WpDc34 Housing & Red Filter

[Funland111]

Just bought the G12 and have the Canon housing on order. Economics stirred me in the direction of the Canon housing, which should serve my purpose for awhile. I did not order the Fantasea red filter, because I have read both positive and negative reviews --- Anyone have any thoughts on the Fantasea line for the canon housing? Thanks Bill

 

[Warmwater Wank]

FL--It's not the FantaSea line so much, it's the total lack of needing a red filter when you shoot RAW on the G12. A bit of post-processing and colors will do what you want them to. W/ any red filter you either don't use a strobe (which is daylight color balanced) or if you do, you have these whacked out color-shift crossovers that never cleanup right. When you use any flash, camera's or external, it is a big problem tossing a red filter into the mix.

Save the money, put it toward a good strobe like a S&S YS-01, YS 110A or an Inon S2000. Oh and Canon housings are fine. Don't count on doing wide angle work by adding wet lenses but otherwise the Canon housings are very decent. "That's just my opinion, I could be wrong..." // ww

 

[Gilligan]

Ditto Warmwater Wank

 

[slowhands]

Just bought the G12 and have the Canon housing on order. Economics stirred me in the direction of the Canon housing, which should serve my purpose for awhile. I did not order the Fantasea red filter, because I have read both positive and negative reviews --- Anyone have any thoughts on the Fantasea line for the canon housing? Thanks Bill

I think the red filters are a holdover from the days of film cameras, where you could not adjust white balance, or shoot RAW. The game is different now and you don't need it. The filter is old school, fuggedaboudit.

Why? Because if you shoot Jpeg pics, you can set white balance custom for the actual depth and water color at which you are.

Even better is to shoot RAW, because even though the water absorbs a lot of the RED light, there is still information in the RED channel that can be used to restore the image.

You have to take the red filter off when you shoot with flash, or take video with lights. So you're fighting it, it's a pain.

Of course instead of spending your money on a red filter, you need to buy a book about digital photo processing -- that's called progress.

 

[Funland111]

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to shoot in raw and play with any color adjusting topside, although I'm not sure if I should shoot in raw or jpeg when using a strobe? My schedule is not lending itself to my dive trip in early March -- I'll only have a day to setup my camera & etc before leaving. Gilligan, your pictures are outstanding. Any chance you would share your camera settings? I have the Ikelite AF-35 slave strobe, which I do not think can be synced to the G12. I guess the best move would be to upgrade my strobe.

Thanks

Bill

 

[Warmwater Wank]

Bill--The file choice (RAW or JPEG) won't matter at all in regards to strobe shooting, it's just that RAW gives you more correction possibilities afterwards. The Ike AF-35 would probably fire if you can aim the sensor back to the clear Canon housing but the real problem would be attaching it. If you can lash the AF-35 onto the housing somehow you might get it to fire ok. I'd suggest spending time getting used to the camera and housing this trip and add a new strobe for next trip. The Inon S2000 or S&S YS-01 or 110-A are solid strobe choices.

Spend some time NOW w/ the G-12, grabbing some RAW file shots. Make sure you feel ok about opening them up and doing basic adjustments etc. The G-12 has an option for shooting JPEG + RAW together but as long as you get comfortable working w/ RAW you don't need to shoot both at once, IMO. And yep, "ditto" that Gilligan does outstanding work w/ his G-Series cameras! // ww

 

[Gilligan]

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to shoot in raw and play with any color adjusting topside, although I'm not sure if I should shoot in raw or jpeg when using a strobe? My schedule is not lending itself to my dive trip in early March -- I'll only have a day to setup my camera & etc before leaving. Gilligan, your pictures are outstanding. Any chance you would share your camera settings? I have the Ikelite AF-35 slave strobe, which I do not think can be synced to the G12. I guess the best move would be to upgrade my strobe.

Thanks

Bill

Thanks for the compliment on my photos and too you also WWW. My strobe is also a manual one so it's just a matter of getting use to it and finding the "sweet spots" based on the color of the subject, distance from it, size of it etc.
Even though I have a G12 with Canon housing I am still using my G10 underwater. The settings I generally use are at the bottom of my DPP RAW guide webpage.

The most important thing is that you practice with your camera and strobe before your trip. Not so much for the sweet spots on it as you can usually take multiple photos of the same subject at different settings. The MOST important thing is knowing where all the controls are with the camera in the housing and the ability to change settings quickly and efficiently such as between a strobe and non-strobe shot. That's where your C1 and C2 features come in real handy.

 

[Nemrod]

I have the Ikelite AF-35 slave strobe, which I do not think can be synced to the G12.

Bill

You should be able to sync in at least some modes with the camera and strobe properly configured.

N

 

[Funland111]

I appreciate all the suggestions. I realize I'm trying to throw everything together at the last minute, which isn't the best option. The instructions on my AF-35 strobe say the following:

The AutoFlash wireless TTL system is compatible with any camera which emits a pre-flash sequence (i.e. Most digital cameras produced in the past few years. Canon compact cameras emit a pre-flash sequence in all camera modes except "M" manual mode.)

If I'm reading that correctly when using the strobe I should be in either Tv or Av mode so the strobe will sync with the G12's pre-flash sequence. If that is the case then which one? Tv at 1/60 - 1/100 or Av f3.5 - f5.6.

If I get any keepers from this trip I'll post them.

Thanks

 

[Warmwater Wank]

So, from what you read about your AF-35 strobe I'd say yep, you'll need to be in Av or Tv mode so your strobe can deal w/ the pre-flash to fire in synch w/ the camera. The sensor on the strobe handle needs to see the camera's flash to be triggered, so aim it to best accomplish that. Take Gilligan's advice and PRACTICE. It's one thing to make the camera work on land but when you put it in the housing those same camera controls are real different with the housing buttons!

Before suggesting an exposure setting I'd warn you that the easy to use rear control ring that your G-12 uses to change shutter or aperture settings etc. won't be accessible in the Canon housing. The way you change these settings in the housing is explained quite nicely in Gilligan's post on the "Canon Sticky" that heads this forum:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/canon-corner/299943-canon-sticky-here-bits-you-need.html Scroll down to the housing diagram he uses, your housing will be very similiar.

So, if you know f/stops & shutter speeds take your pick on which mode to use. If you don't...more homework! A great deal will depend on your AF-35 output and the distance you are to your subject. With a surface GN of 9 (n meters) the AF-35 isn't a real heavy puncher of a flash but it will help. You might try Tv at 1/100th sec. (minimum!) to avoid blur from movement and even that can be a tad slow. Try an ISO of 100 and possibly 200 if need be (the G12 isn't as "noisy" at higher ISOs as say my G-10). You might want to shoot some tests, see how various ISOs look on your computer screen when you display them at 100%. With a flash like yours it might be best to use the highest ISO you can set while still feeling good about shots in regards to image noise (look at shadow detail to really check for this).

Be very careful about how you attach the strobe tray on your housing. Many of the floods folks experience are caused by a tray not sitting perfectly flush on the housing base and then it levers open the housing door slightly when grabbing the strobe handle.

One last suggestion. Take the camera & housing on the plane and play with them while you have the manuals handy. Get comfortable with the controls! Hmmm, maybe that's already been said?? // ww