New Oly C-4000 and PT-010

I'm new, be gentle.

I just got my first underwater setup. I went with the Oly C-4000 and PT-010.

I go to La Paz, MX in about 8 days. A frind is allowing me to borrow his spare DS50 and tray for the flash system. Awful nice to be able to test drive the flash system before laying out the bucks.

How about some suggestions on camera settings underwater. Should I use Aperature Mode, Manual? I presume that Program mode is not an option.

Which resolution works best. Obviously I would like to strike a balance between storage and image quality.

Any other setting need to be tweeked for best pictures? White balance, saturation, etc?

I'll also be getting a couple of 128 Mbyte cards.

I'm not a complete idiot as I have shot with manual cameras above water and I understand the issues with proper cleanliness, lubrication and preparation to prevent floods.

Thanks.

Theoretically, using the DS50, you should be able to shoot program mode to take advantage of TTL.

With this camera however, there is one big 'gotcha'. This discussion has been very prominent on Steve's forum and on D2D.

The C4000 'super macro' mode (which on first blush does indeed seem super) disables the internal flash, which in turn disables the sensor firing mode of the DS50.

The only way to get strobes to fire in super macro is with hard wired strobes using the cameras external strobe port, which the PT-010 does not support.

Maybe Ike can comment on whether they are working on a solution to this delima, as it appears that these cameras are flooding onto the market.

Have fun on your trip!

Richard

The C4000 'super macro' mode (which on first blush does indeed seem super) disables the internal flash, which in turn disables the sensor firing mode of the DS50

Yeah, I wrote that.

The C-4000 still takes advantage of TTL in A or S mode. I presume thats the same for other Oly cameras as well. So the flash should work correctly.

Any other tips?

sorry, didn't recognize you.. too many aliases!

About resolution, go for the highest quality/resolution that you're comfortable with. I very seldom shoot over 100 shots/dive so that is the number that I generally shoot for.

The better resolution/quality you use, the better prints you will see.

I've not seen file sizes for this camera and the SHQ mode produces higher resolution images than the C4040 did, so just pick a target number of shots and match your resolution accordingly.

Richard

any resolution that is definitely too low?

We wil be doing two dives before returning to shore and I would rather not open the camera on the boat until I'm comfortable. Especially if the boat doesn't have much room.

Since it has the same Mpixels as the 4040, I presume the shot sizes are the same.

With a 128 Mbyte card, SHQ should give me about 100 shots. My friends can easily run out of room on a single dive with 100 shots.

I guess I'll take some land shots and see what I like.

I would have thought the image sizes would be the same too, but from the Oly web site:

C-4000

SHQ JPEG: 3200x2400, 2288x1712, 2288x1520, (2288x1520 3:2mode)

HQ JPEG: 3200x2400, 2288x1712, 2288x1520 (2288x1520 3:2mode)

C-4040

2272x 1704 (TIFF/JPEG-SHQ/HQ), 2048 x 1536 (TIFF/JPEG -SQ)

so, you will have to tell us about file sizes for each mode.

Once you get your 128 cards, you can just set the res, and the camera will tell you how many shots you can expect (it's not concrete).

My C-3030 generates 2048 x 1536 files which make a decent 11"x14" print.

Experience is the best teacher....

Richard

Sounds like its not the same CCD. Thats interesting.

But they are "essentially" the same. The 3200 x 2400 is an "enlarged" mode that I doubt is useful. I should play with it though.

Your right, experience is the best teacher. I'll take some at diferent res and see what I get.