Shooting with a D800 - need some advice please

I recently finished my first dive trip with my new D800 and boy was it a shock. Whilst I was eventually able to take some fairly good shots with the camera I can't say I ever got to the stage where I felt confident or comfortable with it. I have thoroughly read the manual for the D800 as well as both the essential and advanced guide to digital underwater photography.

Of course it probably didn't help that it is my first DSLR camera but even so I wasn't really prepared for the steep learning curve. I know I probably should have gone with something more basic but my previous outfit was a Sony RX 100 with nauticam housing that costs me close to $3000. I didn't want to go entry level DSLR only to have to replace it again in another year or so.

I was therefore, hoping that a few of our more experienced poeple who have shot with the D800 underwater might be able to answer a few queries regarding some of the settings.

Firstly though I should outline what my setup is. I'm using the Nauticam housing with 2 Inon Z240 strobes. I have a Nikon 14-24mm for wide angle and the Nikon 60mm for closer stuff. The 14-24mm I'm using a 8 inch acrylic dome port and the 60mm a macro port.

The area I'm most uncertain on is the auto-focus, metering and strobe settings for each of the lens. Whilst the manual is somewhat useful I still find myself wondering whether the settings I'm using are optimal. Should I be shooting AFS or AFF, wide or spot focus etc etc.

For the 14-24mm I shot AFS on wide area AF and wide metering with strobes on TTL. I'm thinking I should probably have been shooting ambient given very little of what I was shooting was CFWA. I shot in manual, 100 ISO, with aperture and shutter speed adjusted according to conditions. I did find it difficult to get correct exposure on the focal subject of the shot without having the area of the shot where the sunlight was being overexposed.

For the 60mm, (after originally shooting the same settings as with the 14-24mm doh) I eventually realised something wasn't right and changed to AFF with spot focus and center weighted metering. This worked reasonably well although I found the auto-focus would continually search. I also was struggling with getting sufficient depth of field on some of my shots whilst retaining a high enough shutter speed on moving targets like clownfish. Is it a case of choosing a higher F stop and bumping up the ISO in these cases?

Finally can anyone point me in the direction of a useful resource in terms of strobe settings. I've been running in TTL mode as I'm basically clueless on the manual settings. I think the toughest thing I'm finding is co-ordinating all the settings together with the lens and strobe to take the right photo for the conditions.

I'll post a couple of my better photos when I get back to my home computer (and maybe a couple of not so good ones) if anyone wouldn't mind critiquing.

Hi D,

I shoot with a D7000 but it's pretty similar. You have asked a lot of questions, but without seeing your pics, it's hard to diagnose what's going on. But let me offer the following:

First of all, I'd dump the TTL metering and shoot manual. I don't know any successful UW shooter that uses auto. It just doesn't work very well. I'd also bump up the ISO a bit to 200 or so. Start with strobes on about 1/2 to 2/3 power, f8, 125th and I suspect you'll grab some decent starting exposures. With the 14-24, you would want to use the wide angle AF as you are doing. Review each shot as you take it and learn about histograms as they will be better than your eye.

Also, make sure you are using the correct extension ring for your dome and lens combination. My first housed DSLR came to me previously owned and the owner had been using a ring that wasn't deep enough. He never complained about focus, but I could see it at once in the corners of the images.

With the 60, you are also right about the AF... spot focus is the way to go. If you want your subject to be off centre, focus, then use your focus lock to hold that while you recompose. Trying to nail a moving target is tricky, so take lots of shots... and shoot with the smallest aperture you can... at least f11 if you can. (That's where the higher ISO comes in...)

If your lens is hunting, then it probably doesn't have enough light. I use the same lens (everyone does) and it's very good in low light, but you might consider adding a focus light. I use DS161s and often use the video lights for that purpose when shooting macro. They also help to see the true colour and brightness of the subject which allows me to tweak my exposures.

Also, I find many people shoot with much higher shutter speeds than they need to. Shooting with a slower shutter speed will allow a smaller aperture and so a greater depth of field. "Stuff" underwater really isn't moving all that fast. but I rarely shoot at more than 1/100th. (I suppose this a throw-back to my old Nikonos III which would only sync at a 60th. I tend to shoot a lot of wrecks, and they really don't move much at all. I have been known to plant myself on the bottom and shoot at a 40th and slower to let in lots of natural light... (see below... )

I'd also highly recommend Martin Edge's book. It should be mandatory reading for every UW photographer...
The Underwater Photographer: Martin Edge: 9780240521640: Amazon.com: Books

You have an awesome system there, so you can't blame any lack of success on the hardware, so try these suggestions and shoot as much as you can in as many conditions as you can and before long you'll be getting some great shots!



This is a wreck called the Forest City. I'm in about 160' in the Lake Huron and it's relatively dark there. This was shot at f5.6 and 1/30th, ISO 200 to get the small amount of ambient light available.



On the other hand, this juvenile angel was wagging back and forth like a can-can girl. It's about the size of my thumbnail. I shot about 20 frames before I got one that was sharp. This was f16 and 1/200th but making full use of both strobes.

Thanks for the reply Stoo and nice photos

The focus light sounds like great advice. I have a Sola 800 but I used it only on the night dives on this trip. Doh!

In terms of slower shutter speeds my only question would be what if I'm shooting fast moving stuff like clownfish (or the angelfish in your photo above). I found most of my clownfish shots were not quite sharp at 1/125 and was advised by the onboard trip photographer to try and shoot at 1/250 for them. I guess in these cases should I set strobes on full close down the aperture and try the higher shutter speed?

---------- Post added September 26th, 2013 at 04:25 PM ----------

Sorry one more question with regards the strobes.

If I set them on manual, with a camera like the D800, would I be setting the ACC to "on" or "off"? I seem to recall I had an issue with the strobes not firing the first couple of times I dived with them when I had the strobe setting on TTL and the ACC at "on".

I shoot with a D7000. I have a long history of shooting SLR and DSLR so I was not starting from zero.

I shoot raw format which allows adjusting white balance without penalty in post processing.

I also shoot manual. I often set my F stop anywhere from F8 to F14. On macro shots, one needs to go higher on the F stop to get the needed depth of field especially on crustacians.

I shoot a shutter speed at around 1/200. Sometimes I vary that.

I use 2 strobes and a focus light. The focus light is critical on many macro shots.

I run the ISO from 100 to 800 dending on conditions.

I would strongly suggest that you get really familiar with the camera. Shoot topside with your lenses. Try to get a feel for them.

If you can, take you rig to a pool and shoot people and small objects to get the hang of the thing.

For focusing, I use the AFL button on the back of the camera. That way, I have separated focus from taking a shot. It is much more precise.

One common problem is backscatter. This happens when your strobe lights up particles in the water between the lens and the subject. To avoid this, you want to set your strobes so that the cones of light from them light up the subject and not the water in front of the subject. That is a bit tricky.

For exposure, I typically do a ranging shot and check the histogram.

There are a number of rules to follow and like any rules in creative situations, they are just guidelines. First, get close. It makes for a sharper photo. 5' is long range.

Second, never shoot down. Get as low as possible and try to shoot up.

Third, remember often you will see a great subject but the shot just is not there. It is much less frustrating realizing that it just is not going to happen and looking for a better situation.

There are many more rules. Like Stoo, I have and highly recommend Edge's book.

I often use Subsee wet diopter on my 60 mm macro. It flips up and is really handy for magnifying the image.

You have the port for it. You might think of the 15 mm Sigma fisheye. A fisheye lens can work very nicely underwater. I have the Tokina 10-17 which is a dx lens.

When I started with a DSLR, I took Reef Photos Macro work shop in West Palm Beach. It really helped flatten the learning curve. There are a number of people offering these things and digital work shops. You might think of trying it.

It takes a while to get the hang of it. Good luck to you.

Your D800 has great low light capability, and as a full frame has less depth of field than you're used to on your point and shoot. Up your ISO to 800, tighten up your aperture as much as possible while still getting adequate light with the shutter speed you want. For wide, you can go 1/30 and still freeze the shot with your strobes. For macro, either open the aperture if you want a blurred background or use a high ISO with high shutter and tight aperture.

D, certainly you will want a faster shutter speed for a clownfish. They move faster than shipwrecks! As Pat has suggested, use your camera as much as you can. While it's tempting to fire off topside shots with auto everything where it works, get used to shooting in manual. It doesn't take long to get a feel for the the relationship between aperture, shutter speed an ISO. They basically all do the same thing in different ways. And they're "units" are all equivalent... up one here and down one there yields the same exposure, but different DoF and so on...

I shot film in various Nikonos systems for 30+ years before I went to a housed DSLR. When I did, I found it amazingly simple and got great results on the first dive. So play with the camera, read Martin's book and shoot as much as you can. You'll be getting bangin' shots in no time!

I'd like to thank everyone for their really helpful advice. Very much looking forward to getting out there and putting some of it into practice.

I predominantly shot in manual mode even when using a compact camera (RX100) and have continued the practice with the D800. Some things I'll take away from everyones posts are:

Use the focus light to help the auto focus on macro shots.
Use the camera's capabilities by shooting with a higher ISO to allow me to bump up the shutter speed when needed whilst maintaing DOF on my aperture setting.
Certainly the consensus seems to be obtain a thoroughly familiarise myself with Martin Edge's book (everyone seems to rave about it).
Get low and shoot up.

I really like PatW's comment "Third, remember often you will see a great subject but the shot just is not there." On my last trip I took a number of Lionfish shots where the fish in question was badly positioned in terms of background. I still tried to take the shot but the results were very ordinary. In hindsight I was really wasting time I could have spent on better subject matter.

Pat in terms of your suggestion to do the exposure ranging shot and check the histogram, as a general rule what should I be looking for on the histogram?

Anyways, it seems like I'm halfway there. But the tips and hints everyone has supplied will certainly help a lot

And post some stuff so we can all make fun of it!

Oh, and my kid just moved to Byron Bay yesterday... So I might show up on your doorstep one day to go diving. I hear it's pretty good over there!

Finally been able to figure out how to upload a few of my photos. Most of my macro shots are on another memory card but I think the wide shots show some of the exposure issues I was having. The lionfish shot is one of the few shots I was really happy with. There was quite a lot of sediment and I've cleaned out a lot of back scatter but it wasn't bad considering.









This final shot I would have been very happy with apart from the softness on the bottom edge.

Its a bit hard to see on those pics, but do you have blur/"softness"/bad focus in the corners of the WA shots? could look like it on the last one and if so it could be the lens port thats causing it and it might be corrected with a closeup lens..

With regards to macro shots, even with high appertures youll get good dof with dslrs.
Granted, this is not a fullframe and my lens is a significantly higher focal length, this is basically my "go to settings" for macro (just ignore the top line of the exif...)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/89057162@N03/9305237423/meta/in/set-72157635349236402