Exposure settings

[emcbride81]

I apologize if this has been beaten to death before, but my search didn't hit on this.

I just picked up my first camera, Sea Life 600. I was wondering what exposure setting would be best for underwater shots in Coz/Playa vis? It goes from -2.0 to +2.0

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Exposure settings are rarely changed from either default or auto by most underwater photographers as far as I know. There are plenty of other adjustments to master before exposure would knowledgeably be played with. After you master the other settings, you would probably not need to adjust exposure.

 

[RonFrank]

The DC600 is missing manual mode for exposure settings. IOW's, there is not direct aperture, and shutter control, the camera *figures it out* for you.

The manual exposure compensation is used to adjust the exposure up to 4 stops (-2~+2). The time to use this is when you check your histogram, and the exposure is off! If the histogram is spiking or heavy on the right (overexposure) than back down the exposure up to two stops. If the histogram is spiking on the left (underexposed) than increase the exposure.

It's too bad Sealife did not include a M mode on this camera.

 

[Saltwater Junky]

With a camera that is automatic like the Reefmaster Mini and the DC 600 to make any adjustments to exposure you can adjust the ISO. I like ISO 200 because the camera will select a faster shutter speed for better stop action. The "Sea Mode" automatic color correction settings are useful if you do not want to play with the white balance. It has settings for shallow and deep. My Reefmaster Mini's shallow setting is less than 25ft and the deep setting is 25ft or more. The DC600 is probably similar. Definitely invest in an external strobe. The onboard flash creates a good amount of scatter. From my experience I found in 60+ ft viz depths of 25ft or less you really do not need to use strobes unless your wanting to create a certain look. Hope this helps.