Sony A6500 Thoughts?

[dlutzer]

So jealous!!

How does the paddle shutter work? And what is with the second paddle shift is that only for the motorized zoom or can you set it for other functions??

 

[BFRedrocks]

Let me know if you have thoughts on settings. I got notification my system should ship this week!

No real thoughts that I can add in here quickly. The a6500 does use a pre-flash, so you'll either want to have the strobes on TTL or manual for pre-flash. There are lots of good tips from the UW photography guide as well, specifically on auto-focus settings. I tend to use aperture priority mode the most, but I'm not sure that's necessarily the best for UW shooting.

 

[BFRedrocks]

So jealous!!

How does the paddle shutter work? And what is with the second paddle shift is that only for the motorized zoom or can you set it for other functions??

The paddle shutter works great! It's a little touchy if you're using pre-shutter AF (AF when shutter is pushed half-way), but it still works if you're careful. Some have suggested using continuous AF and turning off the pre-shutter AF to avoid that, so the paddle will just take the photo. It's really great for control though rather than pushing a button from the top of the housing. The second paddle shift controls the button on the AF/MF / AEL switch on the back of the camera. I have mine set to zoom for both, so on my setup, that paddle only functions to zoom in on the photo rather than controlling any motorized zoom as far as I can tell.

 

[rks]

Pref-flash isn't an issue, I'm using wired Ikelite strobes, don't want to have to wait for the internal flash to recycle, or burn the battery on it so I prefer wired strobes

 

[rks]

So it looks like the Aquatica housing may not work for me, a little curious then on your Nauticam setup, can you raise and lower the internal flash in the housing? It looks like it has a lever for that but I can't really tell

thank you!

 

[dlutzer]

Yes you can raise the flashand turn it on and off. And while you can't "lower it" the switch will flip back and turn it off so you can keep the flash from fireing, but it is still technically up.

 

[rks]

For those that might be curious, it turns out the Aquatica Housing does not TTL with Ikelite strobes, it trips them in manual mode only. Apparently the full TTL Ikelite integration is only in their SLR housings, not the mirror-less systems.

I'm looking at other options now, unfortunately as I waited six months for this housing.

 

[BFRedrocks]

So it looks like the Aquatica housing may not work for me, a little curious then on your Nauticam setup, can you raise and lower the internal flash in the housing? It looks like it has a lever for that but I can't really tell

thank you!

The Nauticam housing has a lever that controls the internal flash unit. It "pops" it up to allow it (and your connected) strobes) to fire, and it also "pushes" it down to turn it off, so you can shoot without the flash (strobes). While I can't prove that it truly "closes" the flash unit back into the camera, there is a discernible "click" that suggests to me that it does. I'll try to confirm that, but it definitely gives you the ability to turn it on and off via the housing lever.