Digital Camera Questions

Posted by iwellbc on December 7th, 2009 filed in Articles

Many of the digital cameras require the strobe setting to be in a special position with just the “lightning bolt” symbol showing in the window to activate the flash consistently. “Auto Flash” settings may leave the camera to decide if the light level is low enough to require flash, resulting in no fill flash in your pictures. Read the camera instruction manual for correct information pertaining to your camera. This special position may be referred to as “Internal Flash Active”, “Flash On”, “Forced” or “Fill Flash” in the instructions.

The TTL Slave Sensor is NOT recommended with most current digital cameras. The EV Manual Controller provides simple and dependable strobe triggering by simply aiming it at the camera housing, eliminating the need for fibre optic “sync cord” nonsense of other strobe systems. The Manual Controller does have switches that must be preset for preflash or non preflash, and strobe power.

Many cameras will select f/2.0 or f/2.8 aperture in the Program Mode unless ambient light is high. Aperture Priority and Manual Modes still provide TTL flash control, and may be a more satisfactory choice. Aperture priority may set too slow of a shutter speed, resulting in blurry pictures. Shutter priority may set wide open aperture which makes the camera think very little flash would be required.

Presetting the ISO at 64 or 100 may provide more realistic results. White balance can be pre-set, and this may allow you to obtain better color rendition underwater. Some cameras set f/10 in Macro Mode which may cause under exposure for subjects over two feet away.

Consistent over or under exposure simply requires utilizing the flash exposure compensation in the camera. This is standard procedure. Dual strobes may require more flash exposure compensation to avoid under exposure because their combined preflash may be brighter. Each camera system will vary because of differences in strobe power output and preflash intensity. Addition of the diffuser supplied with the SubStrobe will decreases the preflash intensity so the camera will usually request more primary flash. Flash compensation is referred to in some Nikon cameras as “variable power” under the speedlight menu.

Some cameras will not take a picture if set for auto focus and focus is not achieved. This may explain problems in taking a flash picture on night dives.

When adding supplemental wide-angle lenses, check that they do not block any TTL flash or focus sensors on the camera body. Some lens shades we supply have a slot that must be oriented properly so sensor is not blocked.

Remember that many digital cameras have a delay between the time you push the shutter release and when the picture is taken. Do not indiscriminately push the control knob so hard that the control or camera might be broken.

Digital cameras and their built-in flash generate considerable heat, making the housing more prone to developing condensation if it was closed in a very cool or moist environment. Some cameras have a sensor that shuts down the camera if it senses too much moisture.