Night dive without an external strobe?

[JimHar99]

I have a DC600, but I don't have an external strobe yet. I was thinking about trying it on a night dive next month in Bonaire.

Will the internal flash, plus my dive light, give me enough illumination for some photos, or should I just not bother until I have purchased a strobe?

[CompuDude]

Sure. It'll pretty much only be good for Macro shots, but you'll probably be fine. Anything over 1-2' away will be backscatter city, though.

[JimHar99]

Thanks for the quick response CompuDude.
I guess I'll try to get extra close for any of the night shots.

[diver 85]

Originally Posted by JimHar99

I have a DC600, but I don't have an external strobe yet. I was thinking about trying it on a night dive next month in Bonaire.

Will the internal flash, plus my dive light, give me enough illumination for some photos, or should I just not bother until I have purchased a strobe?

I use my Canon A570 with no external flash on nite dives with pretty good results...btw, your dive light is of no value ie the camera's flash is alot more powerful(for stills) but will needed for UW videos.........

The 1st 4 still shots & the 1st video @ this link were from a nite dive last summer @ Little Cayman.....good luck......
GEAUXtiger/LCthursday071207 - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

[Soonerwink]

I took some pictures at the Flower Gardens last year without a strobe and I thought my night dive photos came out the best. They seemed to show a lot more of the colors.

[dannybot]

Originally Posted by JimHar99

I have a DC600, but I don't have an external strobe yet. I was thinking about trying it on a night dive next month in Bonaire.

Will the internal flash, plus my dive light, give me enough illumination for some photos, or should I just not bother until I have purchased a strobe?

If you look at these two photos, one is with just the flash, the other is with a Shockwave II LED for accenet light. You will see the fillof the dive light adds a lot of depth to the picture. A regular incandescent light puts out less light and a cooler temperature, so you might not notice any effect with that. Take your time and experiment, review the shots and see what you get. At night you will see better colors, but the onboard flash is very limited in range, and backscatter is a real problem. Enjoy you trip.

[Suther2136]

I just got back from Roatan with my DC600 (no strobe) and the photos came out pretty good including the night dive. Still working on the color balance though. Flickr: r.sutherland33's Photostream

[Geoff_T]

in theory you should be able to use your dive light if it is strong enough think UK C8 should be at least enough. The bigger issue is color temprature of the light. You will have to find out what it is and set your cameras white balance accordingly. If you try to use it with an internal flash the color temp will undoubtadly cause issues. If you are just useing the dive light it will function as a hot light. In doing that however you will also have to dial in your iso and f stop accordingly. I have shot millions of frames on land with no flash at all and in far worse conditions. I assure you that you can do this in the water as long as your distance to subject is not more than a few yards at most.

[bperrybap]

I have a dc500 with no strobe and have taken many shots at night.
It's a pretty tough balancing act to get used to. Camera in one hand,
light in other then getting it to focus and positioning the camera.

Here is main issue. Not sure if its a problem with the dc600 or not.
The DC500 needs quite a bit of light in order to focus. This means
that you have to shine the dive light at the subject to get it to focus,
then move it away to avoid a bright hot spot in the photo.
Now to make it more complicated, the snout of the housing casts
a very large shadow in the bottom half of the frame.
To minimize this I then move the camera down slightly off center
of the subject.

So here is how I take the photo.
Shine the light at the subject. Point the camera at the subject then
push the shutter button half way to focus. Then move the light away.
(subject will be very dark or black now), Then move the camera slightly
down. Then finally push the shutter button down fully to take the shot.
Once you get use to its shadow region created by the snout you can
actually compensate for it by moving the light slightly down and
keeping the camera centered on subject.

I also find that holding the camera with 2 hands vs one greatly steadies
the camera and reduces blur when the exposures get longer.
This also makes things tricky at night when trying to keep both the camera
and light steady.

Closeup Macro doesn't work at all because the snout blocks too much of the light.
12" to about 4 feet in clear water will be ok.

I have done some movies with the dive light.
Its kind of a "scary" looking video but kind of cool.

If you have bright enough lights between you and your buddy you
can get some shots without a flash, if you can keep the camera
fairly steady.

Definitely worth taking and trying.


--- bill

[DevilDiver]

Here is main issue. Not sure if its a problem with the dc600 or not.
The DC500 needs quite a bit of light in order to focus. This means
that you have to shine the dive light at the subject to get it to focus,
then move it away to avoid a bright hot spot in the photo.

This is actually an issue with most any camera, but here is something to consider...

If you need a way to avoid this take a look at purchasing a focus light. This could be used to help focus durring the day in low light and close up shots or at night and you would not need to balance the dive light or worry about the hot spots....

The attached link is a very cost effective option and all you need is a hot shoe on you housing. You could purchase a focus light for more $$ but this should work fine for most cases.

Link:
Reef Photo & Video!, The Underwater Photo Pros

Link for hot shoe attachment:
Sea And Sea Hot Shoe, Underwater Cameras, Sea & Sea, Sea And Sea Hot Shoe

The attachment cost more than the light but both together are less than some dive lights.