External flash for underwater?

twe

twe

twe

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Joined
13 Jan 2010
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465
Hi guys,

I have a Sony NEX-5 and just ordered an underwater housing for it as I will be going on honeymoon in a months time, so will be good for snorkelling etc.

Was wondering if an external flash is advisable, since I reckon the internal is not a good idea to use underwater?

Got the one for the 16mm lens so that it lets more light in and the other housing doesn't allow you to zoom with the 18-55mm lens anyway.

Thanks.
 
External flash will be better as you can move the flash into a position where it's not highlighting anything you dont want between you and the subject (like bits of stuff floating in the water)

I used to shoot a Canon Ixus 750 in a housing with the clip on flash diffuser and I always ended up with rubbish results with flash..... but saying that I dont fair much better on dry land with my Canon DSLR and speedlite!!

Down side of external flash is how to trigger it - I never looked into it, but I'm guessing it'll not be cheap.
 
External flash will make a huge difference, when we were in Aus a couple of years ago on the barrier reef the difference the extra light made was very clear in the results people obtained. Still got some nice pics with my Fuji XP10 that were more than adequate for the holiday snaps pile just not quite the magazine covers!
 
For snorkelling depth go for manual white balance. You'll be in the top 5 meters and should have loads of light available still. I can do manual WB to 25 meters+ with the G12.
An external strobe doesn't bounce as well as in air. You'll only get about 2 meters from the camera before you've lost the light.

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This is a quick example at 20 meters. The flash lit the 1st 70cm but fades out quite quick. Any more power would bleach the foreground.



Externals are triggered by the internal, optical sensors and the like. I slide a bit of card inside the housing to hide the forward light of the internal but leaving enough for the sensor.

Some quick examples:-
http://www.camerasunderwater.co.uk/ikeevc for manual metering.

http://www.camerasunderwater.co.uk/ds51 a basic strobe. Guide number 56 surface - 28 underwater

Fuji do a cheap underwater flash. It's weak.
 
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Thanks for the replies.
Am a little confused if I should be using the internal flash inside the casing at all or not though?

I will probably be within 2-3 metres of water but need to check....

Going Karamuthi island, Maldives.... May use it in Sri Lanka before then if it's raining or if it is possible to bathe the elephants....
 
For 2-3 meters you'll not see any benefit in an external.

If you can manually set the WB then do it. The pre-set underwater mode will just make things look red at that depth.

Keep the flash off and raise the ISO if needed.
 
ok cool. I see people at dpreview saying the same thing, will set the white balance myself, although I think it limits the flash settings if you do so will keep the flash off if its a nice sunny day. Will shoot in RAW.....
There is no underwater mode so will have to try different settings. Tempted with the HDR mode though?
Need to get a replacement case, this one has a crack in it on delivery.
 
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