olympus tg-4 vs olympus xz-2

[Chris Ross]

if the photos are green, it means your flash pulse is not powerful enough to provide full illumination of the subject. If you are using fill flash this is quite likely as the camera can't work out what to do underwater. If you are using flash underwater, generally use auto white balance. You will still probably need to correct in post processing a little. The reasons may be the camera/flash combo not putting out enough light, you are too far away from the subject or the flashes are not aimed correctly.

The exact settings to use will depend on what options you have with the onboard flash and which strobes you have. If you can turn it to manual then shooting your strobes in manual may help. If not see if you can turn up flash compensation , or get closer. LIkely you need to be well under 1 metre from your subject depending on settings. I don't have the manual but a quick search of specs seems to suggest that using manual mode and flash on (not fill in) might be a starting point. If your strobes allow manual flash then try manual on camera, onboard flash set to manual and mnimum power, take a shot and keep increasing output until the exposure is correct. Maybe start at 1/125 and f4 for medium-wide shots.

 

[Chris Ross]

Also to OP when looking at specs I noticed XZ-2 is no longer in production. Pity as specs looked fairly good, though large sensor is a bit of a misnomer, more like "not tiny" have a look at this link showing sensor sizes:

Compare digital camera sensor sizes: 1″-Type, 4/3, APS-C, full frame 35mm

the XZ-2 is the 1/1.7" which is small even compared to the 1" chip on the likes of the RX100. There is some benefit but its not huge.

 

[Laci83]

Thanks, your reply. I have 2 Sea&Sea ys-02 strobes, on a flexi arm. I used an inon 67mm wide angle lens as well, so I was well within a metre distance from the subject. I know that the diffuser was left on the flashes. The flash has manual mode, and I remember tried to fiddle with the settings of the camera underwater, but ended up switching the flash off and use the underwater wb without flash...The camera has that setting what wb can it use when flash is on, like auto wb, flash wb or use that wb which is being set, like underwater wb or custom wb. I remember tried to set it every settings underwater and it didn't help.

I upload some pics the first 2 is an octopus where I was quite close as the octopus was hiding in a hole, one is with flash and the other is without flash. The without flash one is a lot better. Depth was around 5metre.

The clownfish images was around 13metres the first 2 with flash and the last closeup picture was without flash, the shutterspeed was a bit low, so I had to sharpen a bit but all the images what I uploaded are unedited.

I remember when I bought the housing and flash, I couldn't dive because of health reasons, so I tried it only snorkelling, and the external flash made the pictures greeny yellowy, but that time the camera was set to make warmer images, I thought that was the problem because the warm setting and the snorkelling as the sun make the images warmer but the internal flash if I remember right was good when I snorkelled so the images was in good colour. And the internal flash has less power with the diffuser I think than 2 sea & sea ys-02. But I don't know.

I bought the last housing for this camera around 4 years ago, from America, I live in the UK, because that time they discontinued making the Olympus housing. It is a nice camera, I quite like it.

Thanks

 

[Chris Ross]

It still looks like the flash power is not high enough, unless you have just the right setup your camera will think it's smarter than you and take an ambient light shot. The two clown fish shots that are green do not look they have very much of any flash in the exposure.

I would suggest trying it on land to get your settings close to right, photograph something indoors about 0.5m away where the light is dim with the strobes setup as you would underwater. Make sure it is well under exposed when you take an ambient shot. Now set the camera to manual exposure, about 1/125 or so and f4 and manual flash at minimum power. (You might want 1/200- 1/250 or whatever your max flash sync is on the camera in clear bight tropical waters). Set the S&S flashes to manual and take a shot. Keep increasing the power on manual till the exposure is good as confirmed by a good histogram. Add about a 1/2 to one stop to that power and use that setting as a starting point underwater. Fine tune the exposure with flash power. In this situation use auto white balance. Go underwater knowing what you need to adjust and which way to adjust, with this setup all exposure control is done by flash power. Shutter speed is adjusted to get background water the right tone.

 

[Laci83]

Thank you for your advice. When I tried the strobes inside in my room it was OK, but I used the AV mode on the camera and auto mode on the strobes. But I will try what you suggest. How can I add 1/2 or 1stop power to the strobe? I'm always in a bit of a trouble how much is one stop, and I know that with aperture settings you can stop down or up. But with flash I don't know I think this olympus can sync the flash upto 1/500, but definitely faster than 1/250. Luckily we have an inside pool, so I can try to make some shots before go to the sea

Thanks again.

 

[Chris Ross]

You need the right setting on both the flash and the camera. On the camera set manual flash. On the YS-D2 select Manual with no pre flash (single lightning bolt with M). The right hand dial is the light level control dial. Have a look at your manual it will show which way to turn the dial to increase or decrease power, it looks like it is marked in guide numbers with higher numbers being more powerful. Make sure you use the correct index mark. You will need to learn which direction (CW or CCW) increases power.

Progressively increase output till you have a good exposure as indicated by the histogram. Use a subject against a wall so you don't have large black areas in the shot to confuse matters on the histogram . Once you sort it out anything at the distance will be correctly exposed or very close whether it is big or small in frame, dark or light. When you have the setting needed on land go play in the water you'll probably need to increase output a little as water absorbs light more so than air. When you are shooting your subject take a shot check the image and adjust. Generally you are up quite close and the exposure should not vary widely. you might need to reduce flash for a light subject on sand and increase it for something like a black anglerfish.

I would not push the SS too high the camera may sync with the on board flash but possibly the UW flashes might struggle. You adjust the shutter speed to expose the background non flash illuminated areas correctly. THis might be the right shade of blue for a wide angle shot or maybe it just goes to black for a 100% flash lit macro shot with only water behind and the settings such that the water is completely under exposed.

 

[Laci83]

Hi, Sorry, I found this page again. Do you know what was wrong with my olympus xz-2 and stobes setup? The white balance when the camera use the flash. I can set in the camera menu which white balance it use when the flash is on. There is auto wb, underwater wb and a 3rd option. I found it out on my dive this year when I dived in an anemone city. It was around 14metres deep, the first few images was very dark, the camera was in manual mode and when I found the problem out, and looked at the camera screen and saw those bright red things which is the base of the anemones, that time I realised that they are in front of me as with my naked eye they looked brown, so I didn't know what are they, before the right camera settings. Never seen them before. just on pictures. I saw anemones, but not this tomato red base of them. So if I didn't find the right setting on that dive, I probably wouldn't ask it from my private guide after the dive what was those brown things. But luckily I found it and they were so beautiful seeing them on my screen how the 2 strobes lightened them. I attached some images. There had just very light or no editing. I think the edges that's why look a bit blurry as I used my inon wide lens and I forget to let some water between the glasses... But I like the result like this too

 

[Chris Ross]

I normally use auto WB when using flash, UW WB is for ambient pics. These pics are quite nice and look just like they are supposed to. The reds look brown without flash as in deep water most of the red light has been absorbed,they only look red when you add light which contains red. The reds are not as strong on the reef scenes as compared to the anemones as it appears you are further away and some of the red is lost due to the water between you and the subject. You will often find that wide lenses are a little soft in the corners.