only-automatic camera and manual strobe

Hi,

I'm certain I've seen examples of pictures taken with manual slave triggered strobes and fully automatic cameras (no manual settings capabilities). How/why does this work? Actually the main question is: Does it work?

Does it depend on camera brand/model?

I’m guessing that it does in fact work, and that is because the camera has a limited number of apertures to choose from and the available light won’t change drastically between shots. In other words; the camera makes a consistent aperture choice and sets a shutter speed suitable for flash photography (expecting the internal strobe to do the job).

Can someone confirm that this works (well)?

/Anders

Problem with the system is that the auto camera is designed to take pictures on land, through air, with two feet on the ground.

Most likely motion blur (slow shutter speeds ) and poorly lit backgrounds ( wide open apertures~slow shutter speed combo) will result. If ISO is also set by digicam, that may lead to unnecessary noise (grain).

Without knowing beforehand which aperture will be chosen by camera, it will be challenging to determine which manual power level to choose. BTW, aperture chosen by camera may possibly be controlled by focal length (zoom setting)

From what I've seen posted in the forums, manual strobe~auto camera is not a good marriage.

I realize having manual controls is better. How about a different perspective.

Someone already has an automatic camera and an underwater housing. Is getting a slave strobe a good idea? Will it "help" more than being difficilt to control?

From what I've seen, when it comes to shooting underwater, these cameras should be reclassified from "Auto Control" to "Out of Control".

A substantial amount of control of any strobe begins with the camera. When the camera's settings are chosen "automatically" by reliance upon calculations based upon light passing through air, the results can only be less than desirable.

Underwater, the foreground illumination is controlled by the aperture in conjunction with the power level of the strobe. The background of the composition is controlled by the aperture and shutter without any influence of the strobe. Due to constantly changing ambient light conditions (depth, clouds, time of day), there is no way of determining which direction the auto camera will address the infinite options available (ISO, aperture, shutter, reciprocity) to render what it considers to be an acceptable exposure, all the time thinking it's somewhere else (read:land)

Another consideration when choosing a strobe for such a rig is size and user friendliness. Many times auto cameras are chosen for their smallness. Creating negatively buoyant superstructures around them defeats the original purpose. imho, we should just let them be. imho the money would be better spent on upgrading the camera. If the user is still committed to a strobe, then a strobe that offers some form of TTL (not Auto!) would be my choice.

BTW, auto cameras do perform quite well on night dives where there is no ambient light or background exposure to consider.

my opinion,

b

What Bob said...:-) Most "full auto" cameras will automatically choose the lowest f-stop when used underwater. This means you can dial in a very low flash power and get pix that are properly exposed, but may not have the best depth of field...

HTH

James

Thanks bobf and james. I understand. /Anders