sony cybershot - underwater photo experience ...

[XJae]

Is that a 5mp rig? What is a mpk-pha housing and who makes it?

The p10 is a 5mp, the p8 is the same camera but 3.2mp.
The mpk-pha is the Sony made housing that fits both of these models.

The housing fits perfect and cost between $150 and $250.

the sony flashlight hvl-ml20m

I havent bought the strobe, but have been considering it.
I've seen it range in price from $130 to $350.
Being a 20 it doesn't seem too bright, but I haven't any luck yet with the internal flash.
The internal works good for macro, but is too close too the lens for any mid-distance.

 

[ReyeR]

I would like to know if someone has bought the sony flashlight hvl-ml20m to add on the underwater housing mpk-pha for use with sony cybershot digital cameras ???

obreuer, my dive buddy uses it. She used to have a P5 but now has a C5050 but has retained the light until she gets enough confidence to go for a strobe (and until she breaks down from my nagging).

The hvl-ml20 is a 20watt continuous halogen(?) light, so it's not very strong. The spread and colour temp is not too bad. Understand that it can't be compared to the output of a strobe.

Below are some pics shot with the hvl with exposure info. (though the pics were taken with the Olympus C5050)

Program mode, 1/60, f2.6

Program mode, 1/30, f1.8

(If you can't see the image let me know and I will attach them in another post)

You can see the shutter speed and f-stop is quite average, especially in the cuttlefish shot which was a little further away. The shot was possible only because the C5050 has a superb 'bright' lens.

HTH

 

[ReyeR]

I'd like to add that no post processing was performed on the above pics (except resizing and recompression for the web).

The things going for the hvl are that it is easy to use, helps your camera to focus in low ambient light and, the Px cameras being full auto, may give you better shutterspeeds and f-stops than if you were using it with a strobe (unless you use a strong modelling light along with the strobe to fool the camera, but you might end up with hot spots).

 

[obreuer]

Thanks to all of your replies.

The pictues you have seen in my website are taken with the sony cybershot dsc-p7 3.2 Million of pixels and the sony underwater housing mpk-p9. Without any filter or external light.

I have tried to use the internal flash but i was not very happy about the results.

A friend of mine has bought a red filter to put on the underwater housing and without flash, apparently , thats works well.

If you have this red filter, can sou send me one or two pictures
taken with it ?

Thanks,

Olivier

 

[Travisc]

Send me a reminder to locate the photos I took last summer in belize with a P5 and the filter they make for it, it also works with the P10 and P9 and P8 and it allows a lot more color in blue water.

Travis

 

[wackodacko]

Here is a manta with a filter

obreuer once bubbled...


If you have this red filter, can sou send me one or two pictures
taken with it ?

 

[wackodacko]

and a manta with out a filter

 

[wackodacko]

and here is when there was too much ambient light and the filter should have been taken off

 

[bu6u]

Before relying on editing software (confession-I'm pretty ignorant about those), you can do as you yourself said--use a filter or add artificial light. Sony makes a red filter for its housings--as best as I can research on the web, the same one fits all the sony P* housings. You can probably buy it directly from their website, as well as from many resellers. A red filter, with no added light, works great for me with Sony digital video, at least in clear tropical waters, and would be the least expensive way to go.
You'll likely get better color with a strobe rather than a "flashlight" or always-on video light, but would probably pay more. There are several manufacturers making strobes with mounting stays, etc. for this system--including Sea and Sea, Ikelight, and others.
At the risk of sounding patronizing, do you need to study some basics of underwater photography? i.e., how quickly you lose reds (even a strobe won't help if your subject is too far away), etc.
Good luck. I'd be curious to know what you come up with and how it works, as I'm considering this system, myself.

I have the p10 with the mpk-pha and just got back from a blackbeard cuise. I tried using a slave strobe that came with a film outfit I bought a couple of years ago. (bonica seaking II). It looked like it was going to work just fine but found out that I'm having a problem getting the strobe to sync with the camera. The internal flash goes off and trips the strobe but the image shows very little ilumination. I get more ilumination with just the internal flash. I just can't figure out what going wrong. By the way I did use adobe photo shop to enhance the images and in some cases the results are amazing. But some images look rather fake. Would anyone have any tips on getting the slave flash to sync?

Nol

 

[ReyeR]

I have the p10 with the mpk-pha and just got back from a blackbeard cuise. I tried using a slave strobe that came with a film outfit I bought a couple of years ago. (bonica seaking II). It looked like it was going to work just fine but found out that I'm having a problem getting the strobe to sync with the camera. The internal flash goes off and trips the strobe but the image shows very little ilumination. I get more ilumination with just the internal flash. I just can't figure out what going wrong. By the way I did use adobe photo shop to enhance the images and in some cases the results are amazing. But some images look rather fake. Would anyone have any tips on getting the slave flash to sync?

Logical explanation would be that the P10s flash fires a pre-flash before the main flash. The pre-flash triggers the Bonica leaving it no juice left for the main flash (which is what illuminates the subject during shutter release). I'm afraid you'll either need to get a strobe that's pre-flash aware or change the camera to one that doesn't fire a pre-flash or gives you the option to turn pre-flash off.