Getting the best of Ikelite AF35 Strobes

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Hintermann

Contributor
Messages
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Location
Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, UK
# of dives
500 - 999
I own a pair of Iklelite AF35 Strobes which I have been using with my Canon S95 camera (with Canon Housing) and an Inon wide-angle lens for the past few years. While I am generally happy with the results, I am not certain that I am getting the best out of the strobes and would like some advice.

I often shoot on impulse, like a moving shark or colourful reef fish, where there is no time to make adjustments. Having said that, I also like macro stuff like nudibranches where there is usually ample time to optimise the settings.

  • I set the S95 in the P (for Programme) mode usually but occasionally switch to the A (Aperture Priority mode. I have sometimes been tempted to remain in the A mode through the dive but the additional few seconds that it takes to adjust the aperture often means that a critter (the elusive clown triggerfish for example) gets away.
  • I shoot with the AWB (automatic white balance) setting. I'd like to use Manual WB but once again, the time factor is a problem.
  • I set the strobes at 5 on the side dial and on 'Auto' at the top.
  • With 4 rechargeable good quality 2800 mAh AA batteries, I find that the strobes charge very quickly and can very easily be used for 4 dives or about 100 flashes.
  • I position the strobes at the sides of the camera housing with the flexi-arms bent like inverted 'U' on either side. With that position I have practically eliminated backscatter.
  • I always use diffusers on both strobe heads.

With that setting, I encounter 2 problems that I have not been able to solve completely.

  1. Overexposure: This happens often when there is a white or pale sandy or silty background, especially during muck diving at night. I try to solve this issue, partly successfully, by backing off a bit and increasing the zoom. But how should I alter the camera or strobe settings to minimise this happening in the first place?
  2. Flare: Or at least that is what I think it is. If I am shooting with wide angle, there are a sometimes a couple of small "reflection bands" in the picture frame, corresponding to the position of the strobe heads. This is not a problem in zoomed pictures. I have only partly succeeded in eliminating this flare problem by pushing the strobe heads as far back from the plane of the front of the wide-angle lens. But with the short flexi-arms of the AF35, there is an obvious limit to the extent that this can be done.

I would appreciate any help or advice to reduce or eliminate these problems without creating new ones for myself.
 
Thank you for the inquiry. When shooting fast moving subjects I prefer to shoot in Tv Mode, which allows me to choose a faster shutter speed to freeze the subject, while the camera chooses the aperture (saving time). For everything else I almost always stay in A Mode because I want to have control over the depth of field.

You'll want to continue using AWB when using strobes. When you custom white balance the camera you are basically telling it that the object you are pointing at is actually "white" and to adjust all colors accordingly. The problem with this is that the "white" reference you are creating is gathered in ambient light and not when the strobes are firing. In short, the result of custom white balancing with a flash will be overly red photos because when the shot is taken the strobes have replaced all the colors filtered out by the water plus the camera is doing the same thing digitally. That being said, custom white balance is great for shooting video as you can gather your "white" reference with the same lighting that will be used during the clip.

As for the overexposure: Your trick of backing away and zooming in slightly is a great one and not something that most people think of doing. Additionally, I recommend tweaking the exposure dial on the strobe to help adjust the power output on certain shots. This will allow you to shoot the strobes in Auto/TTL while still providing exposure adjustment. When you're finished shooting the contrasting shot simply return the dial back to 5 for "normal" shots.

Flare: This can be difficult to eliminate sometimes as the wide angle lens is collecting light from many directions. It is typically caused by light coming into the lens, bouncing around, then coming into the cameras lens as a reflection. The best thing you can do is to reduce the reflective surfaces around the camera's lens (where it says "Canon zoom lens...). In the past I have used everything from a marker to a cut piece of construction paper to reduce reflectivity.

- John
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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