -- everything blue-grey, worthless!

And thanks for pointing out the obvious -- battery changes, duh.

In part I am worried that the photo paraphernalia will interfere with my diving concentration, so I hope to keep it simple. Ideally, the first dive will go well and will increase my confidence to allow a bit more experimentation with the camera. This is going to be so much fun!

(Wow, the emoticon choices on this board are out of control!! /uploads/152.gif" /> )

the last expensive strobe I know of is the fantasea nanoflash, a quick google search showed one new for $83.

As you consider the price of the strobe, remember that it needs some type of arm to hold it and some type of base that connects to your camera. Hand holding the strobe is not really practical while diving.

Just wanting you to remember to keep the total gear in mind and in your price range.

In part I am worried that the photo paraphernalia will interfere with my diving concentration, so I hope to keep it simple. Ideally, the first dive will go well and will increase my confidence to allow a bit more experimentation with the camera.

The photo equipment will definitely add task loading to your dives. Don't be put off by this, though. It should take only a few dives to get used to carrying around all the extras you've not been used to having with you when you did your previous dives.

If you have access to a computer when you're in Belize, feel free to come back here and ask questions if any come up during your dive trip.

Ellen

My opinion is that you should forget about the strobe & just enjoy yourself.

A stobe will definately help your photos.... however

A strobe is exp. Then you need arms,clamps and a fiber optic cable to trigger the strobe. You will prob spend $100-200 on just the accessories, never mind the cost of the strobe.

being a novice diver , having a new camera , a new strobe will just add complications. If you are having problems a small camera is easy to stick in your bcd pocket.

Remember to shoot video and there are some basic photos settings you can use that normally get nice results. . This should suffice if you just want some photos to stick on your walls/desktop.

I had approx 50 dives with my camera before i added a strobe. The best bet is that you look for the canon hack that allows your camera to shoot raw.

You can go to our Zenfolio site with the link below and look at the images we have captured. In 06' some of those images were taken with a Canon s410, no external strobes. On to 2008 you can view Belize and Bonaire images and see what a strobe(s) will do for you. I would agree completely that you don't want to overtask yourself and that adding a strobe will be expensive. I also believe that when the time comes for you to add that strobe you should spend as much as you think you can and think about whether your going to change cameras in the future. If the strobe you buy now will work nicely with your current camera and move with you when you upgrade you've saved yourself some cabbage.

Have fun!

Jeff

You can go to our Zenfolio site with the link below and look at the images we have captured. In 06' some of those images were taken with a Canon s410, no external strobes. On to 2008 you can view Belize and Bonaire images and see what a strobe(s) will do for you. I would agree completely that you don't want to overtask yourself and that adding a strobe will be expensive. I also believe that when the time comes for you to add that strobe you should spend as much as you think you can and think about whether your going to change cameras in the future. If the strobe you buy now will work nicely with your current camera and move with you when you upgrade you've saved yourself some cabbage.

 

Have fun!

 

Jeff

Well it sure was fun looking at your slideshows! While the advantage of the strobe is evident, it's nice to see you can get some quite good shots without. For this trip, I've decided to keep it simple.

I'll check back and let you know how it went. Thanks for all the info, this website is an excellent resource.

Hi Kim,

I think you're doing the right thing by keeping it simple at the start. I got some good results with my Canon powershot using the internal flash and I found the "underwater" mode worked best (more simplicity for you). Set the camera to macro, underwater mode, flash always on and be sure to get close to your subject. Then get closer. You may want to try dialing down the exposure compensation by 1/3 or 2/3 if your subject has a lot of white or against a white sand background.

Most of all - have fun!

Phil

I just got started with underwater photos too. Although we have aplace in Belize, we went to Grand Cayman last month and the first time we dove, I left my camera on the boat, just to get back in the swing of things. Could easily have taken the camera down the first dive, though. We didn't really have any great current to deal with though, and I suppose that if you are out Turneff way or drift diving it may take more mental focus. Definitely go with the strobe! and arm! Have fun. Belize has so many cool dive sites.

Chris

I would echo the view that keeping it simple is the way ahead.

Taking pictures underwater is a skill that requires a fair bit of concentration at first, and it's not a good idea to introduce it while you're still thinking about your diving.

Think about getting a few dives in on the trip before you take the camera, and take a peak performance bouyancy course if you can; either that or get an experienced buddy to help you develop your bouyancy skills until hovering without kicking or sculling is second-nature.

Your bouyancy needs to be instructor standard, or preferably better, to be an effective and safe underwater photographer. The starting point is getting your weighting right - most novices dive with too much weight, and good bouyancy control is then impossible. Look at how much lead your dive guide uses, it will be less than you'd expect. Do a weight check as you've been trained to - as you exhale you should be *just* sinking very slowly, not dropping like a stone when you dump air. If you are constantly adjusting the amount of air in your BCD during the dive, you're probably over-weighted. I probably touch mine two or three times during a 60-90 minute dive.

It's very easy indeed to damage reefs with fintips and hands when you're taking pictures, as you tend to forget about where your limbs are when you're looking through the viewfinder. Most of us have seen divers with point and shoot cameras kicking coral, or grabbing it to steady themselves, and they don't give us a good name.

The bottom line is learn to enjoy your diving first, and get good at it, before you start with the camera!

As for looking after your kit, rinse the camera after every dive. Ideally soak it in a rinse tank of fresh water, but don't let it bang against other cameras or computers.

I always take my own bucket (well, crate actually, I use an SLRand two strobes) so that I have my own rinse tank. You can use the litte shower things they have on some dive boats, but be careful not to force water into the seals and buttons.

At the end of the day soak for 30 mins in fresh water, and work all the controls to dislodge salt water. Then leave to dry and open it if you need to to download your great pictures and recharge the batteries. Always open a housing upside down so any drops of water drip away, not onto your gear. Take cotton buds with you so you can clean O ring grooves throughly, and make sure you have no dust, sand or hair on your O ring or in the groove before you put it back together. O rings need to be lightly greased before you put them back in.

Finally, others have mentioned the "Magic Filter", which is an easy way of getting nice looking pictures without using a strobe.

Have fun!

Hi

another simple tip somebody gave me is to turn the camera upside down so the internal flash lights up the bottom of your pics and so the reef or the critter that your taking

not the big blue bit

have fun

vinny

[quote name='robbarker' date='Apr 10 2009 Take cotton buds with you so you can clean O ring grooves throughly, and make sure you have no dust, sand or hair on your O ring or in the groove before you put it back together.

Excellent summary.

I would just add a suggestion that you use eye makeup applicators that are made of sponge-like material rather than cotton buds. The ones made out of cotton can leave threads in the O ring grooves, whereas those made out of sponge-like material do not do this. These eye makeup applicators can be found in the same section of any store that sells eye makeup for women.

Ellen

Wish I had read those last 3 replies before I left... Lots of good detail from robbarker, thanks for taking the time to post it.

As a follow-up, all went well enough. I had a few minor, temporary glitches with the camera, just because it wasn't that familiar to me. After the second dive day I had it wired and managed to brighten up the color I was getting. While nothing that would impress anyone here, the pix are far better than had I not researched this board and asked for suggestions. Best of all, it was five days of thrills: the diving was really fun, the water was warm, the visibililty, while apparently sub-par for the location, was still far better than my past experiences; I saw masses of coral and critters, my diving skills took a great leap forward, the local food was delicious, and on the sixth day I climbed to the top of a Mayan temple. What more could I want?

It was also interesting to see the cameras other divers were using, some very simple, others quite elaborate. For now, simple is good; if I continue to travel and dive, I can always expand the gear. Thanks to all of you for your comments.

Cheers,

Off topic, but....

Kim -

I see that you're in San Diego - I wanted to invite you to attend a few San Diego Underwater Photographic Society functions if you haven't already. Members range from beginners all the way up to a few well-recognized and well-published hotshots. It's a great way to meet other divers who like photography and to learn. There's a meeting tonight, which might be a bit short-notice, and we have our annual film festival this Saturday (a pretty big one this year since it's our 40th anniversary), too - at Qualcomm. You can get meeting dates at www.sdups.com or shoot me a PM. Hope to see you there - if you come tonight or Saturday (or in the future), please find me and introduce yourself!!

Glad you had a blast in Belize!

Allison

Kim -- glad you had a successful trip. Are you going to post some photos for us to see here?

Allison -- Matt Segal and I will be there at the film festival on Saturday. Hope to meet you!

Allison -- Matt Segal and I will be there at the film festival on Saturday. Hope to meet you!

Should be a cool night - I have the feeling I'll be at Will Call for the duration - either that or trying to catch a nap up in the balcony

Allison -- thanks for the invitation, but I had other obligations and couldn't swing it. I'll bet the film fest was fantastic... Might attend the next meeting, though.

Eric -- me, post photos? Oooo, that's intimidating, there are real photographers here. I'm posting a whole travel log with pix on another board, but very few discerning photographers there (read: safe! no pressure! lots of positive feedback!).