Super new guy questions – I leave in 1 week – can you guys give me some quick tips – thanks!

Hi guys – I leave on a trip within a week and have been all over these boards but still seem to be at a loss for certain basics.

 

 

THE EQUIPMENT I WILL HAVE ON HAND IS:

 

- Panasonic DMC ZS7, (for video / stills)

- Camera Specs: http://www.dpreview.com/news/1001/10012605panazs7.asp#specs

- Ikelite housing

- UR Pro filter for blue tropical water

- Pro-V8 LED light

- Shooting in RAW is not an option

- http://panasonic.net/avc/lumix/compact/zs7.../functions.html

- http://panasonic.net/avc/lumix/compact/zs7...ifications.html

 

At the tail end of this I have listed the tech info on the camera, or you can go to the link for the camera above so that you can see what functions it has to see what it is best that I use.

 

LOCATION:

 

Various Eastern Caribbean islands over approx. 10 days. Some snorkeling, some scuba.

 

 

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED SO FAR:

 

- You need to be down a few feet or so before you can use the red filter.

- You cannot use the red filter when using the light.

- There should be enough light to about 40 – 50 ft.

- I need to do a decent amount of trial and error. (My underwater time will be limited so I am looking to hit the ground running – thus the many questions to the group. My apologies if you have answered these a ton of times already…

 

 

 

MY QUESTIONS:

 

1) Do I set the white balance with the filter on the camera? Or the filter off the camera? Or Both? Does it matter…?

 

2) If I find myself in an area that feel if not very bright – and take the filter off to try the light – I will def. have a blue ting to the image – even with some OK light close up?

 

3) If I have a turtle swimming past at close range, say 10 feet deep, on an overcast day and I turn the light on – the image will had a rend tinge if I have the filter on?

 

4) Follow up to #3 – if I would have a red tinge to the image – then it is best to turn light off and keep the filter on?

 

5) MAIN AREA OF CONFUSION - I have read so much on line about UW camera settings, I want to be sure the photos are as crisp as they can be with this particular camera, do not know if I should mess with the ISO and if I try a shutter speed priority, etc, etc? There is a full intelligent mode that will even make it go macro if I need it to but that setting DOES NOT allow manual white balance. So what would be the better trade off???

 

 

 

CAMERA FEATURES / SPECS:

 

http://www.dpreview.com/news/1001/10012605panazs7.asp#specs

http://panasonic.net/avc/lumix/compact/zs7...ifications.html

 

 

 

• 1/2.33" Type CCD

• 14.5 million pixels total

• 12.1 million effective pixels

 

• 4:3 Aspect Ratio: 4000 x 3000, 3264 x 2448, 2560 x 1920, 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, 640 x 480

• 3:2 Aspect Ratio: 44176 x 2784, 3392 x 2264, 2656 x 1768, 2048 x 1360, 640 x 424

• 16:9 Aspect Ratio: 4320 x 2432, 3552 x 2000, 2784 x 1568 , 1920 x 1080, 640 x 360

 

• 1280x720 pixels @ 30fps

NTSC Mode: NTSC model: 60p(CCD output is 30p) / PAL model: 50p(CCD output is 25p)

(AVCHD Lite, GSH, SH: 17Mbps / GH, H:13Mbps / GL, L:9Mbps )

/ 30fps (Motion JPEG)

• 4:3: 640 x 480 pixels, 320 x 240 pixels @ 30 fps

• 16:9: 848 x 480 pixels @ 30 fps

• Motion JPEG

 

• Still Image: JPEG(DCF/Exif2.21)

• Motion picture: AVCHD Lite / QuickTime Motion JPEG

 

• 12x optical zoom

• 25 - 300mm (35mm equiv.)

• f=4.1-49.2mm

• F3.3 - 4.9

• LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR

• 10 elements in 8 groups

 

Power O.I.S lens-shift stabilization

 

Yes, up to 4x

 

• Normal

• Macro

• Zoom Macro

• Quick AF On/Off (On in Intelligent Auto)

• Continuous AF On/Off

• AF Tracking

 

• Face / AF tracking

• 11-point

• 1-point high speed

• 1-point

• Spot

 

Yes

 

• Normal: Wide 50cm - infinity, Tele 200 cm - infinity

• Macro / Intelligent AUTO/ Clipboard: Wide 3 cm / Tele 100 cm - infinity

 

• Intelligent Multiple

• Centre-weighted

• Spot

 

• Auto

• 80

• 100

• 200

• 400

• 800

• 1600

• High Sensitivity Mode : Auto (1600 - 6400)

 

± 2EV, 1/3EV steps

 

± 1/3 EV ~ 1EV step, 3 frames

 

• 60-1/2000 sec

• Starry Sky Mode : 15, 30, 60sec

 

• F3.3 - 4.9/ Multistage Iris Diaphragm (F3.3 - 6.3 (W) / F4.9 - 6.3 (T)

 

• Intelligent AUTO

• Program AE

• Aperture Priority AE

• Shutter Priority AE

• Manual

• Custom

• SCN

• My SCN 1

• My SCN 2

• Clipboard

 

• Portrait

• Soft Skin

• Transform

• Self-Portrait

• Scenery

• Panorama Assist

• Sports

• Night Portrait

• Night Scenery

• Food

• Party

• Candle Light

• Baby1

• Baby2

• Pet

• Sunset

• High sensitivity

• Hi-Speed Burst

• Flash Burst

• Starry Sky

• Fireworks

• Beach

• Snow

• Aerial photo

• Pinhole

• Film Grain

• High Dynamic (Standard, Art, B&W)

• Photo Frame

• Underwater

 

• Auto

• Daylight

• Cloudy

• Shade

• Halogen

• White Set

 

2, 10 sec

 

• Full-Resolution Image

2.3 frames/sec Max. 5 images (Standard mode), Max 3 images (Fine Mode)

• High-speed Burst Mode:

Approx. 6.0 frames/sec (image priority)

Approx. 10 frames/sec (speed priority)

(recorded in 3M for 4:3, 2.5M for 3:2, 2M for 16:9)

 

Standard, Black & White, Sepia, Cool, Warm, Happy (only in iA Mode)

 

• Auto, Auto/Red-eye Reduction, Forced On, Slow Sync./Red-eye Reduction, Forced Off

• 0.6 - 5.3m (Wide/ISO Auto), 1.0 - 3.6m (Tele/ISO Auto)

 

No

 

• 3.0" TFT LCD Display

• 460K dots

• Field of View : approx. 100%

• AUTO Power LCD mode, Power LCD mode

 

• USB2.0 High speed

• AV Output (NTSC/PAL)

• miniHDMI

• DC Input

 

• PictBridge

• DPOF

 

• SD/SDHC/SDXC Memory Card

• 15MB internal memory

 

• Li-ion battery

• Charger included

• AC adaptor (optional)

 

196 g

 

218g

 

103.3 x 59.6 x 32.6 mm

(4.07 x 2.35 x 1.28 in)

 

Very quickly. One should white balance each time the lighting changes whether by where the sun might be and the ambient light, anytime you move your lights to light a subject, or when your depth changes thus changing the lights. I white balance on my white fins. If you WB with the lights off, then turn them on, re white balance.

 

For medium and close up shots I always have the lights on and white balance on them. I do not believe that it makes much difference if your UR filter is down or not since white balancing will assume that what you are white balancing on is white. Certainly never use the red filter to WB above 30 feet.

 

I do not think that using just one light is sufficient. Remember that uw lights have a very short throw no matter what their lumens setting may be.

 

Shoot your video in 16x9 widescreen HD, not 4x3 standard. If the best this cam can do is 1280x720 than that is what you should film in for video. I would be interested to know whether the cam is reallly shooting 30fps or 29.97 as the later is the standard frame rate for NTSC video. If it is a true 30fps, you may have to change the frame rate to 29.97 in a converter application like MPEG Streamclip or FLV Crunch, both of which are free apps you can download.

 

Steve

I have never even tried the 16x9 so will test that out tomorrow.

 

The the UW video will be 80% of the time view online thus is it them best to shoot in 4x3?

 

Or will the drawback on the computer screen be min compared to the benefit on the TV?

 

Brian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very quickly. One should white balance each time the lighting changes whether by where the sun might be and the ambient light, anytime you move your lights to light a subject, or when your depth changes thus changing the lights. I white balance on my white fins. If you WB with the lights off, then turn them on, re white balance.

 

For medium and close up shots I always have the lights on and white balance on them. I do not believe that it makes much difference if your UR filter is down or not since white balancing will assume that what you are white balancing on is white. Certainly never use the red filter to WB above 30 feet.

 

I do not think that using just one light is sufficient. Remember that uw lights have a very short throw no matter what their lumens setting may be.

 

Shoot your video in 16x9 widescreen HD, not 4x3 standard. If the best this cam can do is 1280x720 than that is what you should film in for video. I would be interested to know whether the cam is reallly shooting 30fps or 29.97 as the later is the standard frame rate for NTSC video. If it is a true 30fps, you may have to change the frame rate to 29.97 in a converter application like MPEG Streamclip or FLV Crunch, both of which are free apps you can download.

 

Steve

Shoot in 16:9.

 

4:3 is so yesterday.

 

Just make sure your subject is not too much on the side to avoid being cropped out on TV.

 

If this is your first time using camera underwater, I say first few things to practice on is how to stay calm, relaxed, and stay low when shooting. Try to approach the fish as calm as possible as you need to get really close for good shots.

 

White balance only if you intend to shoot with ambient light. If you white balance and use strobe it will turn out very red. I'd say use strobe only for macro subjects (or when subject is less than 3 feet away).

 

Have fun!