Just tried my Canon A75 and casing; need help!

Hi all,
I just tried my Canon A75 powershot and Wp-dc30 casing yesterday and need some help with something. Firstly, I've read several of the tip posts which were very usefull. But something is puzzling me and I need your help! Here is the lowdown...

I basically did a 1 hour test dive in my local swimming pool (14 feet deep and artificial lighting) and shot my heart away to test things.... I tested auto settings, manual white balance, manual aperture settings, manual shutter speed settings, with and without flash, video... You name it, I tested it... But I had big problems shooting without my flash (not strobe, just intergrated flash). I tried to see what I could get without a flash and was very disapointed. Despite my best efforts, there was not enough light (and yes, it was quite well lit in there) to get decent exposure! Even at 1/60s shutter speed! I eventually got decent exposure, but needed to go to very slow speeds (like 1-2 second shutter speed). So all these manually set pictures, without flash, came out underexposed. Wether at 3 feet, or at 15-20 feet... I came to figure that it was simply that there was not enough light to take decent pics without the flash. But then I checked my video I shot and was surprised! The video was awesome; crystal clear! And I was shooting from 20-25 feet away! The image is great! And the video function does not use an external light source!

So I was thinking, why can't I get a decent exposure without my flash on photo shots, but I can take great video?

Is this normal? Is it due to the way the camera functions? Or do you think I'm doing something wrong when taking pics without the flash? I'm no expert in photography, but it seems bizare!!!

Does anybody have any input as to this? Can anybody help me out? I'd like to understand why this happened (even if it's normal)....

Thanks in advance for your help! You are a great resource for beginers like me!!!

Hmm.. that sounds strange. I have a70 and haven't faced that kind of problems. 1st thing that came to my mind was ISO settings. What ISO does the video use and what settings did you use? When I used that a70 I never used zoom. Optics weren't that good to really get anything but underexposed pictures when zooming if water isn't crystal clear. What about your shots on land? Are those turning ok or is there something wrong with your camera?

Oh and I very seldom use internal flash. Mainly just manual w/b, no zoom just get close and macro mode (with a70 that is). Actually I seldom use internal flash of 8080 either but zooming all the way with better optics.

Hi Kapula, I hadn't thought of ISO at all! That sounds like a very possible source of my problem! I'm going to look into it and get back to you all.. Just for the record, I have 0 problems on land taking pics....

I'll post soon about results...

Thanks for your help!

Damnn!!! It was set at 50 iso!!!! No wonder it was dark!!!!!:shakehead :shakehead :shakehead :shakehead

So what should I set it at? 400? Or should I leave it at automatic so the iso is selected by the computer?

Thanks for the help!

Codman,

It depends on the lighting. To get the same "exposure", you can either use a high ISO speed with low shutter speed or lower ISO speed with faster shutter speed. The problem is sometimes the photos start to get grainy at higher ISO speed so there's a trade off.

I would not change your ISO or set it on auto <shudder>! All you'll do it get noisy images. I might increase my ISO if I absolutely had no choice and wanted the memory, but...

Other than experimenting, why would you want to turn your internal flash off? And if you did turn your flash off, did you then set your manual white balance?

Now, why is your video better? Simplisticly, because it's always gathering light. When you shoot stills you're only getting in the light you choose with your aperture and your shutter speed. When you shoot video the camera simply opens up and uses all the light around.

Thanks for the input Alcina and keeper! I played around with lots of stuff and have progressed by 1000% during my week in Roatan! Unfortunately, 1000% progress still leaves me at beginer level... But I did manage to take some surprisingly good pics! The best pics came out using the manual white balance. But in some instances, the flash was good too! I used 200 ISO, with speeds from 1/60 up to 1/400 in some cases (shallow high light conditions!). I've still got to experiment playing around with more adjustment combinations (need to play more with the ISO setting). And need to get better at focusing! I also need to make myself a leaning stick to prop myself up without damaging the coral (I was really carefull about this, chosing to get a lesser picture than get too close).

Anyways, my success was greatly due to all the help I found on this forum! Thanks to all!

Happy to help where I can...but where are the photos??? Start a new thread and post away - we want to see!

I'm still working the photos over in photo shop. I'm no pro, so I'm basically just doing auto-levels and auto-contrast when it actually improves the photo. When I get I chance, I'll post some... but be warned... they aren't award winning!!!!! Even the best ones are just pretty good...

Later!

Codman,

You are welcome! I picked up uw photography and learnt by trial-and-error. After 2 years, there's still lots to figure out... but hey, it's fun and absolutely satisfying.

Enjoy!