Shooting fully Manual M or A Semi-auto mode ?

Hi !

I was wondering about your prefered mode for shooting moving subjects such as sharks, turtles, dolphins...

- Do you prefer fully manual M mode ?

- Or a semi-automatic A mode to automatically adjust to the background light, in case there is a lot of light variation (the subject passes over the diver, close to the sun light).

I use a Nikon D70 with the Tokina Fisheye. I keep my SB-105 strobes on Manual setting (actually, no choice as TTL is not working ), adjust the forground by setting manually the aperture, but get caught by the background which can change fast if the subject is passing above the camera.

Any thoughts ? Thanks !

i seem to get the best result from Auto focus, and then either manual or Aperture priority. More often than not i use manual mode on my D90 and D70. Alhtough if things are busy under water Aperture helps to get the right shot off... For W/A i seem to use A priority more as i like the fact that it gives electronic shutter speeds as opposed to fix stops... (i hope that is the correct terminology!)

i like that in my new aquatica hosuing for the D90 that is is easy to check which mode i am in.

My strobes are manual as well.

hope that helps?

Manual - no question.

If you shoot auto you leave yourself wide open to motion blur on the subjects that you mention - specifically sharks and dolphins.

Both sharks and dolphins can look slow in the water but from experience you need faster than 1/160 to freeze a shark and 1/320 (1/500 ideal) to freeze a dolphin.

If you don't then while the shots can look fine on the camera when you get home on a big monitor you _will_ see the motion blur and be disappointed (been there done that).

You need to balance aperture and ISO to get the background that you want. Upping the ISO on a D70 will tend toward noise so try not to jack that too far, but I am sure you are well aware of that.

If you are near the surface shooting dolphins (often no strobe) then Shutter priority does work pretty well.

Paul C

You need to balance aperture and ISO to get the background that you want. Upping the ISO on a D70 will tend toward noise so try not to jack that too far, but I am sure you are well aware of that.

Yup!

I found that with my D200, and it allowed sneaky Alsky72 to tempt me into an upgrade...

... allowing me to shoot at ISO 1000 (by mistake, honestly!)...

... not a dolphin, but still!

Tim

Many thanks for your help !

I just bought the latest edition of the Underwater Photographer from Martin Edge, there are very interesting tips also on that subject.

Hi !

 

I was wondering about your prefered mode for shooting moving subjects such as sharks, turtles, dolphins...

- Do you prefer fully manual M mode ?

- Or a semi-automatic A mode to automatically adjust to the background light, in case there is a lot of light variation (the subject passes over the diver, close to the sun light).

 

I use a Nikon D70 with the Tokina Fisheye. I keep my SB-105 strobes on Manual setting (actually, no choice as TTL is not working ), adjust the forground by setting manually the aperture, but get caught by the background which can change fast if the subject is passing above the camera.

 

Any thoughts ? Thanks !

Martin in his book underwater photography emphasizes using the different modes based upon what you are shooting. For example using Manual if you have plenty of time with a slow moving subject to tweak and fine tune. Whereas a fast moving target he suggest shutter priority to freeze the subject.

Great book I highly suggest it.

Good Luck.

Yup!

 

I found that with my D200, and it allowed sneaky Alsky72 to tempt me into an upgrade...

IMHO, don't go near Alsky. He's just sold me another one... :-)