Now I know what back scatter is!

[AevnsGrandpa]

I recently purchased a basic 35mm ReefMaster and had a chance to do a pool dive and check it out.

WOW, I would never had thought there was that much in a pool for the internal flash to bounce off of to cause so much back scatter.

Now the question I have for all you experts is....later this month I am going to Florida and hopefully will be diving the springs. Should I put a piece of black tape over the internal flash to eliminate all possibility of back scatter or is there something I should and could do to help things out and still use the flash, ex. a diffuser?

Thanks for any suggestions. Note, I can buy an external flash that will go with this unit, and I might, but I also ran into problems framing the picture the way I wanted in the "big" view finder that is mounted on top, vs the actual images I shot.

(Yes I know, go digital!!)

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[MarkH]

I recently purchased a basic 35mm ReefMaster and had a chance to do a pool dive and check it out.

WOW, I would never had thought there was that much in a pool for the internal flash to bounce off of to cause so much back scatter.

Now the question I have for all you experts is....later this month I am going to Florida and hopefully will be diving the springs. Should I put a piece of black tape over the internal flash to eliminate all possibility of back scatter or is there something I should and could do to help things out and still use the flash, ex. a diffuser?

Thanks for any suggestions. Note, I can buy an external flash that will go with this unit, and I might, but I also ran into problems framing the picture the way I wanted in the "big" view finder that is mounted on top, vs the actual images I shot.

(Yes I know, go digital!!)

Thanks,

Jeff

I would say definitely cover the flash. You will be in clear, bright, fairly shallow water and from other pictures I've seen, there's not alot of colour except green. Perfect for natural light photos (unless you go deep into some caverns). When I'm diving with people I know in the tropics that have those cameras, I always suggest they put their finger over the flash and take natural light photos of divers, reef scenes, silhouettes, etc.., but they always try to take that picture of the turtle from 20 feet away with the internal flash. If you get as close to the subject as the camera allows (usually 3 feet), you can get away with using the flash in clear water, but otherwise, I think you're on the right track with the black tape idea. All a diffuser does is spread out the beam of light and make it dimmer. This might cut down on the amount of light reflecting off particles in the water, but it will also cut down on the amount of light illuminating your subject, so you might as well use no flash at all. I use a diffuser to dim the flash from my strobe when I'm taking really close-up photos.

 

[AevnsGrandpa]

Thanks for the reply. I'll will disable the flash and go with it that way. Done some of the springs before and they are normally fairly bright.

Jeff

 

[Hardware]

Blocking out the flash will help with the backscatter. From my experience with the internal flash, it's next to impossible to not get backscatter. Also, a 3 foot shot is about the limit for a "good" shot underwater. You will wind up with a blue-green shot that you will have to doctor up with photoshop otherwise. I finaly went to digital due to the cost of developing poor shots, but the price hurt.

 

[Chris Bangs]

Hi

back on Guam at last!

anyway, regarding your question on composing your shots. I find that the plastic viewfinder on top of the camera is not all that useful for anything other than getting a general idea of what will appear in the actual frame. A easy solution is to place a dot on the back of the camera that lines up with the lens. then compose the shot with the top mounted viewfinder then raise the camera up so the you are looking at the dot and fire the shutter. this will help correct for the parallax error. I actually use this technique with my Nikonos when shooting close focus wide angle since the viewfinder is all but useless for such shots

second, consider getting the 3X close up lens! this will allow you to shoot stuff 2 feet away. closer you get less backscatter! the internal flash works great with it and in fact I used 100 Fuji film and got some stunning results. just try to shoot up into the bright water. shooting on a bark background will enhance to backscatter.