ISO Settings???

[mishu1984]

just out of curiousity and plain old ignorance, but what ISO settings are best for underwater photography, or should i just leave the bugger on AUTO??

thanks

 

[hardhat]

What are you shooting? Digital or film? What do you have for strobes? What's the water your shooting in like, dark, or lots of light? I would guess the water is pretty clear in Kuwait.

 

[mishu1984]

digital. canon powershot s400 digital elph. no strobes. sometime afternoon with fading sunlight. probably, and hopefully somehting like 20feet vis.

 

[nixe_berlin]

to avoid noise you should try to only use iso 100, maximum 200 with the camera you have. it will be tough to do that without strobes if you don't have enough sunlight and the vis is not too good. i guess you plan on shooting wide angle pictures?

 

[mishu1984]

thanks nixe.
not wide angle, just mostly dead fish on a stick and the process of killing them...

 

[Jon]

When shooting in darker water I usually, if I can remember to, set my 5050 to an ISO of 400. I don't use a strobe either, and there is more noise at that level, but some pictures are better than no pictures.

Jon

 

[dforcucci]

For wide angle (1.5' or > from subject) I use a non-auto setting because most auto settings will create way too much back scatter by using a low ISO and high flash output. Especially in productive waters like the Pacific Northwest where I dive. By using P (program) you can control the ISO and flash output. Try 400 ISO and use very little flash or no flash depending on the compositon and use a diffuser. Then go to 200 iso and compare. The lower the ISO the less grainy the image will be.

For macro (1' or less from subject) you should be able to use it on Auto..... a diffuser will help too....

Hope this helps and good luck,
Dave