"Blocking off" flash

[buff]

Hi Everyone!

Now I got this camera...it's cool...but I have this problem in that I don't know what I'm doing.

People tell me to "block off" the internal flash. But how much "blocking off" do I have to do...AND

The housing came with a "blast shield"(I like to call it that cause it sounds dangerous) that prevents the little black area from appearing on photos. Is this sufficient to prevent backscatter?

Thanks and sorry for the lousy posting but I"m almost too excited to write-I'm going to CocoView tomorrow!

Mike

 

[Larry C]

Some housings come with a piece of darkened film or plastic that you can slide behind the diffuser (the frosted plastic piece in front of the flash) Often people seem to use old negative film or black tape. Inon provides a clear strip with their optical cable kits that doesn't allow light through that will be reflected in the image. I've tried the black tape. My brand peels off a bit easily-amazing what crud you get for 99 cents these days. You can also go to the local plastic craft shop and get a piece of opaque plastic to install in place of the original frosted one.

 

[buff]

Again....Larry to the rescue.

I can rest comfortably once more...until the next emergency.

 

[kapula]

If you don't have an external strobe that you trigger by flashing the internal flash you can just switch it (internal flash) off This propably isn't what you were asking but this would be the easiest solution. Have fun diving!

 

[SteveC]

If you block the flash instead of turning it off, the image will be under exposed.

 

[kapula]

That's correct if camera doesn't meter the light from preflash (I'd suppose blocking flash wouldn't underexpose the pic then).

 

[herman]

If you block the flash instead of turning it off, the image will be under exposed.

Depends if you are shooting in manaul or not and you should be shooting manual UW.

If you can't turn it off, blocking it works well but remember if you are shooting macro or something close-1ft or less, you can and should use the internal flash.