SeaLife Mini II

[NJDiverMark]

First off, im a newb to the world of underwater photography. Idk if its just me, but my brand new Mini II seems to always take blurry pictures. I have only been able to use the camera on one dive, but almost every single picture i took came out blurry. Land pictures, underwater (dive mode), and even on the short video i took. It just never seems to focus. Is there no auto focus when the shutter button is held halfway down? Doesnt seem like it to me. The video mode shoots ok until you get relatively close to something. It will just stay blurry (out of focus). I dont expect professional results from a $220 camera but when all but one or two of my pictures come out ok, it seems kinda worthless. I am just using the camera for now. No strobes or flashes. Viz isnt great here in NJ but still. Would that cause pics like this?

The only ones that came out relatively decent were these. And even then, idk.

Here is the video. Yes i know it bumpy but when i stop to focus on the crab, i get nothing.
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii132/ncarmyngoif4/013-1.mp4

 

[Linedog]

I would definitely add a light of some sort for the next dive.

 

[NJDiverMark]

Will that solve the blurryness?

 

[DandyDon]

I have a few suggestions; take the ones you like and blow off the rest...

1: I don't like to see a diver with less than 50 ocean dives multi-tasking with a camera. I know that many do, but - well, be careful.

2: I really would not suggest adding a strobe at this time. Learn to dive better, learn to shoot better, then maybe. Newbies usually lose their first camera pretty fast anyway, unless they add an orange float strap.

3: The info inside the pics said that the flash was not firing?! What's with that? Sure you'll get backscatter, but dark is dark. Here is the info from one pic...

Filename - 019.jpg
ImageDescription - DIGITAL CAMERA
Make - SEALIFE
Model - SL330
Orientation - Top left
XResolution - 72
YResolution - 180
ResolutionUnit - Inch
Software - V1.01
DateTime - 2011:03:27 16:06:02
YCbCrPositioning - Centered
ExifOffset - 2290
ExposureTime - 1/80 seconds
FNumber - 3
ExposureProgram - Not defined
ISOSpeedRatings - 160
ExifVersion - 0220
DateTimeOriginal - 2011:03:27 16:06:02
DateTimeDigitized - 2011:03:27 16:06:02
ComponentsConfiguration - YCbCr
ShutterSpeedValue - 1/80 seconds
ApertureValue - F 3.00
ExposureBiasValue - 0
MaxApertureValue - F 2.90
MeteringMode - Center weighted average
LightSource - Auto
Flash - Flash not fired, compulsory flash mode
FocalLength - 7.90 mm
FlashPixVersion - 0100
ColorSpace - sRGB
ExifImageWidth - 3472
ExifImageHeight - 2604
SensingMethod - One-chip color area sensor
FileSource - Other
CustomRendered - Normal process
ExposureMode - Auto
White Balance - Manual
SceneCaptureType - Standard
Saturation - Normal
Sharpness - Normal

Thumbnail: -
Compression - 6 (JPG)
XResolution - 1.88
YResolution - 180
ResolutionUnit - Inch
JpegIFOffset - 4906
JpegIFByteCount - 3920

4: I don't know the camera, but doesn't it shoot in a Sea Mode? Why "SceneCaptureType - Standard"...? And "White Balance - Manual"...? Put it on Auto for now.

5: One of the reasons we shoot with digital nowadays is so we can work with the pics on computers - which do more than email and post on SB. I used Irfanview free program to try some quick and easy edits. See what you think? I did reduce the resolution of each for easier loading. Click each one for larger, click it again for larger yet, save to the same folder for comparison as I adde "ed" to each name.


6: Practice, practice, practice - land and see, but again - why not flash?

Oh, and shoot some sunsets. No never use flash on those or landscapes.

 

[craracer]

Slow shutter speed and/or movement at the time of depressing the shutter button may be the culprits.

 

[guggie]

Exif data:
Flash - Flash not fired, compulsory flash mode

I agree that this is a problem. If compulsory, why not fired?? Something is wrong here. And why is the land shot of the fish tail blurry too? That doesn't look like motion artifact. It just plain ol' didn't focus. Perhaps too close?

 

[NJDiverMark]

It had three modes. Land, snorkel (25ft or less), and dive mode (25ft or more). Tge difference between the snorkel and dive mode is the red filter. On the snorkel mode it adds a slight red tint to the picture to lessen the blue in the pictures. And dive mode just adds more red to the picture. In both of these modes the camera automatically shuts off the flash? Idk y? But maybe. I can manually turn it on. I dont have on of the fancy flashes but i can try the one on the camera itself. I had the cam in snorkel mode for the pics because i was only at 20ft.

The land pictures come out nice except the fish picture for example. I wasnt moving and i dont think i was too close. Maybe 3ft? It has a macro mode for close ups but it doesnt seem to do anything? It is a 9 megapixel camera.

And would a simple flash cause the pics not to be blurry or is there something else causing it? I dont feel im moving too excessively when im taking pics. But after all i am a newb at photography so what do i know. Lol.

 

[deeper thoughts]

My wife just used this camera yesterday for snorkeling. Early reports= surprisingly not impressed so far.

 

[NJDiverMark]

Did her pics come out burry?

 

[DandyDon]

Put it in sea mode with flash on. I suspect you need to read the manual.