Looking for Lessons using DC2000

[JesterDiver]

Anyone know of lessons, classes or workshops for people completely new to underwater photography. Bought a DC2000 with strobe and video light package for my wife. Neither of us has any underwater photography experience and would love to get some instruction, ideally with someone that is familiar with this specific camera. I was hoping to do it as part of a short vacation, somewhere with warm water like in Florida, Mexico or the Caribbean. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[tursiops]

Look into the Reef Photo and Video classes every couple of months at Blue Heron Bridge in West Palm, FL. Search Results : Reef Photo & Video!, The Underwater Photo Pros
For more money and more of a special vacation, contact John Wall at Buddy Dive in Bonaire. Digital Photo Center - Buddy Dive Resort Bonaire
Both suggestions are highly recommended.

 

[Landau]

Advice from the DM on my first dive with my DC 2000: “get it really close to the subject. Put it where you think is too close then move in closer.” Application es to pretty much all underwater photography.

For video definitely update to the 1.03 beta firmware. Cuts out several seconds of lag and blank screen starting a video

And download the free booklet on taking underwater photos from Sealife’s website. It’s pretty good

 

[JesterDiver]

Look into the Reef Photo and Video classes every couple of months at Blue Heron Bridge in West Palm, FL. Search Results : Reef Photo & Video!, The Underwater Photo Pros
For more money and more of a special vacation, contact John Wall at Buddy Dive in Bonaire. Digital Photo Center - Buddy Dive Resort Bonaire
Both suggestions are highly recommended.

Thank you so much for these recommendations! This is exactly what I was looking for. The Buddy Dive shop in particular looks like a great bet! Maybe I'm just not as good at online research as I thought, but I have been having a hard time finding beginner level underwater photography workshops especially Sealife camera specific.

Thanks again!

 

[JesterDiver]

Advice from the DM on my first dive with my DC 2000: “get it really close to the subject. Put it where you think is too close then move in closer.” Application es to pretty much all underwater photography.

For video definitely update to the 1.03 beta firmware. Cuts out several seconds of lag and blank screen starting a video

And download the free booklet on taking underwater photos from Sealife’s website. It’s pretty good

I'll definitely look to download the firmware update. And yeah the only thing I know is to get as close as possible LOL!

 

[Ricardo V.]

The DC2000 is the best product that SeaLife has available in the market just now.
It’s a camera geared towards individuals looking for better performance than an action camera, better than a regular point and shot, yet less complicated and easier to travel with than an SLR or a pro mirrorless.

Some one already mentioned the importance of getting close. That’s perhaps one of the best 3 key points to keep in mind.

1. Get close. Zoom with your fins... not with the lens. Good thing here is that the DC2000 does not have a digital zoom, so you’ve got to do it with your fins.
2. Shoot up. Point from bottom up, try capturing when possible the subjects (Divers, fish, corals, wreck, al of the above) with a view from equal or slightly greater depth than the subjects.
3. Last but not least, practice, practice, practice.

SeaLife offers a wet wide angle lens. You may want to consider getting one and use it to get even wide shots later on, provided you haven’t gotten one already.

For stills, strobe positioning is critical. Try illuminating your subjects without creating backscatter. This requires anticipating and estimating how much light you want to shine on your subject and aiming the strobe to get the diver or fish or whatever your after without shining on suspended matter between your camera lens and the subject per se. Them comes intensity settings. Light is absorbed very quickly underwater and it does it travel far either. At first, just set the camera to auto and them move on to manual settings. Similar to taking the training wheels off a bicycle.

For video, you will need a light or two. Sounds like you’ve got the Pro Duo model that sports a strobe and a light. Similarly, light positioning and keeping in mind that getting close is key, hold the system steady and roll video looking at what your light is illuminating and check to see that it’s aimed correctly.

Enjoy your new rig and practice, practice practice. Don’t forget to rinse in fresh water after your dives and avoid the dreaded camera dunk buckets offered by most dive boats... unless you can claim sole use of it. Cameras get pretty beat up in dunk buckets.

Enjoy your new camera. It works great as a topside camera too.

Cheers,

Ricardo

 

[TASCPA]

1. Get close. Zoom with your fins... not with the lens. Good thing here is that the DC2000 does not have a digital zoom, so you’ve got to do it with your fins.

Not recommending that you use the zoom underwater, but the DC2000 does have digital zoom.

 

[Ricardo V.]

Correct. My bad. It does have a digital zoom. It’s controlled thought (up down) arrows buttons and not a dedicated lever. Hopefully it reduces temptations to zoom digitally. Results are best when zooming with fins.

Thank you for pointing this out.

Cheers,
Ricardo

 

[hilljo88]

Random thoughts: Get a second set of batteries for both the camera and the flash. If you can, get some pool time to get comfortable with the buttons. The zoom works great. Anything more than about 3 feet away will not be lit by the flash. You need to get close to your subject. It takes patience and practice to get could fish pics. Most of your first pics will be of fish butts as they turn away. Focus on the eyes for best shots. The Sea Life also takes really good macro photos. You'll need to experiment with the flash angle and intensity to get best exposure and contrast. Takes lots of shots and have fun. Oh, and if you are diving with a group, you'll end up way behind

 

[Ricardo V.]

Good points there. A few memory cards will complement your system. Sometimes it’s best to just have a few spare batteries and memory cards without having to process every batch of photos and/or videos to clear up space. Just make sure the cards are Micro SD, Micro SDHC, Micro SDXC or Micro UHS-1 type memory cards up to 64GB.