Lighting options with the DC1000?

[BHB ScubaTroll]

OK, some basics about how it happens... no McGyver, but I am one of those guys who walks every isle of the hardware store just to see what they have...

I first purchased the DC600 Elite camera set (one strobe, camera, mounting plate, wide angle lens and carry case)

After 1 1/2 years the mounting plate cracked (There are stress fractures at the place where the plate begins its angle down to the strobe). I searched for a replacement... $85 friggin bucks! Because it only comes with the swivel arm mount.

While I was thinking about buying it, my gf gave me the SL961 digital pro strobe as a birthday present (Hey, it comes with a mounting plate!) problem solved, but I could only use one strobe... (It was at this time when I took apart the strobe arm and learned the manufacturer's name for the "ball-socket" strobe arm. (A quick internet search shows that they sell the replacement parts online for about $10 by the way)

We were on a dive boat about 3 weeks later and the gf sat on the camera rig and cracked the mounting plate. I mentioned already I am the type of guy who walks the hardware store looking for "toys". I do the same thing at the local Boat US marine center (I don't own a boat, but they have cool stuff). Mine also has a "discontinued" section at the back of the store! Imagine walking isles of garage sale stuff that is in no particular order)

Well, on one walk (the weekend after the mounting arm crack), I found a sailboat portlight (if you see a tinted window on a sailboat, it is called a portlight). The first one I found was oval, surrounded by aluminum mounting crap... I was thinking "Hey, this is like 3/8" thick plexiglass. If I get rid of the aluminum, I can cut this on my cheapo table saw... hmmm"... Then I found a piece of the material without the aluminum marked $10 and it was approx. 6" x 13". Bells and whistles went off in my head... (2" x 12" or 2" x 13" makes 3 solid, sturdy plexiglass mounting plates for two strobes!) I have since found that you can purchase small pieces of 3/8" black plexiglass on eBay for $20 or less

Now, remembering back to the SeaLife mounting plate... It has a small plastic piece that holds the camera still on the mounting plate (That's the first piece of crap that broke off my original mounting plate) I tried everything to get the plate in "structural" order... Super glue, Crazy glue, the Super glue paste, JB weld... nothing worked. I was at the point of finding small stainless plates to screw into the plastic to stabilize the original mounting plate... BUT...

The only thing I really worried about with the plexiglass mount was how to stabilize the camera (someone on the DIY threads hammered a nail into a plate to keep the camera in place). I looked at all the parts from the plate and noticed the wide angle lens holder is screwed into a locking nut. My plexiglass solution would not have this locking nut, but if I increase the length stainless steel screw, I could use a stainless steel wing nut to hold the wide angle mount in place and set it so that the camera strap assembly could only move as far as the distance between the wings of the wing nut (It is the only thing that protrudes from the bottom of the camera housing, but this solution worked like it was designed to be there)

That takes care of a specialized sturdy mounting plate.
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The rest in the next post

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

SeaLife is up to the 1200 now... I have been shooting the 600 for several years. I have the advantage of being close to one of the foremost beach dives in the world... Blue Heron Bridge in Palm Beach, Florida. I can dive it often and have the benefit of some rare combinations of sea life that can be found nowhere else in the world...

Recently, I have had the advantage of diving it multiple times per week. This has allowed me to take thousands of pictures of the same subjects at the same depths in different water conditions.

Thousands of pictures allows for many changes of how the picture is set up... It is much less McGyver, and much more "McMany". Although I will say I took pictures with the focus light the first day with no "diffuser" and every one of them was burned out. I have friends who take lots of underwater pictures and they all have $5K rigs with backlighting, diffusers and "stacked" macro lenses, so I understand some of the lingo... just can't afford the lingo... So... I thought about the diffusers I have seen and simply realized I could probably cut into a white plastic bag or maybe two to get the light diffused to a more natural light... I tried some of the gf's hair ties to keep it in place but a rubber-band worked better...

I have taken pictures of nudibranchs with the wide angle lens and digital zoom in order to get the picture.

But, let me rank the order I place on the importance of the equipment I use other than camera and strobes...

Close up and macro shots

1. Contact lenses - I have multifocal lenses that allow me to read my dive computer. Before getting these, I took the picture and hoped it was what I wanted because everything was fuzzy whether it was in focus or not.
2. Focus light - This has improved the quality of my focus and shots more than anything else for close shots
3. + 10 diopter - I am still working with this but it has increased the definition of my shots for close shots

Distance shots
SeaLife's "sea" settings

Strobe shots
Dual strobe settings (I have never been able to use the auto settings without burning out the image)


... and on a final note... my SeaLife DC600 died two weeks ago

 

[MountainDrew]

Hey Cool,
I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experience, and the time it takes to type it up... much thanks.

You are very lucky to have the McMany advantage. The ability to try many setups yet keep it consistent within a dive is great. I live in Colorado so I have to really travel to dive in the ocean. I find myself trying different things and getting varying results, but all within a dive. So when it's over, I can't figure out which set up produced which results. I'll need to be more organized about it. And I'm very much looking forward to experimenting with a focus light as a result of reading this thread!

Sorry to hear about the death of your DC600. The death of my DC500 Elite is the reason I just got my DC1000 Maxx. I had an early version of it with several design issues but SeaLife fixed it up right and I got a lot of great shots with it. But I'd been wanting faster shutter speed, faster flash recycle, more pixes, and longer battery life, not to mention that I was intrigued with the idea of two strobes. So I was quite ready to upgrade when the DC500 died. Well actually it died twice. The first time I called up SeaLife (long after any warrantee was up and I had mentally prepared to pop for the upgrade and thought I had a good excuse), when they said "oh I've got an extra one here in the box, we can't sell it so I'll just send it out to you!". So there went my upgrade... I had to kill that one too before I could upgrade.

I gotta say that the great service I've recieved from SeaLife is what kept me in the SeaLife line of products for my upgrade.

Now, I've tested/practiced in a pool (indoors) with my DC1000 Maxx and the biggest problem I had (besides artificial light) was where in the world do you put your hand!!! I always wrapped my right hand around the right side of the camera and now there's hardly any room between that and the second strobe arm. And holding it over the top doesn't seem natual at all. So I too am thinking seriously about making my own custom mounting plate. I'll go back and re-read your post as I pursue that.

In the meantime, I did try one thing that is interesting. After removing the mounting screw going through the two plates and into the housing, I slid the plate holding the new strobe out so the wide angle lens clip screw hole lined up with the camera screw hole (I had to drill out the plastic on top) and put the mounting screw back in. Then I put a second mounting screw in the other hole and up into the other lens clip screw hole in the other plate. Everything fits and I've got about three inches between the camera and the strobe arm for my hand now - much more comfy. But it feels a bit wiggly because the exension further out puts even more pressure on the already questionably weak plate structure. But it did make me realize that with a few trips down those hardware store and marine supply store isles, I could probably make my owm custom plate out of one single piece of stronger stuff. I think there's a lot of things that would work.

I do have a question/clarification - the mounting screw going into the bottom of the housing does fasten it the to the plate no doubt. I think the "stabilization" you speak of is to prevent the housing from swiveling on the mounting screw. Is that right?

About the DC1200 - I found out it was coming right after I bought my 1000. However, besides the increased number of pixes, I think it is functionaly very much the same. The user interface is much different with the piano keys on the housing. That may make it easer to use even though (I think) the functionality hasn't changed much.

I think I'll close this post for now and see if I need to start another...

Steve

 

[MountainDrew]

Not so wordy for this one...
That equipment ranking is good - thanks.
I'll have to read up on that diopter business. I've never done much manual override stuff. But I think I need to get smarter about it to get to the next level with my shots.

Along with your shot types - I'm thinking, but have yet to try it, is for doing macro with two strobes and a focus light, that both strobes should be turned way down in power and be pointed off to the side of the subject...

I think you'll really enjoy Bonaire...

later,
steve

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

I do have a question/clarification - the mounting screw going into the bottom of the housing does fasten it the to the plate no doubt. I think the "stabilization" you speak of is to prevent the housing from swiveling on the mounting screw. Is that right?

That is correct. The stabilization prevents the housing from swiveling on the mounting screw... That is why there is a small plastic piece on the SeaLife strobe arm that fits into the bottom of your camera mount.

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

Not so wordy for this one...
That equipment ranking is good - thanks.
I'll have to read up on that diopter business. I've never done much manual override stuff. But I think I need to get smarter about it to get to the next level with my shots.

Along with your shot types - I'm thinking, but have yet to try it, is for doing macro with two strobes and a focus light, that both strobes should be turned way down in power and be pointed off to the side of the subject...

I think you'll really enjoy Bonaire...

later,
steve

Here is the website for the diopters

ReefNet Inc. | SubSee Magnifier and Adapter

Pay no attention to the adapters, they will mislead you on the size of these diopters. Each diopter fits a DSLR camera size... Their diameter is about the size of a beer can

There is no overriding of settings. I have never changed internal settings, only switch programs and turned off the flash

I HAVE used a second underwater light on a night dive to add a little depth to the area so that it is not just the subject, but the subject and some area behind the subject. In those cases, I just lay the dive light on the ground and point it toward the area of my picture... lol

 

[MountainDrew]

Boy do I feel silly. For a minute there (obviously while I was writing my post) I was thinking diopter was one of those things like ISO, White Balance, Exposure Levels etc. that you can override on the camera. SeaLife programs and such make it nice that you generally don't need to mess with those things at the technical level.

But hey, I still learned a new thing! The diopter is a magnifying glass for the camera for some really serious macro work!

 

[flyingfrawg]

Hi CoolTech, All.

I have been preoccupied with "real work" and have not had the opportunity to follow-up on my own setup (nor have I had time to try my own attempt at a solution!). I hope I have the time now to give it a try.

To CoolTech: I sent you a private mail question through the SB system. I was not sure that the system would behave for me, so I thought to use the forum to check and see if you receive it. Thanks for letting me know if you did.

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

PM sent

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

I finally took some pictures of my setup (of course my setup is now with a different camera, but you can see what I have been talking about)

Front:

The only difference here is that I attached the Ikelite housing to the system and took off the wide angle lens holder...

The Sub Sea +10 diopter I ordered with the adapter for the Sealife camera system. The diopter screws right into the Ikelite housing

Bottom (This is where the most explanation goes):

Notice the center hole. That is where the SeaLife screws into the plate. Just to the left you will notice a small hole next to the screw-in adapter there...

That is where I attached the wide angle lens to the bottom of the plate. I used a 1 1/4" SS screw and a SS wing nut on the top side. When twisted correctly allows the SeaLife camera housing's wrist strap holder to fit right between the wing nut and kept the SeaLife camera from swivelling

The focus light arm was a SS screw to hold the ball arm in place. Overall length of the plate is 13" (1-2" longer than when you put two SeaLife Strobes onto your system using the SeaLife plates together) which allows for this extra arm to be mounted. There is plenty of room between the focus light arm and the SeaLife camera... Not so much space between my Ikelite and the focus light, but it works fine.

Back:

Notice the bungee? My Pro strobe cracked at the nut and there was nothing I could find that would hold it together so I drilled all the way through at the level of the nut inside and put two screws into the nut from either side and strapped the strobe down. Everything else on the strobe was working fine, so there was no reason to ditch it (especially since my other SeaLife Digital strobe stopped working with its magnet). I am currently working on a velcro strap and stronger magnet to strap around the digital strobe. Then I will be able to use it in the water and take it off when I leave the water... strobe will turn off... lol

Focus light arm and strobe adapter:

No, I didn't design the adapter for the strobes to work with the Ikelite housing and my camera... It is an INON adapter made by them for their strobes and the Ikelite housing... Funny how everyone is doing about the same thing with their fiber optics (except Sea&Sea.. as far as I know)
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There you have it. It wasn't rocket science but it took some time to find the 3/8" plexiglass to do the job. Now that I know 3/8" plexi will work, I can find it cheap on the Internet everywhere!

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I did give some pre-thought to making the unit as generic as possible, and since I am using the same exact setup for the new camera and housing, I suppose I succeeded!