I finally figured out my SP350...

[wreckchick]

Yeah, after two years I finally got around to reading the advanced manual so now I know how to work the darn thing. Took it out the other day for fun to play with the white balance settings...

Before...

After...

So, today when I get the opportunity to actually take a good picture... I KNOW HOW!!!

Go me!

Rachel

 

[apertyx]

Very nice -- now I want a camera like that!

 

[AndyT]

Great stuff !!! It's fantastic when you get your gear working for you !

 

[philip2711]

Hi Rachel Wreckchick,

Looks superb; as an SP-350 owner myself and four weeks away from my next dive trip, pray tell, what is the secret; like what were your WB settings, ISO, f stop, shutter speed, metering etc for those "before" and "after" photos.

Thanks in advance

philip

 

[wreckchick]

Believe it or not, I was just messing with white balance. Trying to figure out if I needed a slate or if the sand would work, what distance away, how to keep the strobe from firing and making it all red, etc.

The turtle shot was one-touch balanced against some not very white sand from about 4' away. The two with the china was balanced on a white slate from about 1' away. In truth the color is better in the 2nd shot than the turtle picture, but it showed me that it's not really important that it's WHITE white and at exact shooting distance (the turtle was literally 2' from my head) but that doing ANYTHING makes a huge difference. The rest of the settings were auto.

R

 

[ce4jesus]

If you're like me and don't get out too often, you might consider absorbing the extra wait time and shoot in RAW. If you get that wonderful shot, you won't have to worry too much about lighting and white balance as you can adjust them in software.

 

[wreckchick]

I don't get to take pictures very often, but I dive a lot

I'm sort of a Luddite when it comes to photography. I'm perfectly happy to make the adjustments to the camera to get a good shot, but I sort of don't believe in post-processing. I want the shot to be the picture. No amount of Photoshoppery will cover poor photography skills so I want to be as close to the ideal as possible.

I have people telling me all the time I need to just shoot video and pull frames but I think that's cheating.

Also, RAW has a ridiculous write time with my camera.

R

 

[CheddarChick]

Very nice...Can't wait until the 21st of Feb & Curacao to get mine wet again

 

[certified diver]

Good going Wreckchick. I've been using the SP350 for a few years. It took a while to get it dialed in but a great camera once done. Say hello to Georgia B for me, please. She knows me as 'Larry' and in Key Largo. Thanx

 

[ce4jesus]

I don't get to take pictures very often, but I dive a lot

I'm sort of a Luddite when it comes to photography. I'm perfectly happy to make the adjustments to the camera to get a good shot, but I sort of don't believe in post-processing. I want the shot to be the picture. No amount of Photoshoppery will cover poor photography skills so I want to be as close to the ideal as possible.

I have people telling me all the time I need to just shoot video and pull frames but I think that's cheating.

Also, RAW has a ridiculous write time with my camera.

R

I can respect that. Sometimes post processing can make you lazy to get things right. I just remember how many times RAW saved a nice shot when I was shooting on vacation. Yes with type H cards you have a 7 second write time. That can be an eternity in some situations. But when I first started shooting (The SP350 was my first camera) the less I had to worry about underwater, the better. You know men...we can't multitask to save our lives