backscatter

[gold4]

I have a question 35mm vs digital in regards to backscatter does it matter...or do all cameras eliminate backscatter.. I know you need to be close to your subject and angle the lens up to gather light and to use a strobe. or does it depend on the sediment in the water at any depth :wave:

 

[dsgobie]

Backscatter has to do with light leaving the light source, hitting something, and coming "straight" back at the lens. You can never "completely eliminate backscatter. But you can minimize backscatter by aiming the strobe on slight angles. It's something that you will have to experiment with.

 

[Finesse]

Location of the strobe is very important. Your light source needs to physically be away from the lens of the camera (helping to creating the angle) i.e.strobe arms. This helps as the light will not bounce directly off the particles and back into the lens, a problem with the built in on-board flash. Distance is also a factor...the closer you are the less "junk" between you and the subject, the less "junk" you record into your photo.

 

[Dee]

That pretty much covers it!

It doesn't matter whether your camera is film or digital, what design, age or brand your camera is. It's all light angles and film or CCD position.

 

[arrow]

The angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incident. In plain English that means that if the strobe is at 12 degrees from the object that reflects light and the lens is at 12 degress from the same object, the light will be reflected into the lens and you have backscatter. An off the camera strobe can be set at an angle so it is unlikely to match the angle of the camera to objects in front of the lens.