A570IS Underwater modes...?

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Medic0506

Contributor
Messages
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Location
Coventry, RI
# of dives
200 - 499
So after much research and debate I ended up purchasing the A570IS and the WP-DC12 housing. I made myself very familiar with the camera but I have some questions for anyone who has used this camera underwater... First off do you use auto WB, do you set it underwater, or do you use the underwater WB? Do you use full manual underwater, full auto, or some priority in-between? and, Do you use the special underwater scene mode? I just want to get a good idea of what works best with the camera. Thanks.

-Jim
 
So after much research and debate I ended up purchasing the A570IS and the WP-DC12 housing. I made myself very familiar with the camera but I have some questions for anyone who has used this camera underwater... First off do you use auto WB, do you set it underwater, or do you use the underwater WB? Do you use full manual underwater, full auto, or some priority in-between? and, Do you use the special underwater scene mode? I just want to get a good idea of what works best with the camera. Thanks.

-Jim

Regardless of the brand JPEG camera, manual settings produce the best underwater photos. Auto white balance is the least desirable setting for underwater. Use "cloudy" or "sunny" white balance for your strobe shots. Compare and see which of the two yields the best results. Usually it's the "cloudy" setting. Calibrate your white balance off a dive slate for non-strobe shots. The "underwater" settings are arbitrary and cannot be an all encompassing setting. Granted they will yield better results than "auto" white balance but not better than calibrated white balance.

Always remember to switch your white balance settings between strobe and non-strobe shots. If you forget you will get a red photo using non-strobe calibrated (custom) white balance on a strobe shot.
 
So after much research and debate I ended up purchasing the A570IS and the WP-DC12 housing. I made myself very familiar with the camera but I have some questions for anyone who has used this camera underwater... First off do you use auto WB, do you set it underwater, or do you use the underwater WB? Do you use full manual underwater, full auto, or some priority in-between? and, Do you use the special underwater scene mode? I just want to get a good idea of what works best with the camera. Thanks.

-Jim

Medic0506,

Try going to Bucaneer's post on "My Settings" for an Oly SP350. I know you have a A570 (I have the A720) but much of what is in the Oly "My Settings" will pertain to your Canon.

Here's what I found on my recent trip:

- full auto works pretty good if you are in clear, shallow water (less than 6m or so) and bright sunlight
- I wasn't able to use my MWB option because as it turns out the directions in User Guide didn't work. When I went online to CanonUSA after I got home I found that the MWB instructions on their website were different than the User Guide.
- below 9-10 meters I usually used the "cloudy" setting for WB. I did some comparison shots using "cloudy" and "UW WB" at depths greater than 9-10 meters and didn't notice much difference.
- above 9 meters I usually used the "sunny" WB setting unless it was early or late in the day or cloudy in which case I went back to the "cloudy" WB setting.

Most important is to get very familiar with all of the buttons and how to change settings "on the fly" before you travel or use the camera. Of course, I didn't do that because I only bought my camera 2 days before I left but I soon realized the error of my ways. The good news is since you are shooting digital you immediately know if you made a bad shot unlike film.

In addition to that I'd recommend:

- you read Alicina's musings on U/W photography. This is a great source of info for us beginners. They can be found at:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/un...tting-started-dslr-maybe-look-here-first.html

- keep your camera in the Macro mode at all times. It will work just fine shooting longer range shots and you won't forget to switch to Macro when you do want to shoot Macro.
- practice how to turn your flash on and off and adjust camera flash levels until you can almost do them with your eyes closed. You'll find when shooting Macro you will have to reduce your flash level otherwise the picture will be way over-exposed, especially if you are shooting against a light colored background (e.g., sand or light colored coral or rock)
- learn how to shoot in the Manual mode
- if you have access to a easy to reach reef from where you live or a house reef at your dive resort take some time to go out there and find something that won't move but is somewhat interesting and shoot, shoot, shoot and then shoot more pictures of the same object while varying f-short, ASA, shutter speed, WB, full auto and see what happens as you change your settings.
- I usually kept the camera in the "center weighted" focus mode. I used "spot" focus mode for Macro shots and "center weighted" for most everything else except of course when I would occasionally forget to switch to "spot" for a macro shot.

Hope this helps and remember the following mantra "closer is better" for just about everything you will be shooting.

Rickg
 
I was only ever able to use my A570 in a cold quarry so the water is green instead of blue. However, I found that the cloudy and underwater settings provided the best results and were pretty much equal. Here's a link to my website. Along the top you'll see Auto, Cloudy, U/W. These are all the different settings I tried using the A570. I never took the time to do what some of the others say to do with putting it in manual mode and all. I think the pictures came out fine. I suggest always using the flash. Get some of the Energizer NiMH Rechargeables that are the 2500mAh. All of that will be on the top of the packaging. This type of rechargeable is better than the old NiCad's. You can buy it with a small wall charger that charges 4 batteries at a time. The macro thing isn't a bad idea, I may do that once I replace my A570 that is currently floating around the Caribbean Sea right now.

Aaron's Website
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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