Help with C-8080

[BobArnold8265]

Hi,

I recently bought my "dream" underwater set-up. It's a C-8080, Ike Housing and Ike DS-125 strobe. I used this set-up for the first time last week in Bonaire and the results were at best mixed.

All of my images came out very blue and with little contrast. Most of the pics that I took were shot from 1 to 10 feet from the subject. The camera settings that I used were: ISO 100, Shutter Priority Mode, 1/125 shutter speed, White balance - Auto ( as suggested by Ikelite). The flash was set to TTL operation and the camera flash setting was Slow 1 (the default when using an external strobe). I played with the white balance the second half of the trip and that helped slightly but there was still a very heavy blue cast in the photos.

Straight out of the camera, the pictures were awful. With a little help from Adobe Photo Shop, I have been able to make them into some pretty decent shots but still not as good as the ones that I shot with my trusty Nikonos.

Would someone please help this digital novice ??? I've seen some great pictures taken with this set-up so I'm 100% positive there's something that I am not doing correctly. I would appreciate any and all advice. Thank you.

Bob

 

[Footslogger]

Not certain if the settings translate from the 5050 to the 8080, but I used this as a reference for my first attempts with the 5050/Ike housing/DS 125 and got great results.

http://www.splashdowndivers.com/photo_gallery/underwater_photography/up_settings.htm

Had to adjust a little here/there for brightness (based on vis and sunshine at different times of day) but otherwise this was a great starting point.

'Slogger

 

[Larry C]

I would definitely get it out of "S" mode. I've found with the priority modes, if the water is even slightly dark, the camera drops the aperture to the widest setting, regardless of flash, and I got overexposed foreground. The UW settings work well for basic shooting. I found 90% of the time, my Oly UW setting put the camera at f5.6@60-80 (our water is rather dark here) so those are the baseline settings I started with. Strobe angle and distance are a huge factor. Don't aim the strobe directly at your subject, use the edges of the beam. For really close shots, sometimes you have to put the strobe behind the camera to avoid overexposures. Check your screen after early shots and adjust your settings based on the previous similar shot. Go to the local swimming pool and take about 1000 practice shots with different settings and distances until you get nice crisp shots with the foreground and background you want. Then put your best settings in "My mode" and adjust them a notch up or down for depth and light.

 

[divinman]

I used the splash reference in my modes and have had some nice results.

I am using the exact same setup plus a DS50 slaved to a manual controller. Not the best but shows that you can get some light on your subjects.

Terry

 

[verona]

I think your setting should have been ok for subjects up to 3 or 4 feet from camera but it might be that you are getting the blue in images futher away than that because the strobe can't go that far? Try manual F5.6, 1/100th second in TTL mode with your strobe for close subjects (up to 2 feet). Set focus to macro. And as Larry says, try different settings one a single dive and see what works. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[BobArnold8265]

Thank you for your responses. I am attaching a few pictures to give you an idea of what I'm getting. The first and third shots are straight out of the camera. As you can see they have little contrast and have an almost iridescentblue hue to them. The other shots are my first attempts at color adjustments with Photoshop. With the help of Photoshop, the pics have improved but like I said in my initial post, the quality is not the same as with my Nikonos. Once again, I appreciate any and all comments and advice !!

Bob

 

[AndyT]

A few things come to mind :

Is the strobe firing in sync with the camera ?

As Verona says , you may have been too far from the subject - 7 foot is the absolute max distance for UW strobe shots .

Is your strobe aimed correctly .

Did you set the camera to fire the external strobe only ?

The settings you mention should have produced decent results or at least given you some colour , no matter which aperture the camera chose .Try testing it out on land , you will at least get the synch and aiming right .

I put together a spreadsheet for 4 different My Modes for my 7070 , they should work with your 8080 . PM me your e-mail address and I will gladly send it to you .

Could you post one or two shots for us to have a look at ? It may help identify your temporary setback . You have a nice camera / strobe setup and can expect some really good results .

 

[ABQdiver]

What was the settings on the DS125?

Looks like you aren't getting enough strobe on the subject. Did you play with the settings at all? Getting closer always helps me.

I shoot with C-7070/PT-27 with full manual. Set up the shot with the cameras light meter and back it off at least .7 or more depending on how close you are. When the strobe fires, it general takes care of the difference.

 

[AndyT]

Looks like the last 3 posts crossed in cyberspace .

Have a look at the last shot Terry posted and it quite clearly demonstrates how quickly the effect of the strobe falls away at longer ranges .I think that maybe you were too far from the subject , but check the other issues I mentioned as well .

 

[DesertEagle]

Bob, I responded in the other thread. You will definitely want to purchase this dome port:
http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/8080domelens.html

The dome can be used with or without the Olympus wide angle lens.