a6000/6xxx settings when shooting

[dkjens0705]

So I have to admit, I have never taken a professional UW photography class or attended a seminar. I am PADI OWSI and redundant diver certified, taught in Thailand a few years and now spend 3-4 months a year mostly solo diving Kata Beach and surrounding dive spots always with my camera.
My camera setup is Sony a6000/16-50mm kit lens/Meicon housing/2 x SymbiosisSS2 strobes/UCL-1, UCL-2, ASU-06 wet macro lenses and recently one 1200 Lumen ring lite. I also have a Canon EOS Rebel T6s/60mm Macro lens in a Meicon/Polaroid housing but don't like it.
When taking pictures using strobes I have always set camera to M, 1/160, ISO 100-200, AWB and adjusted A to my liking.

I am wondering what settings other UW photographers with same family of camera are using. So if you don't consider it a big secret what settings you use, I would really like to hear about them.

On my dive yesterday I did not bring strobes and set the camera to A, Auto ISO, UW Auto WB and just set A as to what depth of field I was looking for. Pictures actually came out better than expected and of course I can improve alot if using only ambient light more. I will mention that these dives do not exceed a depth of 40'.

Thanks, Jens

 

[gstrek]

That's pretty much how I have my a6000 set up shooting Manual but I am usually at f/8 to f/11. You didn't say how your strobes are set up (I am no familiar with the SymbiosisSS2) but I shoot manual mode with my S&S YS-01 and use the strobe adjustment dial to dial in the intensity.

Because the internal strobe on the a6000 is always in TTL mode, I adjust it to -3.0 flash compensation to trigger the external flash and more importantly to save camera battery. I also turn off the AF Illuminator and put the camera in airplane mode to save battery.

 

[Hoag]

I have an A6000 in a Nauticam housing with both the 16-50mm kit lens and the 10-18mm f4 lens. I have a pair of Inon S2000 strobes set to TTL (sTTL).

I shoot in Manual mode and AWB at typically around ISO 100, f5.6, and a shutter speed of 1/160 second if I am shooting on the kit lens. If I am using the 10-18mm, I will set the aperture to f4. Everything except the shutter speed is adjusted depending on the effect I want in the image, but my strobes are not powerful so I tend to use the fastest aperture I can and I live with what it does on the DoF.

 

[dkjens0705]

The Symbiosis SS2 strobe has GN32 and a 2000 Lumen video light attached. The strobe can be run in M (Level 1-15), TTL close up (1-8), TTL larger objects (1-8) and strobe (1-100). I can run focusing light at three levels as well as red light at two levels.

I usually set them at TTL close up Level 4 which for some reason seems to be brighter than M Level 15.

I will try to use them again (last two dives have been with the ring lite only) but set the camera to UWAWB which seems to bring more colors to objects out of the range of the strobes.