Light vs Strobe

Hi!

I`m would like to have some more light than the internal flash in the DSC-P5 can provide. And I`m wondring if it is best to invest in a slave strobe or a underwater light such as the HVL-ML20 from Sony. I mostly dive in Norway where the sea is quite dark. I`m no proffesional and have just reacently started to take underwater pictures.

Definately a strobe. A stobe designed for underwater photogrpahy will have better control of color temp and will provide better lighting than a video light or a hand light.

Ikelite or Sea&Sea both make great strobes for underwater use.

I generally agree with Bob but when the sea is dark (or on night dives) you'll probably need a focusing light anyway.

As i haven't decided which strobe to buy yet, the only thing i can say for sure is that with my Oly pictures taken with a combination of video light and internal strobe are better than the ones taken with internal stobe only. Adding some light seems to improve the AF capabilities of my camera.

I'm going for a combination of light + strobe.

Sabine

I have a 50W u/w flash light that I use for both night diving and u/w photography. However I'm looking to get a proper strobe this year. The reason is that to flash my light on a fish will scare them away, however I'm still going to keep my flash light as a sort of focus light source. Some pictures to share which I took at Palau with my u/w flash light...

http://photos.msn.com/viewing/album.aspx?m...vtFmPPTjxZlcCg$

I do some photography in the Puget Sound... likewise fairly dark waters, where only on shallow dives can I rely on ambient light.

Thus far I've used only video lighting, and it's worked for me, but I do mostly macro. If you autofocus, then you need a source of constant light... Strobe would be great for wider angle / more distant scenes, but those are not all that common here.

I did a dive with a buddy using a strobe, while I had a video light. We both did some shots of a giant octopus in a den, and his strobe scared the $#%! out of her, while the video light just made her squint.