consumer digital just doesn't cut it???????

Wow! Thanks James (and Herb). Thats pretty impressive. Another tidbit too file away.

I would had never even attempted some of those combinations. Now I have something to play with when it all get back in my hands.

Bob

(the one who often wonders why I can figure out a EOS 1d, but can't understand how a G2 works)

Note that with SLRs, you can't really shoot with a strobe past 1/250s, unless the strobe supports high speed sync.

I can show you some results of shooting faster than 1/250, if you want. Basically, the bottom part of the image turns out black (the shutter curtain starts to close).

I have a few of those myself.

Coming from SLR and DSLR environment, I simply did not realize this wasn't true for consumer digis.

Bob,

The reason the consumer digicams can sync at such high speeds is the electronic shutter; the pixels themself turn on and off. Based on my understanding of these circuits, I think they should all work this way. I'm only able to verify this directly for the Olympus. You should be able to test this out for the G2 in a couple of minutes. I would be shocked if it didn't work. DSLR's and of course film use a mechanical shutter and can only sync at a much lower speed.

Since I don't have the hardware you're using, I can't help you much with the issues specific to the G2, DS125 and TTL. For big subjects like a shark, I would try to shoot on manual at full strobe power and control the exposure with the aperture and see if that works.

I did not realize how dark it was where you were shooting. If it was dark and your strobe didn't work, perhaps you did as well as can be expected under these conditions, and using film or a DSRL probably would not have made it much better.

It is still true that you should meter the blue and fill with flash, but you have a choice on the shutter speed and aperture combination to achieve the proper background exposure. Unless you like blue looking subjects, it's best to choose the fastest shutter/smallest aperture for that exposure until you are limited by the available strobe power.

Herb

Thanks Herb. I appreciate all the input. Gives me lots to test and experiment with before the next trip

Bob

Oops. I was typing too fast. On my last remark, I mean to write fastest shutter/largest aperture. This should give the best colors.

Herb

Another consideration is strobe recycle time.

I tend to shoot at 1/4 power, so the strobe cycles more quickly. With the Ike DS-125, you can bang them off more quickly than one a second at 1/4 power. At higher power ratings, this becomes impossible...

Another reason for higher shutter speed/larger aperture. For my setup, I don't think I can get off more than 1 shot every 3 seconds or so. The strobe is not the limiting factor, it's the camera. The shutter lag alone is almost a second .

BTW James. I'm surprised by you comment about not shooting faster than 1/125 for a blue water shot. As I mentioned earlier I went all the was to 1/800 and F10 to get a good sunspot exposure for that first lionfish shot I posted from the Solomons. I doubt that the settings would have been all that different had I used a coolpix 990 for that shot.

Herb

I went to a special talk given by Burt Jones at Seaspace.

His opinion is to always get the "largest dump" possible from your strobe.

This will allow colors in your photos to become fully saturated.

HTH

James Wiseman

Hi Herb - you snuck that one in there while I was typing,

I'll have to go back and look at some of my shots. All of my diving w/ the 5000 was at the Flower Gardens which is pretty deep and dark.

I also shoot in aperture priority so I don't set my shutter speed. I'll go back and look at my shots to see what my maximum shutter speed has been.

Good idea on getting a good sunburst shot w/o blowing it out.

James

Herb,

I still do not understand how you could possibly shoot f/10 @ 1/800th into a blue sea and not get a black background. unless your shooting at a high ISO in shallow water.

Can you point me to some examples? I am going to try this, but I cannot imagine getting a proper ambient light exposure at those settings???? Please help a dummy understand this

Bob,

Here are two examples. Both shot at 1/800, F10,. ISO100 The first shot taken at 80 feet depth has the exposure I wanted. The second shot at around 50 feet has an over exposed sunspot that I intentionally hid behind the wreck. Anybody know where I can get a neutral density filter that will fit over the Inon WA lens?

Keep in mind that these were taken on bright sunny days, around noon, near the equator and in clear blue water. Your mileage may vary.

Herb

Wow! Ok I am sold, even though it doesn't make sense to a dummy like me

I'll give it some tests next time I am in the water.....

.....im drooling to get results like that!

Herb,

You have found the achilles heel of consumer digital cameras.

You were LITERALLY shooting at your highest f-stop and your highest shutterspeed but the sunburst is still blown out. Imagine if you'd been in 30' of water...

If I had to throw in an OPINION, I'd say the consumer CCD's are overstimulated when shooting straight into the sun.

I did the same experiment as you did with my Coolpix 5000 and got the same results.

Cheers

James

I forgot to make this comment on my last post:

Notice how dark the water is behind the lionfish. I would have had the black background that Bob thought I would get, had I not been shooting into the Sun. Had these shots been taken in the opposite dirction from the Sun, my guess is that the exposure would have to be 2 to 3

stops lower.

Herb