Help on Sea & Sea MM2

Mampsa · Nov 1, 2006

Guys,

I'm currently playing around with the Sea & Sea Motor Marine 2 with YS60 strobes. After one role of film, had the pictures developed and when they came out they were shades of blue or green.

I asked my friend into photography what to do, he said to buy yellow filters. However after he saw the camera there was no thread to put it on.

Do you guys have any tips on how to make my photos better? This is just a film camera, all you can adjust is the distance, apperture and shutter speed. Does this camera have a chance of getting cool shots?

...aside from using photoshop after the pictures have been developed.

Kim · Nov 1, 2006

You have to get REALLY close for the strobes to throw enough light to bring out colour at depth. Anything more than a couple of feet away will only give you the blue/green that you are describing unless you are very shallow.

Mampsa · Nov 1, 2006

Kim:
You have to get REALLY close for the strobes to throw enough light to bring out colour at depth. Anything more than a couple of feet away will only give you the blue/green that you are describing unless you are very shallow.

Yes it did take better pics during our ascent. However, the picture I took of a nudibranch was really bad. I was real close to that, it was so bad I caould hardly see it on the photo.

Hmmm, maybe the strobe didn't function....

Thanks

alcina · Nov 1, 2006

Skip the yellow filters! Not sure what he was talking about there. The filters you would use underwater are red/orange. But skip the filters.

You must be close to your subject to get colour. Think about 3 -5 feet or so. If you are farther away than this - blue/green shots. You must also be aiming your strobes correctly. This isn't hard, but can take some tweaking to get right...but with film you can't see that until too late.

Yes, this system has the potential to give you nice shots.

Yes, the learning curve is going to be steeper and more frustrating than going digital because you can't see what's going wrong underwater.

Personally, for the price of film and developing and coming back with images that aren't what I wanted - I'd go out and buy one of the great, relatively inexpensive digitals and housing. ymmv

Kim · Nov 1, 2006

Mampsa:
Hmmm, maybe the strobe didn't function....

That's a possibilty. Mine doesn't always charge properly and I have to tap it sometimes to make it do so. If the strobe fires and you're taking a nudi pic then I'd expect colour at least. Other things can go wrong qua focus and exposure but colour should be there.

alcina · Nov 1, 2006

Mampsa:
Yes it did take better pics during our ascent. However, the picture I took of a nudibranch was really bad. I was real close to that, it was so bad I caould hardly see it on the photo.

Hmmm, maybe the strobe didn't function....

Thanks

Perhaps. But more likely the strobe wasn't aimed correctly to throw light on the nudi.

If the shot is out of focus, you could have been too close for the lens to focus.

Kim · Nov 1, 2006

alcina:
If the shot is out of focus, you could have been too close for the lens to focus.

Actually they are manual focus......it's possible to get wrong.

alcina · Nov 1, 2006

Yes, you can get it wrong - and you can't see it until too late (another tick in the win column for digital imho). But they also have a minimum focus distance that you can't be closer than or all images will be out of focus. This is the number one problem I see with divers and new cameras (any new camera) - and a lot of it is the "old timers" fault coz we always say "get close and then get closer!" But sometimes closer is just too close

Especially when trying to shoot a small subject, like a nudibranch, as we also tell everyone to "fill the frame". Sometimes it's easy to forget that you have to do those things as well as possible within your own camera's limitations! I know I've done it numerous times when swapping around systems and not thinking clearly

If it's the MMII camera, when you flip the dial the minimum focus distance is 18"...actually it's the same for the MMII-EX, pretty sure.

Mampsa · Nov 1, 2006

Thanks for the tips. Keep em coming.

Ya, its frustrating that you'd have to wait for the pictures to be developed. It looks like trial and error to me, but quite expensive cause of the developing fee and film.

By the way I think I am using the MM2 EX

Another question, what if you're pictures of a fellow diver? You can't take it too close or else body or face will be too big. You'd hve to take it from a distance and |I doubt if the strobes will be enough. Aside from shooting upwards, anymore tips?

Thanks again guys

alcina · Nov 1, 2006

Mampsa:
Another question, what if you're pictures of a fellow diver? You can't take it too close or else body or face will be too big. You'd hve to take it from a distance and |I doubt if the strobes will be enough. Aside from shooting upwards, anymore tips?

Thanks again guys

You might want to shoot more directly at the diver if you aren't going to use strobes. If you shoot upwards you can do silhouettes. If you want detail on the face you will need your "model" to have their face tilted so as much light as possible is hitting it. I wouldn't try for the whole diver with the standard lens. Get about 3-4 feet away and compose the best you can - you should be able to get some fill light from the strobe at that distance. If you move farther away, you're likely to make the strobes ineffective so double check the face has some light on it if you want details. Remember, the farther away you are, the softer your image will look due to the water inbetween you and the subject.

If you are going to stick with this system, you might want to think about add-on lenses.

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Mampsa

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Kim

Here for my friends.....

Mampsa

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alcina

Missing Diva.

Kim

Here for my friends.....

alcina

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Kim

Here for my friends.....

alcina

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Mampsa

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alcina

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