Upgrading to SLR housing with strobes

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Permalink Reply by John Ciurczak on September 3, 2008 at 4:03pm

I just made the leap from a high end point and shoot to a DSLR.
I was also concerned about task overload in the water, and handling a relatively big rig. To help me decide, I rented an Aquatica Nikon D200 rig on a live-aboard to see if it was workable. This let me "test-drive" it before making an investment.
I found no problems, (other than once leaving a lens cap on and not discovering it until 40 ft. ).
Once in the water, the camera tasks are primarily adjusting shutter speed, F-stop, stobe power and direction. This may sound like a lot, but once you have them set, most of the time, you only need to tweak them one or 2 clicks.

The rig was slightly negatively bouyant, but not heavy in the water. The one thing I did notice, though, was that my air consumption increased somewhat due to being much less streamlined with a 2-strobe rig.

Compared to even the best point and shoots, the autofocus on DSLRs is almost instantaneous.

As far as the annoyance of strobe flashes, I frequently dive with groups of photographers and hardly notice them, but that may be because I am so focused on the reef and my buddy and my photos.

Hope some of this helps...

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Permalink Reply by Claver on September 3, 2008 at 4:54pm

Thanks John that was very helpful.
I am now deciding about which housing to get for my Canon XSI.
Ikelite is the base option and is the most affordable. The Sea Tool comes highly recommended by the guys at both Reef and Backscatter.
Also, one strobe or two? I envision doing mostly wide angle.

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Permalink Reply by Matt Weiss on September 3, 2008 at 5:21pm

Hi Claver,
I think you are making an excellent decision in upgrading. My main concern was being to distracted to enjoy the dive, but there are few things more fun that framing up a shot underwater of a great subject.

If you want to do wide angle, then 2 strobes is an absolute must. Ikelite housings are cheaper and are good base options. I think the reason you a lot of ike problems is because there are simply more ikes. I have no experience with sea tool, but if you do go this route, it would be awesome if you could post a report on what you think of it. I don't know too many people that have one--looks really amazing.

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Permalink Reply by John Ciurczak on September 5, 2008 at 11:22am

I'm a little rough on my equipment, so I opted for an aluminum housing rather than the Ikelite.
I'm a wide angle junkie myself. I started with 1 strobe, but have since added a second. I found that with my tokina 10-17 fisheye, 1 strobe did not provide enough coverage.
For the Seatool housings, are the strobes triggerred optically or electricly?
If it is optical, then check your camera's flash re-charge speed. you may have to wait several seconds between shots while the camera's flash recharges. (probably more of a P&S issue than for DLSRs - my wife has to wait about 5-6 seconds between shots for her P&S flash to re-charge).
I use sync cords and with the strobes set at less than full power, I can bang out 2-3 frames per second.

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Permalink Reply by Claver on September 5, 2008 at 1:39pm

John, good point about the flash recharge on the camera. The spec's say the camera takes 3 seconds to recharge. This seems standard on even the highest end Canon DSLR's.

The Sea Tool housing does use optical. I should look into the option of using a sync cord. Are you still able to use TTL with a sync cord or do you control the exposure more by adjusting the power on the stobe itself? Are you trying to bracket your exposure by capturing 2-3 frames per second?

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Permalink Reply by John Ciurczak on September 5, 2008 at 2:26pm

My rig does not allow for TTL, but frankly, I don't miss it. (my old Oly 7070WZ P&S rig had TTL).
Now I merely adjust the strobe power on the strobe heads themselves. It's not really that much trouble. I'll take a couple of test frames when I get in the water to get in the right ballpark. From there, it's usually only 1 or 2 stops change to dial in the exposure I'm looking for.

The quick frames rate is more to capture composition on a moving subject like the sailfin blenny below, (Ok, so I'm not a complete wide angle junkie). They dart out of their holes, flash their sail around for a couple of seconds, and dart back into the hole. It took me about 50 frames to get this pic. I had my strobes on 1/16th power and could squeeze off about 5 frames before the strobes fully dumped.

Bracketing for exposure for me is a cycle of shoot, check the LCD, adjust the strobe power/position, and re-shoot.

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Permalink Reply by Claver on September 5, 2008 at 4:23pm

Wow, great pic.
I hope I can get to your level of expertise.
You have given we a lot to think about. The research on this seems to be never ending. I can't wait to take my camera underwater on my next trip.

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Permalink Reply by Shachihoko on September 5, 2008 at 10:59pm

Hey Claver,

I've been shooting with the Canon Xti in the Seatool Housing since February of this year. And I also can't recommend the Seatool housing enough. It's compact size is fantastic for traveling and a dream during dives. It is definitely more expensive, especially after adding in all the other little miscellaneous nick-knacks like ports and lens gears, but at least for me I've found it to be money well spent.

The only concern I've experienced with the Seatool is finding it a smidgen too small. Which is a bit contradictory since I was just praising it's minuscule size. I found myself struggling to find a comfortable and sturdy position in which to hold the housing. My first several dives were a bit awkward but eventually the housing and my hand made peace... and all has been joyous since.

As others have already voiced, definitely two strobes for wide angle shooting.

I got this book for a little between trips inspiration and have found it to be an excellent guide into many of the little and major details of underwater shooting. I definitely recommend giving it a read.

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Underwater-Photography-Manual-Techn...

This may not be the right place to pose this question, but since you brought up the subject of strobe flashes it got me thinking...
I to have never really found the strobe flashes to be an annoyance during the day. But what about during a night dive. Is it in considerate to shoot during a night dive? In considerate to both the other divers and the sea life?

If you have any questions in regards to the Seatool, feel free to give me a shout.

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Permalink Reply by Claver on September 7, 2008 at 1:32pm

Hey Sugartoppedlemming, great to hear you sing the praise of the Sea Tool housing. I will definitely get that book. It looks like it has a lot of great information.

Do you use the inon strobes with your setup? I was thinking more about what John Ciuraczak was saying about not using TTL. The pics that you posted also look fantastic. What are your thoughts on TTL vs. manual?

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Permalink Reply by Shachihoko on September 7, 2008 at 8:11pm

Claver,

Yup I use the inons, but to date I've been shooting with only one and a macro lens/port. I just ordered the tokina 10-17, a second inon and a dome port a couple days ago. :)

My underwater photography experience is fairly limited, so I'm probably not the most qualified individual to make a judgement call on TTL vs manual. Although, for the shooting I have done, all of it was utilizing TTL. Which I've been very happy with—both from an exposure and multitasking point of view. I've found that using TTL helps to alleviate the shear number of "chores" one needs to keep track of while diving and shooting. Plus you can always fine tune the TTL shot by adjusting the exposure compensation or ISO.

I'm heading out to Hawaii next week with all my new toys :) , so maybe I'll give the manual setting on the strobes a whirl and see how it compares.

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Permalink Reply by Claver on September 7, 2008 at 8:55pm

You have the life. I won't be in the water again until February...
Thanks for all your input.

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