Shark dive help needed -- without my DSLR and only 1 strobe

[M DeM]

Hi Folks-


Well, my maiden voyage with my new-to-me housing flooded as soon as I hit 60'.

So now I'm stuck with my back-up which is a TG5 and one strobe, a YS-03 which has no power modifications.

I'm not real familiar with my TG-5, mostly because it doesn't have shutter priority which is how I usually shoot, nor does it have full manual. It also doesn't have rear-curtain, which sucks for a moving shark.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been in this situation, so could someone give me some tips? This is what I"m working with:

THE DIVE SITE:

• 65'
• 16 - 18' from the "feeding area" (behind a "wall")
• Went to the site today and the viz was decent (50'?) but I did macro.
• Possible sharks, though I doubt this makes much of a difference: Tiger, Reef, White tip, Bull, Lemon

THE CAMERA

• Aperture priority is the only "non-auto" mode.
• I *am* able to set a default ISO
• FL 4.5mm - 18mm (35mm equivalent 25mm - 100mm)

THE STROBE

• YS-03 (I have two YS-02's, but with Nikonos sync cables, not the F/O cables the housing takes for the compact)
• IT'S TTL ONLY.

Anyone with more experience have any recommendations?

 

[Chris Ross]

All I can say is good luck. At 18' =~ 6m and a flash with 20 guide number in air the f stop at ISO100 would be 3.3, but you not in air but in water so probably f 1.5 at full power if you can convince it to shoot at that power, this will depend on the camera but often TTL will underexpose flash underwater.

The field of view of the TG-5 at 25mm equiv FL is 5m horizontally at 5m distance. So putting all that together start at widest angle (25mm equiv), f2 and ISO100 and increase flash compensation till you get some light on the sharks and go from there, it may just get there or you may need to boost ISO a stop or so to get reasonable shutter speeds. Shooting up will make your water brighter which may help keep shutter speed enough to avoid motion blur. You want to shoot zoomed out as the lens is faster there.

 

[M DeM]

Th

All I can say is good luck. At 18' =~ 6m and a flash with 20 guide number in air the f stop at ISO100 would be 3.3, but you not in air but in water so probably f 1.5 at full power if you can convince it to shoot at that power, this will depend on the camera but often TTL will underexpose flash underwater.

The field of view of the TG-5 at 25mm equiv FL is 5m horizontally at 5m distance. So putting all that together start at widest angle (25mm equiv), f2 and ISO100 and increase flash compensation till you get some light on the sharks and go from there, it may just get there or you may need to boost ISO a stop or so to get reasonable shutter speeds. Shooting up will make your water brighter which may help keep shutter speed enough to avoid motion blur. You want to shoot zoomed out as the lens is faster there.

Thanks! I'll keep all those things in mind!

 

[Jun Lao]

suggest shooting raw and post process white balance during post, manual white balance at depth is a pain with Olympus cameras

the limits are
1. g/n 20 (10 meters in theory) may not be enough, especially if you dont have a wide angle lens and your shooting too far from the subject
2. problem with Aperture Priority is the camera thinks for you and it will bump down the shutter speed for sure, but then again, it may yield artistic shots when panned in sync with shark motion
3. agree with Chris shooting up (assuming using spot metering) as metering will kick in as it will recognize the brighter scene from above and readjust your whole image accordingly (brightening up the darker greys of image)

 

[M DeM]

So basically don’t bother with the strobe— probably all backscatter anyway.

Thanks for the suggestions guys! And two days ago a pregnant tiger pinned a feeder against the reef wall, so uh... maybe I’ll get some close ups.

(And the feeders don’t wear chain mail because it “slows them down.” Good lord.)

 

[SEMO Scuba]

Looking back at some shark dive pics I took with my E-PL1 a fews years back. ISO 400 at f6.3 turned out well. Some of the sharks will likely get closer than 16' to 18'.