Look Ma, No Flash

Last week I tried something new - new for me that is. I took all my
photos with natural light only. The good news is that the good ones
were much better than they would have been with flash. No shadows and
no backscatter.

The bad news is that I left the camera on fully automatic, except for
the no flash part. That meant that in pretty well 100% of the low
light situations, the shutter speed, or whatever you call that with
digital cameras was too slow and my pictures were blurry.

Next trip, manual f-stop and shutter speed settings. Anybody got any
suggestions for something that might work? The camera is a 4
megapixel Sony point and shoot.

Dan Bracuk
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.

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Dan Bracuk wrote:
> Last week I tried something new - new for me that is. I took all my
> photos with natural light only. The good news is that the good ones
> were much better than they would have been with flash. No shadows and
> no backscatter.
>
> The bad news is that I left the camera on fully automatic, except for
> the no flash part. That meant that in pretty well 100% of the low
> light situations, the shutter speed, or whatever you call that with
> digital cameras was too slow and my pictures were blurry.
>
> Next trip, manual f-stop and shutter speed settings. Anybody got any
> suggestions for something that might work? The camera is a 4
> megapixel Sony point and shoot.

Are you looking for suggestions as to what to set the f-stop to? Using
the manual settings, try taking some low light photos above ground of
the same object with different settings, until you get a feel for what
the difference is for the range available with your camera. The
smaller the f-stop number, the wider the opening and the more light the
aperture lets in. A given f-stop lets in twice as much light as the
next higher f-stop. With my digital (also a sony), you only have to
adjust one and the other adjusts automatically, that is, adjust the
f-stop setting and shutter speed will change accordingly.

Does that help?
kari

>
> Dan Bracuk

Dan Bracuk wrote:
> Last week I tried something new - new for me that is. I took all my
> photos with natural light only. The good news is that the good ones
> were much better than they would have been with flash. No shadows and
> no backscatter.
>
> The bad news is that I left the camera on fully automatic, except for
> the no flash part. That meant that in pretty well 100% of the low
> light situations, the shutter speed, or whatever you call that with
> digital cameras was too slow and my pictures were blurry.
>
> Next trip, manual f-stop and shutter speed settings. Anybody got any
> suggestions for something that might work? The camera is a 4
> megapixel Sony point and shoot.

Are you looking for suggestions as to what to set the f-stop to? Using
the manual settings, try taking some low light photos above ground of
the same object with different settings, until you get a feel for what
the difference is for the range available with your camera. The
smaller the f-stop number, the wider the opening and the more light the
aperture lets in. A given f-stop lets in twice as much light as the
next higher f-stop. With my digital (also a sony), you only have to
adjust one and the other adjusts automatically, that is, adjust the
f-stop setting and shutter speed will change accordingly.

Does that help?
kari

>
> Dan Bracuk

Dan Bracuk wrote:
> Last week I tried something new - new for me that is. I took all my
> photos with natural light only. The good news is that the good ones
> were much better than they would have been with flash. No shadows and
> no backscatter.
>
> The bad news is that I left the camera on fully automatic, except for
> the no flash part. That meant that in pretty well 100% of the low
> light situations, the shutter speed, or whatever you call that with
> digital cameras was too slow and my pictures were blurry.
>
> Next trip, manual f-stop and shutter speed settings. Anybody got any
> suggestions for something that might work? The camera is a 4
> megapixel Sony point and shoot.

Are you looking for suggestions as to what to set the f-stop to? Using
the manual settings, try taking some low light photos above ground of
the same object with different settings, until you get a feel for what
the difference is for the range available with your camera. The
smaller the f-stop number, the wider the opening and the more light the
aperture lets in. A given f-stop lets in twice as much light as the
next higher f-stop. With my digital (also a sony), you only have to
adjust one and the other adjusts automatically, that is, adjust the
f-stop setting and shutter speed will change accordingly.

Does that help?
kari

>
> Dan Bracuk

Dan Bracuk wrote:
> Last week I tried something new - new for me that is. I took all my
> photos with natural light only. The good news is that the good ones
> were much better than they would have been with flash. No shadows and
> no backscatter.
>
> The bad news is that I left the camera on fully automatic, except for
> the no flash part. That meant that in pretty well 100% of the low
> light situations, the shutter speed, or whatever you call that with
> digital cameras was too slow and my pictures were blurry.

I'll bet fully automatic was the right choice anyway, since your camera
is probably programmed with a bias toward faster shutter speeds. I
think these consumer cameras are programmed wth a bias to reduce blur
caused by motion of the camera or subject. I have the same problems in
low light with my Olympus 4040z.

In mid-depths of 30 to 60 fsw, my camera is often at widest aperture
and it chooses slow shutter speeds of 1/20th to 1/2 second.

I'm getting a few decent shots in those low light conditions by
steadying the camera as much as possible, as I'm sure you are.

I can sometimes get an acceptably clear shot even with shutter speeds
as long as 1/6 of a second if I get a little further away, stop
breathing, get slack in the flag line and place my fin tips or knees on
the bottom.

> Next trip, manual f-stop and shutter speed settings. Anybody got any
> suggestions for something that might work? The camera is a 4
> megapixel Sony point and shoot.

I agree with Kari about experimenting a little with your cameras
settings for manual or shutter control.

Also, to find out what your camera's automatic mode is doing, try to
find some low light settings that cause your camera, in automatic mode,
to just barely drop into the widest aperture. Note the shutter speed
and then switch to manual or shutter priority and compare different
settings. That might tell you if there is an advantage to controlling
the shutter speed yourself.

Eventually, my solution will be to get a camera with better low-light
performance. If you find a cheaper solution, let me know. 8^)

HTH.

Dave C

Dan Bracuk wrote:
> Last week I tried something new - new for me that is. I took all my
> photos with natural light only. The good news is that the good ones
> were much better than they would have been with flash. No shadows and
> no backscatter.
>
> The bad news is that I left the camera on fully automatic, except for
> the no flash part. That meant that in pretty well 100% of the low
> light situations, the shutter speed, or whatever you call that with
> digital cameras was too slow and my pictures were blurry.

I'll bet fully automatic was the right choice anyway, since your camera
is probably programmed with a bias toward faster shutter speeds. I
think these consumer cameras are programmed wth a bias to reduce blur
caused by motion of the camera or subject. I have the same problems in
low light with my Olympus 4040z.

In mid-depths of 30 to 60 fsw, my camera is often at widest aperture
and it chooses slow shutter speeds of 1/20th to 1/2 second.

I'm getting a few decent shots in those low light conditions by
steadying the camera as much as possible, as I'm sure you are.

I can sometimes get an acceptably clear shot even with shutter speeds
as long as 1/6 of a second if I get a little further away, stop
breathing, get slack in the flag line and place my fin tips or knees on
the bottom.

> Next trip, manual f-stop and shutter speed settings. Anybody got any
> suggestions for something that might work? The camera is a 4
> megapixel Sony point and shoot.

I agree with Kari about experimenting a little with your cameras
settings for manual or shutter control.

Also, to find out what your camera's automatic mode is doing, try to
find some low light settings that cause your camera, in automatic mode,
to just barely drop into the widest aperture. Note the shutter speed
and then switch to manual or shutter priority and compare different
settings. That might tell you if there is an advantage to controlling
the shutter speed yourself.

Eventually, my solution will be to get a camera with better low-light
performance. If you find a cheaper solution, let me know. 8^)

HTH.

Dave C

Dan Bracuk wrote:
> Last week I tried something new - new for me that is. I took all my
> photos with natural light only. The good news is that the good ones
> were much better than they would have been with flash. No shadows and
> no backscatter.
>
> The bad news is that I left the camera on fully automatic, except for
> the no flash part. That meant that in pretty well 100% of the low
> light situations, the shutter speed, or whatever you call that with
> digital cameras was too slow and my pictures were blurry.

I'll bet fully automatic was the right choice anyway, since your camera
is probably programmed with a bias toward faster shutter speeds. I
think these consumer cameras are programmed wth a bias to reduce blur
caused by motion of the camera or subject. I have the same problems in
low light with my Olympus 4040z.

In mid-depths of 30 to 60 fsw, my camera is often at widest aperture
and it chooses slow shutter speeds of 1/20th to 1/2 second.

I'm getting a few decent shots in those low light conditions by
steadying the camera as much as possible, as I'm sure you are.

I can sometimes get an acceptably clear shot even with shutter speeds
as long as 1/6 of a second if I get a little further away, stop
breathing, get slack in the flag line and place my fin tips or knees on
the bottom.

> Next trip, manual f-stop and shutter speed settings. Anybody got any
> suggestions for something that might work? The camera is a 4
> megapixel Sony point and shoot.

I agree with Kari about experimenting a little with your cameras
settings for manual or shutter control.

Also, to find out what your camera's automatic mode is doing, try to
find some low light settings that cause your camera, in automatic mode,
to just barely drop into the widest aperture. Note the shutter speed
and then switch to manual or shutter priority and compare different
settings. That might tell you if there is an advantage to controlling
the shutter speed yourself.

Eventually, my solution will be to get a camera with better low-light
performance. If you find a cheaper solution, let me know. 8^)

HTH.

Dave C

Dan Bracuk wrote:
> Last week I tried something new - new for me that is. I took all my
> photos with natural light only. The good news is that the good ones
> were much better than they would have been with flash. No shadows and
> no backscatter.

Natural light for me always produces the best looking photos. I like
the 'Nemo' atmosphere you get with natural light.

>
> Next trip, manual f-stop and shutter speed settings. Anybody got any
> suggestions for something that might work? The camera is a 4
> megapixel Sony point and shoot.

With my experience of Sony P&S cameras, P100 mainly, I find that the
best results come when you set the exposure compensation at -1.0eV. The
Sony's, and most others, tend to over-expose with underwater scenes.
The Sony's are probably the least tweakable with very few aperture
settings that are user selectable and limited white balance control.

The best way to get the most out of shooting available light is to use a
filter to balance out the colour spectrum a bit. Have a look at
http://www.magic-filters.com/ to see what can be done without a strobe.

jon

Dan Bracuk wrote:
> Last week I tried something new - new for me that is. I took all my
> photos with natural light only. The good news is that the good ones
> were much better than they would have been with flash. No shadows and
> no backscatter.

Natural light for me always produces the best looking photos. I like
the 'Nemo' atmosphere you get with natural light.

>
> Next trip, manual f-stop and shutter speed settings. Anybody got any
> suggestions for something that might work? The camera is a 4
> megapixel Sony point and shoot.

With my experience of Sony P&S cameras, P100 mainly, I find that the
best results come when you set the exposure compensation at -1.0eV. The
Sony's, and most others, tend to over-expose with underwater scenes.
The Sony's are probably the least tweakable with very few aperture
settings that are user selectable and limited white balance control.

The best way to get the most out of shooting available light is to use a
filter to balance out the colour spectrum a bit. Have a look at
http://www.magic-filters.com/ to see what can be done without a strobe.

jon

Dan Bracuk wrote:
> Last week I tried something new - new for me that is. I took all my
> photos with natural light only. The good news is that the good ones
> were much better than they would have been with flash. No shadows and
> no backscatter.

Natural light for me always produces the best looking photos. I like
the 'Nemo' atmosphere you get with natural light.

>
> Next trip, manual f-stop and shutter speed settings. Anybody got any
> suggestions for something that might work? The camera is a 4
> megapixel Sony point and shoot.

With my experience of Sony P&S cameras, P100 mainly, I find that the
best results come when you set the exposure compensation at -1.0eV. The
Sony's, and most others, tend to over-expose with underwater scenes.
The Sony's are probably the least tweakable with very few aperture
settings that are user selectable and limited white balance control.

The best way to get the most out of shooting available light is to use a
filter to balance out the colour spectrum a bit. Have a look at
http://www.magic-filters.com/ to see what can be done without a strobe.

jon