Problems with Sea&Sea DX1200 HD

Hey guys,

I recently bought the new Sea&Sea DX1200 HD camera, noticed some issues with the incorporated flash and wanted to ask if anyone else has the same problem.

As the flash of the cam is quite small and located on the far left side of the device, pictures taken over water are only illuminated on the left side while the right side remains dark. This effect is enhanced when the cam's used under water, as the housing blocks the flash even more.

Here's an example picture : http://bayimg.com/cAakhaaCn

I wanted to ask if anyone has the same camera, and how you reacted to this problem. Would a YS-27 DX flash system solve the problem ? Any tips, hints and thoughts are welcome.

Thanks for reading,

Sam

Thanks for your reply, Dan.

I know it is a problem with some digital cameras, especially the cheaper ones, but I have used a variety of other compact cameras (mostly Olympus and Canon), and none of these actually had such problems. That's why I didn't really expect any issues with this Sea&Sea model, especially not of this severity (cf. the picture posted above).

Of course, I also took some pictures with modified diffuser positions, but that only had effects on the saturation of the illuminated part of the pictures. The flash angle is restricted by the housing itself imo.

The huge disadvantage of the YS-27 flash system is the size of the whole device, which will increase considerably. Impossible to just take the camera along to take some snapshots :-(

I agree that looks pretty bad. Even the G10 in the stock Canon housing does better than that.

I wonder if you can jury rig a more effective diffuser panel? I'm not familiar with exactly how the diffuser works on the DX1200.

Otherwise, natural light or an external strobe may be your only real options.

I had similar though less pronounced illumination issues with canon's in OEM housings. In the end, I was only happy with 2 external stobes.

It would seem you will have to decide on either an external strobe(s) or a filter for color correction and shoot natural lighting.

After spending money for a camera, I suspect the last thing you want to hear is....spend more money but I never found a better option.

I have been VERY happy I bought 2 strobes. Now, if I only had some reasonable talent to go with the equipment...

After reading up on external strobes, I have one more question concerning the YS-27 DX. This is a part of its description:

The light level control dial of the YS-27DX has nine different light level controls, which increments from a minimum power of GN 1.7 to a maximum power of GN 20 (1EV step). The light level control dial makes you to take ideal pictures, precisely adjustable to get just the right amount of light for the subject at hand.

As I have never taken any pictures with external strobes before, the whole thing is a bit hard for me to imagine. Does that part of the description mean, that I have to configure the light intensity for each picture seperately ? Like ... if I'm going to take a picture in macro mode, I'd have to set it to 1 or 2, the next pictured would be a moving object at 3 meters distance where I'd have to set it to 8 or 9, and so on ..? I'm asking this, because although I do take my time to thoroughly configure my device for good pictures, I'd still want to be able to just shoot a picture quickly, if I had to, without playing around with the light settings for every single picture. Will there be huge differences, or possibly even strong overexposure if a picture is taken with a wrongly configured strobe ? I'd be glad for any hints !

Will there be huge differences, or possibly even strong overexposure if a picture is taken with a wrongly configured strobe ?

You are correct in that assumption. There is not much leeway when dealing with setting proper strobe power, not properly set you will either get a under or over exposed image. Over time this becomes less of a problem because you learn what settings are required for specific shots. I'm not sure if the DX-1200HD offers TTL with Sea&Sea strobes, but if it does you can have the strobe power controlled directly from the cameras own metering. Effectively allowing you to leave the camera to decide the strobes intensity.