Iso

[vikingcues]

I have a fuji f10 with an ISO range of 80 to 1600 what would be the best ISO just using the cameras flash? Has anyone used the f10 underwater? Thanks BILL

 

[justleesa]

I don't have a fuji, but my camera has ISO settings and I have it set to 64....If I would go higher I would get more noise. If I use the strobe/flash I adjust the other settings accordingly. Best you try what works best for you.

 

[alcina]

Start as low as you can. If your conditions are darker, you may need to bump it up a little bit.

You will likely have to experiement to get the best balance between ISO and apertures (you don't want to shoot wide open all the time - images look a little soft IMHO). I don't think that camera allows you to adjust the aperture manually, but I think you can see what aperture the camera chose. If it is always shooting wide open, I would try to bump the ISO up one notch to gain a little sharpness without too much added noise.

The higher the ISO, the higher the noise (looks like dots). Especially visible in blues, water backgrounds and shadows. Best thing to do is have a play and post your results - this is looking like a popular little setup so I am sure others will chime in with help and would also like to hear what you find out!

 

[gert7to3]

Here's a link to a review of your camera, specifically the ISO testing:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/F10/F10PICS.HTM

Image noise was a major factor with consumer level digital cameras, but there has been steady improvement. Newer cameras are pretty good up through ISO 200. Camera motion picked up with a slower shutter speed will degrade an image more than high ISO induced noise. Using slightly higher ISO's will reduce this problem and permits smaller apertures to be used, increasing depth of field.

I settled on ISO 200 with the Sony P-5 and P-10 cameras I have used.

I think you ought to do some testing to see how your camera's images appear at different ISO settings.

 

[RonFrank]

I have a fuji f10 with an ISO range of 80 to 1600 what would be the best ISO just using the cameras flash? Has anyone used the f10 underwater? Thanks BILL

There is NO best setting

This is why we have brains.. to make these life or death complicated decisions.

As the flash on the camera is next to worthless (as are all tiny PnS flashes), you will need to either rely on a very close subject distance, wide open aperture, higher ISO, or some of all three.

Under good lighting conditions, you should be able to use ISO 80-100.

However this is all relative to what settings you are using (or in this case the camera is selecting for you I guess). If it's picking unmanagable shutter speeds with wide open apertures, it's time to jump up the ISO.

The good news is that this camera actually has reasonable and a usable ISO range of 400-800, and even 1600 is not horrible. Pity there is so few manual controls on the F10 zoom.

The direction of PnS scares me a bit as better shooting camera's come more and more dumbed down... Guess that is what JoeQPublic wants.

 

[localdivah]

There is NO best setting

This is why we have brains.. to make these life or death complicated decisions.

As the flash on the camera is next to worthless (as are all tiny PnS flashes), you will need to either rely on a very close subject distance, wide open aperture, higher ISO, or some of all three.

Under good lighting conditions, you should be able to use ISO 80-100.

However this is all relative to what settings you are using (or in this case the camera is selecting for you I guess). If it's picking unmanagable shutter speeds with wide open apertures, it's time to jump up the ISO.

The good news is that this camera actually has reasonable and a usable ISO range of 400-800, and even 1600 is not horrible. Pity there is so few manual controls on the F10 zoom.

Ron,

I have the Fuji F11 and have been playing with the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO above water. Underwater, I understand that as on shore, I want to keep the ISO as low as possible to avoid noise. However, like you said, I have two other levers -- subject distance, aperture, and shutter speed.

What is the general principle that I should use to make decisions about balancing the use of these 3, given underwater conditions? It seems that I would rather deal with the noise a bit, especially with the useable ISO 1600. But, since I have control over shutter and aperture, what else should I be playing with? In other words, should I force shutter priority to avoid blue and adjust the other settings? What are the costs of having a wide open aperture?

If there's a good basic underwater photography resource or book that discusses the interplay of these controls, I'm all ears.

Cheers,
Louie

 

[Warren_L]

Ron,

I have the Fuji F11 and have been playing with the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO above water. Underwater, I understand that as on shore, I want to keep the ISO as low as possible to avoid noise. However, like you said, I have two other levers -- subject distance, aperture, and shutter speed.

What is the general principle that I should use to make decisions about balancing the use of these 3, given underwater conditions? It seems that I would rather deal with the noise a bit, especially with the useable ISO 1600. But, since I have control over shutter and aperture, what else should I be playing with? In other words, should I force shutter priority to avoid blue and adjust the other settings? What are the costs of having a wide open aperture?

If there's a good basic underwater photography resource or book that discusses the interplay of these controls, I'm all ears.

Cheers,
Louie

Much of these principles are the same in water as they are on land, but the difference really is in the application of these principles as they are relate to an underwater environment. With ISO, you would generally use as low an ISO as possible as higher ISOs typically introduce a greater degree of noise. But that does not mean that moving up to a higher ISO is necessarily a bad thing. If the situation warrants it, by all means.

As Ron indicates, there is no "best" setting as you need to adapt to situations as they change. Underwater, you can typically go with a slower shutter speed than on land, as camera shake may not be as much of an issue. If your subject (or you) is not moving quickly, a slower shutter speed such as 1/30th sec or 1/15th sec may be acceptable (I shoot as slow as 1/8th at times if required) if you need more ambient light, whereas I'd be hard pressed to do the same on land. Opening up the aperture will also affect how much light comes through, but as on land, that changes your depth of field so focusing may become more critical.

I'm not sure what you mean by forcing shutter priority to avoid blue. Water will filter light differentially, starting with the shorter wavelengths first (reds, oranges) and cause a greenish-blue tinge to pictures, so to avoid this, you need to minimize the filtering effect. Which typically means getting close and having an artificial light source.

 

[RonFrank]

Ron,
What is the general principle that I should use to make decisions about balancing the use of these 3, given underwater conditions? It seems that I would rather deal with the noise a bit, especially with the useable ISO 1600. But, since I have control over shutter and aperture, what else should I be playing with? In other words, should I force shutter priority to avoid blue and adjust the other settings? What are the costs of having a wide open aperture?

I generally shoot in either shutter priority, or manual modes. I do this because I figure that the slowest shutter speed I generally like to use is 1/100, and I'm willing to sacrifice some DOF to achieve a sharp image. My way of thinking is this, what will ruin an image, or make it unacceptable. DOF (or lack there of) is generally NOT going to ruin an image, however an unacceptably show shutter speed can, therefore I fix the shutter.

Then the other factors come into play. Is it better to have a stopped down aperture or slower ISO? Well it depends on a number of factors including how wide one is shooting. Wide angle lenses provide incresed DOF by nature. I found myself using ISO 200 a lot in the FL Keys to gain a bit more DOF even if I would have been better off using ISO 100 to reduce noise. Lenses do NOT perform their best wide open, so I generally like to stop down to at least F4, and UW I like even more DOF than that.

So these are the difficult decisions that one must make when shooting, and you should be able to do so quickly. While you are in a setting selection delima, that shot is getting away So make some decisions about how you are going to approach the UW shooting, refine those decisions based on the conditions you find, and be ready to shoot when the opportunity presents.

If there's a good basic underwater photography resource or book that discusses the interplay of these controls, I'm all ears.

Cheers,
Louie

Here is a link to a book that looks good. Honestly, I've been doing photography for so long that I've never bothered to get a good UW photography book, and I should. There seems to be a lot of choices, but I'd suggest one that is recent and oriented towards digital. Techniques with a Nikonos are not going to be necessarily helpful using a camera that has WB setting and does NOT include a 15mm lens for example

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/15...f=pd_bbs_1/102-2532929-4684150?_encoding=UTF8

This book also looks good as while not digital, it addresses composition which is a very key element in any photography. It's also cheap :05:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/18...f=pd_bbs_5/102-2532929-4684150?_encoding=UTF8

 

[localdivah]

I understand shutter speed and ISO -- but what is the relationship between aperture and light gathering? If I put it on shutter priority, say 1/60 or slower to get more light, the camera automatically sets the aperture, so I have no choice. If I go to aperture priority, the shutter speed adjusts for my selected aperture and ISO.

From what I've seen, I'd like to keep the ISO low to reduce noise if I can compensate with aperture and/or shutter. If the subject is moving, I'll probably flip the dial to Auto mode, and let the ISO go high to catch the shot, or go with a faster shutter speed.

But if the subject isn't moving and I have plenty of time to set up the shot, what have you all found to be the bigger "lever" to pull to make up for low light underwater -- shutter speed or aperture?

BTW, Ron, thanks for the recommendation on the book. I will probably get both and read them while travelling in the near future.

 

[Warren_L]

These modes that you are using - shutter priority, aperature priority, etc. are really just automatic modes that allow you to adjust a variable, and the camera calculates the rest as far as settings are concerned. You can't really separate out one aspect and relate that to "light gathering" alone as the other factors, such as shutter speed and iso are calculated/set by the camera based on the dynamic lighting situation. In order to better control the amount of light and the quality of light that hits the camera sensor, you really should be working more towards manual settings and be getting away from these automatic modes.

For example, choose an ISO that appropriate for the conditions you are diving in. If you are worried about high noise, stick with a lower ISO like 100 or 200. On my camera, the lowest ISO is 200, which is what I shoot the majority of the time. Now you've eliminated one variable.

Now as conditions dictate, you really have to select a shutter speed/aperature combination that works for the shots you want. If you are using natural lighting, I would select the slowest shutter speed that will give you acceptable results. This, of course, depends on the conditions and what you are shooting and will give you flexibility in stopping up the aperature as required. Of course, it is always a balancing act, so if you need more light and cannot achieve it properly with the iso you are using, you can always adjust that.

If you are using strobe(s), this will give you more flexibility as you can adjust your aperature and shutter speed to provide more or less ambient light. Your strobe(s) will provide primary lighting on your subject and freeze the image while the combination of shutter speed and aperature controls aspects such as depth of field and ambient light in your shot. There is never really one right answer to the settings you should use, as it really depends on the effects you wish to achieve in your pictures. Bracketing I find to be useful - either manually or with some cameras, it can be done automatically. And that's the great thing about digital as you have instant feedback and you can often adjust your settings on the fly as appropriate.