Is it worth getting a strobe for Tenerife?

[The_blue]

got a F31 and have been thinking about a strobe for a couple of weeks.

I'm gona need one i recon for the clubs trip to Norway in june but would i use it in tenerife?

Is the fuji one a good starter? I've seen it for £100, anyone seen it cheeper?

[Druid]

Yes, it's worth getting a strobe.

As for the Fuji one, see here

[alrhem]

I have heard some reports of backscatter in tenerife....

but that was from someone with 5k worht of gates housing let alone the camera!!!

[aquayle]

The question was "is it worth getting a strobe for Tenerife" .. OK, you don't need to single out Tenerife for a strobe, they 'can' work anywhere, but here are 3 photos taken yesterday -

without internal flash


with internal flash


without internal flash


so, flash does not necessarily pick up backscatter here, you have to judge when to use it.

[Mike Ward]

Yes.

Aside from the backscatter issue there's also the opportunity to direct the light from somewhere other than straight above the camera. If you go this route try to mask the internal flash as much as possible or it won't have the effect on backscatter you'd expect.

Here's a basic guide to using your new strobe, lifted and adapted from an earlier post of mine - you can do this out of the water to start with:

Set the camera to aperture priority and f5.6 (Good starter in clear water such as Tenerife, f4 might be more appropriate when you get to Norway), set the lowest ISO you can (100 on your Fuji I think), then adjust your camera to deliver two stops of underexposure (-2 on the scale). Make sure theexternal flash is turned off and take a picture. You should see something, but the shot should look much too dark (Under exposed).

Turn on your external strobe and re-take the same picture. The difference between the two shots is the effect of the flash.

If the picture is now too light (Over-exposed) turn the flash control down so it isn't as bright. If the picture is still too dark (Under exposed), turn the flash control up to give more flash. If the flash is at the maximum setting and the picture is still too dark, increase the aperture from f5.6 to f4, and if necessary to f2.8. If the picture is still too dark, you're probably too far away for the flash to make much difference (The maximum distance at which flash is useful underwater is four to five feet, regardless of the size and power of the flash unit).

Here's the other thread for some more info:

Whice Strobe to buy????

[Tim Ingmire]

The quick answer is yes, buy a strobe.

Would I buy a Fuji? No. Buy one from Inon, Ikelite, Sea and Sea, but not Fuji.

If you have a problem with backscatter then you probably haven't positioned the strobe correctly. If you can't position your strobe correctly then no amount of money will get rid of backscatter.

[Cussy]

Originally Posted by Tim Ingmire

TIf you have a problem with backscatter then you probably haven't positioned the strobe correctly. If you can't position your strobe correctly then no amount of money will get rid of backscatter.

[ChristianG]

Originally Posted by The_blue

got a F31 and have been thinking about a strobe for a couple of weeks.

I'm gona need one i recon for the clubs trip to Norway in june but would i use it in tenerife?

Is the fuji one a good starter? I've seen it for £100, anyone seen it cheeper?

It's worth getting a strobe regardless of where you dive. If yo have clear, clean water with lots of sunlight and you only dive in the up to 10 metre water column I suppose you could get away without one but that's a highly unlikely scenario.

I agree with Tim that any strobe is likely to be better than the Fuji one. Fuji make great cameras and probably understand colour better than most but I consider that, apart from Nikon in the dim, dark, distant past, camera manufacturers do not great strobes make. So go with the specialists. Any one of Tim's suggestions is going to do the trick more than adequately. It should not be a problem (today) but just make sure that the strobe understands your camera's TTL.

BTW, you're lucky and/or have done your homework, many, myself included, consider the F31 far and away the best camera (in its category) for u/w purposes. Fuji totally lost the plot in their bid to engage in the megapixel war with their later offerings although I have yet to have a good look at the F100 I suppose.

[The_blue]

Right!

Picked up a 2nd hand DS50.

A couple of questions regarding this unit.

What it the TTL setting for?

Where is the best position for the flash? Should i be aiming at the subject? Arm pointing above the camera, or at 45 degrees away?

Difuser, on or off? What effect will it have?

White balance, am i right thinking auto is better for flash?


Sorry for the questions but i've jumped on the strobe band wagon and am now learning to steer.

[Cussy]

Here goes:

First up, DS50 is a good choice for your Fuji.

TTL means Through The Lens. Basically if you have a cable from camera to strobe the camera tells the flash when to turn off when it has had enough light. Has your strobe got one of the EV controllers?

45 degrees above camera lens is good. Where you point it depends on your subject. If you "catch" it with the corner light thats better, but if its a big subject you sometimes need to point it at the subject. May take a while to get used to where to point as all the magnification in your mask confuses you a bit.

I always shoot diffusor on. It spreads the light more, as a result the light isn't quite as bright/harsh, but underwater the bigger area it covers the better.

WB set to flash. If you go on the Cameras Underwater website it will tell you exactly the Kelvin of the light of the DS50. Not sure about the Fuji, can you programme it with a Kelvin?

HTH
Rob