Canon S95 Underwater tips

[fncrow]

Hey, so i just took my S95 underwater for the first time today. I have the Ikelite housing, with the AF35 strobe and whatever wide angel lense Ikelite sells with a red filter.

I read the uwphotographyguide.com stuff and what i gathered from reading the guide was to use M mode, RAW, set my F value from 5 to 8, ISO 100, shutter speed of 1/30 for still objects and go to town.

So my first few shots i took basically with those settings and they came out black. So i moved my aperture to around 2 to 4 and kept everything else the same.

Here are the better of the photos i took. Miami Diving | Facebook

Does anyone familar with the S95 have any setting tips for me? I feel that maybe i need to move closer to the subjects but it was hard in some cases due to coral being in the way or fish not letting me get close enough. I've seen people post pics they have taken with the S95 so i know it can do good things so any help to get me there is appreciated.

 

[NautilusCairns]

I'm a bit of a newbie as well, but you need to get a lot closer so the strobe will start picking out the colour. Where were you diving? It looks a bit desolate.

 

[Divernoob]

If your pics are coming out dark, you're either too far away, or your strobe isn't firing (or not set high enough). Also, if you want crisper pics, that shutter speed should be upwards of 1/125 second. Here's a shot I got with my S90 and Ultramax strobe on full blast (F 7.1, 1/160 and ISO 100):

 

[Nemrod]

Do you use manual exposure for surface photography? Probably not except for special circumstances. I don't understand why people, who rarely use manual on the surface, put a camera in a housing and then think they should suddenly use manual exposure for everything. I would suggest you shoot in Av(Aperture Priority Auto Exposure) and use the ring control to bias the exposure up to +/- two full stops to suit the shot and your tastes. There is little reason for general shooting, especially in clear, shallow, well lighted water to shoot in manual exposure mode. Even using a strobe, most strobes have auto exposure capability and the camera including the S95 have auto exposure strobes and strobe exposure compensation capability that Inon and YS strobes can mimic via their optical cables and internal programming.

Also, I don't think your strobe is synced with your camera. Your shots look like they were natural light only thus their being dark when shot at f8 and ambient light exposure at f4 was sufficient to get a bluish photo. You need to make sure the AF35 strobe is set for the correct pre-flash setting. The S90/95 does not, repeat, DOES NOT pre-flash when set to Manual exposure but does preflash in Auto and Program and has selectable pre-flash/no pre-flash (manual or auto strobe selection) in Av and Tv. Thus your strobe pre-flash detection settings must be altered to suit your camera exposure mode.

N

 

[Divernoob]

I shrunk the above image down for posting purposes. Here's crop of the full sized version to give you an idea of the detail I was able to capture:

 

[fncrow]

Do you use manual exposure for surface photography? Probably not except for special circumstances. I don't understand why people, who rarely use manual on the surface, put a camera in a housing and then think they should suddenly use manual exposure for everything. I would suggest you shoot in Av(Aperture Priority Auto Exposure) and use the ring control to bias the exposure up to +/- two full stops to suit the shot and your tastes. There is little reason for general shooting, especially in clear, shallow, well lighted water to shoot in manual exposure mode. Even using a strobe, most strobes have auto exposure capability and the camera including the S95 have auto exposure strobes and strobe exposure compensation capability that Inon and YS strobes can mimic via their optical cables and internal programming.

Also, I don't think your strobe is synced with your camera. Your shots look like they were natural light only thus their being dark when shot at f8 and ambient light exposure at f4 was sufficient to get a bluish photo. You need to make sure the AF35 strobe is set for the correct pre-flash setting. The S90/95 does not, repeat, DOES NOT pre-flash when set to Manual exposure but does preflash in Auto and Program and has selectable pre-flash/no pre-flash (manual or auto strobe selection) in Av and Tv. Thus your strobe pre-flash detection settings must be altered to suit your camera exposure mode.

N

I use Av mode mostly on the surface unless im using vivid color or some other preset. I went with manual since thats what all the guides say to do and so i could adjust shutter speed which i dont think you can do in Av mode.

I'll look into the strobe sync thing but i know it fired everytime my cameras flash fired.

Im going out again saturday so i'll try everything everyone is suggesting.

 

[chris196]

The strobe may be firing but not in sync with your image capture.
Simple test to test sync. Take a picture looking at a mirror. If you see the strobe firing in the mirror in the captured image, you have sync. Test in all modes you plan on using.

 

[fncrow]

yea its definitely synced.

ive been messing with it set to Manual, 1/160, F8, ISO100, WA lense, set to Macro and the strobe on various power levels taking pics of various things in the house. I think my main issue was just being to far away from things when i was in the water. Hopefully saturday is an improvement, i'll be sure to post pics for comparison here.

 

[Nemrod]

I use Av mode mostly on the surface unless im using vivid color or some other preset. I went with manual since thats what all the guides say to do and so i could adjust shutter speed which i dont think you can do in Av mode.

I'll look into the strobe sync thing but i know it fired everytime my cameras flash fired.

Im going out again saturday so i'll try everything everyone is suggesting.

I would say that in many cases all of the "guides" are wrong. You asked yet when suggestions are made you say your original position is better? If you are using Av on the surface then I think you should use Av underwater, at least in the beginning. The "Vivid' color setting will work with Av as will most any other preset.

yea its definitely synced.

ive been messing with it set to Manual, 1/160, F8, ISO100, WA lense, set to Macro and the strobe on various power levels taking pics of various things in the house. I think my main issue was just being to far away from things when i was in the water. Hopefully saturday is an improvement, i'll be sure to post pics for comparison here.

If by "WA" lens you mean a wide angle lens, why pray tell are you set to macro? Further, a "setting" of f8 and 1/160 second shutter will only be correct for one single, particular shot, f4 and 1/250 may be correct for another scene, I don't understand the fixation on a "setting" when no single setting can be correct for all possible situations.

An underwater strobe, be it an Ikelite or an Inon or a YS, big or little, none are good beyond about five feet maximum, beyond that distance ambient light will predominate. Of course at night or dusk, it will just be plain too far away, during daylight you would typically get under exposed or bluish cast photos.

Well, good luck to you.

N

 

[firstdive2005]

Thanks fncrow for your thread. I just got this camera also and have only played on surface.
I appreciate your experimentation with the camera so far. As nemrod has corrected the tryouts I wont need to do that. I feel like I'm cheating on an exam. lol.
Thanks nemrod for taking the time to share your skills. I cant wait to help someone like that with their camera once I master it too.
Good shooting to ya fncrow!!