EM1 pictures underexposed

[Bongo]

Just purchased an EM1 and am using a Sea&Sea YS110A strobe. Camera set at ISO 200, aperture 1/125 Fstop 4.5 and anything below 30 feet is underexposed. I'm firing the strobe using fibre optics. I tested the strobe and it syncs with the camera flash on manual 1 mode. I was getting good exposure with my Canon G12 and same strobe. Any thoughts out there?

 

[BuguSK]

Change the exposure when you get below 30 ft?
Your exposure generally should change based on what your shooting, the visibility, what you want from the ambient light, and so many other reasons. Using one exposure setting will never produce good results in a multitude of different conditions.

 

[gstrek]

A couple of thoughts:

If you are shooting your on-camera strobe in manual (just enough to trigger the S&S, you will need to dial in the power on the S&S. You didn't mention how your in-camera flash was set.

I shoot one of two options on my Oly E-PL1:

First option: Camera on Manual set to ISO200, 1/125, f/8 to f/11, flash set to fill-in flash and the S&S on DS-TTL. This allows the S&S to determine how much light it needs to pump out.

Second option and my preferred option: Camera on Manual set to ISO200, 1/125, f/8 to f/11 with flash set to 1/64 and the S&S on manual (manual 1 or 2 depending on camera). This allows the photographer to determine how much light you need by using the light level control dial on the S&S dialing up or down depending on what the picture review / histogram shows.

You can use faster or slower shutter speed to darken or lighten the background (shutter controls ambient light). Similarly, you can change the f-stop to allow more/less light in from the strobe (aperture controls light from flash).

I also make sure I am in sync by taking a photo in a mirror to make sure the strobe is firing before getting on the boat. I've ended up shooting video because I forgot to pop-up my camera flash.

Good luck!

 

[Ardy]

GSTrek: Agree with you but I suggest that we all get under exposed shots from time to time. I use manual and SnS strobes but with moving stuff it is an issue if you pixel peep and it's gone leaving you with an underexposed shot.

I have read that it is better to overexpose than under. Not sure why as pulling back an UE shot seems as fraught with problems as OE shots.

Any ideas?

 

[mattia_v]

'Shoot to the right' (i.e. Overexpose) is a little outdated with the quality of modern sensors. The safe version is to expose for highlights; the ideal is to get the image as bright as possible without blowing out the brightest areas, although slightly blown based on the histogram in camera (which is based on the JPG) can be OK in a lot of cases if you shoot RAW, since there's more leeway there.

 

[Ardy]

Thanks Mattia - I have never exposed for highlights and assume you set your EVF to display highlights. What do you do next?

I use the 14x small focus point to focus on a spot such as the eye. I am not sure how to expose for highlights and not lose focus on the important part?

 

[gstrek]

Ardy - as you said, we all get underexposed shots from time to time (or more often for me!).

I don't really trust just looking at the LCD and trying to judge it without looking at the histogram as well (it is an INFO option on my Oly). Since more data is stored in the bright areas, shooting to the right (at least when shooting raw) lets you bring back detail in post-production (Lightroom, etc.).

I do trust the LCD to show overexposures. Set the 'blinkies' and they show up red. If using a strobe, you cannot really tell until after you shoot, though. At that point, you can see overexposures as red blinking areas. Overexposures are not recoverable so you want to try to 'shoot to the right' so your histogram shows most detail toward the right but not quite touching the right side as that would be overexposed.

Easier said than done but I need to give the initial exposure and educated guess, check the Histogram and LCD then adjust by moving in, moving out, adjusting strobe power or adjusting f-stop. If the histogram is more to the right than the left, you have a decent exposure.

Edit: I bookmarked an article about ETTR and found it useful: http://www.dpreview.com/articles/83...o-the-right-using-the-cameras-highlight-alert

 

[Ardy]

What you are clearly describing is the amazing difficulty of getting great underwater shots whilst making adjustments to camera/strobe outputs and still keeping in mind composition and framing. If only we could stop time for a couple of seconds to give us time.

What you are also defining is the difference between rank amateurs like me and professionals.

 

[matrixed82]

As pointed out by others getting the image as bright as possible without clipping the highlights is good.

In your original post you mention that the images are under-exposed. Is that when looking at them on the LCD, your monitor or both? The reason I ask is that the default LCD brightness on my camera was high and giving me the impression that the image was properly exposed. When I loaded them on the computer they often seemed dark.

Lowering the LCD brightness on the camera to match that of my monitor fixed the problem. Just a thought.

 

[Ardy]

Very interesting. I have never looked at the LCD settings and will have a look around now. Would this adjustment also affect the EVF? If I am taking photo's I tend not to look at the LCD.