Question - SP-350 with underwater housing

[scubamgb]

Hi Everyone:

Am seriously debating getting the underwater housing for my Oly SP-350. I have read many threads on SB and know that for great photos a strobe is a must but if you had no dollars for a strobe, how well does the SP-350 take photos without a strobe/light?

Would be taking photos in the Bahamas on Medio Reef (going on Nekton May 23) - would hate to be on this trip and not even have photos (even not so good ones) .

Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[Wisnu]

keep close with the subject and in RAW
This picture was taken with internal flash only in jpeg, not too bad - at least in my opinon

 

[philip2711]

Hi Scubamgb, short answer is yes - worthwhile. I've had an SP 350 for a few years now and have had a fair share of success both without a strobe as well as more recently with one;

As you are probably aware the SP350 has a couple of auto scene settings for UW and also a pretty comprehensive range of manual settings which if if you're not already familiar with, then do get to know them before you get it into the water. But basically, using the camera's own flash (for which you can moderate the flash intensity) together with combinations of white balance, ISO, speed and aperture settings you can cope with most situations and overcome lack of strobe apart from really poor visibility or at depth. Flash will not fire on Super Macro mode.

I personally have the own brand housing - not the Ikelite so can't advise you on that part, but I'd say go for it - some photos will be poor, some average and some excellent but it'll take time and trial and error (not to mention a whole lot of fun) to get the balance in favour of the excellent.
ones.

One other bit of advice; make sure that you take 2-3 spare batteries and rotate their use.

Hope this helps - no good reason not to go for it and then with more experience (and another year of saving. start to look at strobes next time ;-)

 

[philip2711]

Absolutely always get as close as possible; shooting in RAW is optimum but the SP350 takes a good while to write the image to the card and therefore subsequent opportunity may be lost - I find it frustrating; I use maximum resolution and spot metering for close up....

 

[philip2711]

keep close with the subject and in RAW
This picture was taken with internal flash only in jpeg, not too bad - at least in my opinon

and that is truly an awesome shot!

 

[scubamgb]

Wisnu - that is an amazing picture and without a strobe!!!

I took the big jump and purchased the Olympus PT-030 underwater housing. I am no photo expert above or below water. I read so much about shooting RAW and all the others - apeture, shutter speed, white balance, ISO, etc...It gets so confusing

Any easy beginner tips for me? Again, no strobe. I know full well you will have to get close to your subject. I do know that there are 3 preset underwater scenes to use - one being macro. I will review my Advanced Operations CD to get the know the features more - hopefully without getting too confused. What other easy tips can anyone offer up for a beginner?

Many thanks!

 

[RockyHeap]

I disagree, No shooting in raw isn't a must, nor is a strobe, or even the internal flash. If you're relying on RAW to clean up grossly shot photos, then you should be getting exposures right during the shot, not pushing things on the PC

Sometimes depending on the shot, such as wide angle, and capturing a whole reef wall or school of fish, a strobe won't do doodly squat for you. MANUAL WHITE BALANCE, shooting off a white slate at depth works great to set what "white" is at depth.

Especially when your strobe dies on vacation.......sigh....yeah my DS-125 crapped out in Honduras....you have no resort but to shoot in manual white balance....and I'm glad it forced me to learn the technique.

In my opinion, the preset "underwater modes" settings suck, don't even bother with them.

The SP-350 joys are for it's manual controls, shutter speed/f-stop control as well as manual white balance. No it's not confusing.

Basic settings.

I normally shoot in macro mode, sometimes but rarely super macro, I love wide angle lenses, I'd buy an INON lens almost before a strobe, almost.......
ISO 100-200, 400 can get grainy.
Shoot the Highest F-stop you can, better colors and you'll not wash them out.
If possible don't shoot below 1/60th of a second.

Internal strobe is "okay" but is easily blocked by the housing, especially if you're using a wide angle lens. Yes a strobe of some sort is needed for shooting under a ledge or in shaddows.

Best advice, get Li-ion rechargable batteries (cheap off ebay) shoot shoot and shoot some more. I'll average 100+ shots per dive. I shoot exclusively in full manual mode, adjusting F-stop and shutter speed as needed for the conditions.

practice makes perfect.

here's some of my manual white balance work, from Roatan Honduras. I was playing with a INON 165 degree super wide angle fish eye lens.........drool....way cool compared to my 105 degree wide angle....165 is sweet........and no strobes were used, or could of been used, for all these wide horizon big reef pictures. I hadn't used Manual White Balance before, and now I'm a believer........

Learn all the features of the camera, 80% of good photos come from the user skills, not the camera itself.

 

[weaponeer]

The SP-350 is a great full-featured camera. I use mine with an Ikelite housing and strobe, and an INON WAL-100 lens. Before I bought the strobe, I used (WB) white balance (carried a white slate to depth for setting) and it did a good job of bringing the reds back. If you're shooting shallow, say 25 feet or less in clear water, WB isn't so critical, but the deeper you go, the more red you'll loose and your photos will come out very green. Photoshop can help color correction, but as already stated, it's best to get the shot right when you take it. If you get a strobe, be careful of your strobe placement in reference to your lens and subject. You don't want the strobe behind or beside the lens because you'll end up with lots of backscatter, ruining that great shot. An adjustable strobe arm will help to get the strobe flash on subject with as little water as possible between the lens and subject. If you're shooting wide angel full-reef shots, disable all flash and go with WB so there will be no backscatter. Just some tips based on my experience.