Fuji F150 HELP PLEASE!

[underwater_badass]

Hi All!,
I wonder if there's someone who can give me a bit of help?
I bought an F150 when they first came out and love it. Then I took up this amazing sport of diving. For my birthday I was given the Fuji housing so that I can use it underwater.
When do i use the silicon grease? before or after a dive?
How do I make sure that I get decent pictures (good enough to show mates, not win competitions!) I don't have much money so cant afford a strobe but I'm going to Egypt soon and would love to have some really nice pics to show people.

[Ian]

You might like to take a look at this link on maintenance:

http://www.camerasunderwater.info/articles/maint.html

Basically you need to ensure o-rings are lubricated and clean at all times to preserve them and maintain a seal.

http://www.camerasunderwater.info/articles/index.html

Has some other interesting articles.

There is no simple formula for taking good pictures, but if you're going to Egypt you won't need a strobe to get good shots especially in shallow water. You will need to learn to use you're cameras "manual white balance" festure and possibly also any "anti shake" mode it has. Turning up the ISO setting is also a good way of getting brighter pictures without motion blur, but it can introduce noise into the images. I think the F50 has an underwater mode which might be worth experimenting with too, although I've had limited success with them in the past...

All the best

Ian

[Maria Munn]

Hi there,

Just seen your post and fingers crossed that I can help.

I always lightly grease the o-ring the night before my dive and before this, check with my fingers around the o-ring for any dirt or sand particles that may have accumulated. I always use a magnifying glass as an extra measure and use an eye shadow make up applicator to clean the groove where the o-ring sits to make sure it is clean and free from dirt before I put the o-ring back in. I generally re-grease the o-ring every 2-3 days unless I have been on a sandy dive, when I will recheck the o-ring and regrease it before the next one. I always carry a spare with me when I am away just in case the other ones gets damaged or nicked.

With regards to the settings for your compact I recommend keeping your ISO on 100 if you are taking pictures in shallow water otherwise you will run the risk of more light entering the camera, overexposing your photo which is what happens if you have the setting on a higher ISO. Maybe increase it to 200 if you are deeper than 10 ms or diving in the UK or 400 when you are inside wrecks and caves or on a night dive.

Next, if you are really close to your macro subject without hurting the coral around it in any way, shape or form, then use the macro (tulip) button on the back of your camera and the built-in flash, unless the port of your camera is large in which case this may cause a shadow. The macro mode will give your subject lots of lovely depth-of-field, sharpness and great subjects for compacts underwater in this mode are scorpionfish, stonefish, bigeyes, lionfish, and anemones on night dives when they are far more still! Another good method of ensuring your shots are sharp is to pan with the subject, keeping your finger half way pressed down on the button to make sure that it is in focus and when you have your subject in the right part of the frame, take the picture! I've attached a photo taken with the Macro Mode and Built-In Flash with a compact, you can get some fab results as long as you make sure that you are close to your subject and use that beautiful blue background to make your subject stand out.

Manual White Balance is another great feature, make sure that your built-in flash is switched off when you use it, otherwise your subjects will look extra pink! Red and deep pink subjects aren't replicated so well using this setting, but other subjects can look fantastic as long as there is plenty of light on your subject and the sun is behind you. It is also best to use this function above 20 ms or so making sure that you have lots of light, and keeping as close to your subject as possible.

Hope that this helps and if you have any more questions, just let me know.

Cheers and Happy Bubbles,

Maria