Would I be wasting my time without a strobe?

[JarrodS]

I'm getting back into scuba diving after a 15 year hiatus, and we are headed to the Florida Keys at the end of the month. Photography/astrophotography have been a hobby of mine for years so I decided that this time around I would give U/W photography a whirl. Found a fantastic deal on a Nikon 1 J4 with the 10-30 f/3.5-5.6 VR lens, and the OEM Nikon WP-N3 housing. It has its limitations but I only gave about $300 for the combo so I think I did OK for a beginner/infrequent user kit.

Now, there have been many other expenses involved in getting back into the hobby. Certifying my sons, re-certifying my wife and I, equipment overhauls, new equipment purchases, travel costs, etc., etc. You know how it is. I'm wondering if I'm just wasting my time if I put off buying a lighting kit for this trip and shoot with ambient light only. My worry is that you really can't shoot with an ISO higher than about 1600 on these cameras without horrible noise so I'm just not sure I'll be able to have a shutter speed that's fast enough to stop anything.

Video would be nice as well, but I have even less of an idea what I'm getting into with that. I'm not much of a videographer on dry land.

What do you think?

 

[rob1967]

The main problem is lack of ambient light, especially as you go deeper. As you probably already know, all the reds get filtered out as you go deeper. Below say about 30 ft or so, all you get is a pale blue light which is not very good for photography (it's ok for background, but ideally you will need something to light your foreground). A red filter helps, but I think it's only useful until about 30 ft or so.

It is possible to get nice shots if you have enough ambient light, but this will limit you to photo-dives that are quite shallow, sunny at midday, with great viz. Having at least one strobe will help immensely. You will be able to get great shots regardless of ambient light conditions.

 

[Ran Mozaik]

As Rob mentioned, it's not a matter of dark shooting environment, but mostly the fact that the color spectrum diminishes as you go deeper leaving you with nothing but blue. It might be bright blue or dark blue, but still just blue...
The only way to bring back the true colors is by introducing artificial light - i.e strobe or video light.
For photos, a strobe is much more efficient since the standard strobe emits about 10 times the amount of light of a standard video light.
If you're looking to save on that purchase, get the YS-03 which is the best value strobe package you can get these days.
This article would explain the issue in more detail: Why are underwater strobes so damn important?

For video you can settle for WB correction only at this time, especially if you're going to do 90% stills. Perhaps a simple red filter might help there as well.

 

[Manneca]

IMO, try it and get a handle on using your camera and housing before you start dealing with using a strobe too. For me, there's a lot to think about just camera wise: remembering to set the appropriate aperture for example or simply just trying to get the focus where I want it if there is surge or current. A strobe will give you much better pictures for sure. But if you are taking pictures of big fish from even a short distance, the strobe won't throw enough light anyway (say that black tip shark swimming in front of you).

Sometimes the color can be fixed in Lightroom or Photoshop, particularly if there is enough ambient light that the reds aren't just completely gone. Sometimes I convert the picture to black and white.

 

[JarrodS]

Thanks for the responses thus far. I think it's funny that the dichotomy in the advice given almost perfectly mirrors the indecision that caused me to post the question. On the one hand, I want to follow the KISS principle as much as possible since I'm going to have my hands full just getting back into the groove of diving, much less learning a bunch of new photography equipment. On the other hand, I know that any photos are likely to be mediocre at best if I don't have a light kit.

this will limit you to photo-dives that are quite shallow, sunny at midday, with great viz

Sounds good, sign me up! :-D Seriously, I'll be diving for the first time since about 2000, and my sons will have just been certified. So, novice diving in shallower, clear water would be what I'm ideally targeting anyway. I need to contact the dive shops and see what's available, but if we can stick to that type of plan, then it sounds like I can get away with WB correction and have a decent result with the minimum of fuss. The Nikon 1 will let me shoot RAW so I can play with processing in PS afterwards. Also, I like the idea of converting to monochrome if all else fails! Great idea. I think that would make me happy for a first pass at this. So I'm leaning towards forgetting about lights for now so I can concentrate more on diving first. The more I think about it, that takes the pressure off and I actually feel somewhat relieved. If I spend another $800 on lights then I feel OBLIGATED to concentrate on the photography. And that's just not a primary goal for this trip.

But if the photos fail miserably, it will just make me look forward to having a lighting rig that much more for the next outing. I was targeting the YS-03 kit and the Bigblue AL1800XWP mounted on the cold shoe. I figure that if I ever get more serious, the YS-03 can be slaved to a more capable unit like the YS-D1. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the AL1800XWP seems to have decent specs for video at 1800 lumens with 120º coverage.

 

[gr8jab]

When are you going? Which Key?

I will be in Key Largo from 7/20 to 7/24. I am diving with Rainbow Reef.

The wreck diving is probably too deep to go without a light, however, I hear that many of the reefs are reasonably shallow.

Also, might I suggest trying Blue Heron Bridge. Very shallow, camera friendly, and popular.

 

[JarrodS]

We'll be based on Islamorada 7/25-8/1. Certification and refresher dives will be done with Florida Keys Dive Center, which is just a couple blocks from our rental. It's mini lobster season that week so we may go out on Wed and/or Thurs and try our luck with that.

We did a similar trip (free diving, not SCUBA) two years ago. We were based in Marathon that time and we enjoyed going out on boats and from shore all the way up and down the Keys. Thanks for the suggestions.

---------- Post added July 9th, 2015 at 06:31 PM ----------

If you're looking to save on that purchase, get the YS-03 which is the best value strobe package you can get these days.

It just dawned on me that it was YOUR review that finally sold me on the YS-03 as a viable option. It doesn't get a whole lot of talk that I can see, given that it's quite simple and lacks functionality that most people consider essential (but that a beginner probably couldn't use effectively anyhow).

Anyway, thanks for the review on the YS-03! I looked long and hard and yours is the most thorough and helpful one out there, at least that I could find.

 

[rob1967]

Certainly there should be no rush in taking a camera underwater. It is very important to be very comfortable with your buoyancy control, etc. first. So if it has been a long time since you dove, maybe you should do a few dives without a camera, to be sure you are very comfortable. Once you are getting a little bit bored just looking at things underwater, then it's time to take a camera underwater!

 

[timz]

When I was diving with Conch Republic Divers back in 06/14-06/15, the wave was pretty high and the bottom was pretty choppy. Under low light environment, pic could be blury with no harm trying.

Just remember to bring an empty housing with some silica gel to identify leakages if there is before u put in your camera.

 

[spoolin01]

Sounds like you've decided to forgo the strobe for the upcoming trip. A further limitation not mentioned is that the strobe helps most in the first 3ft or so from the lens, and little beyond. So take more panoramic pics. A removable red filter will help with color balance in some shots, at the expense of managing another item of gear and its usage.