General Tips, Photo Tips | Ikelite SD630 instruction

Control Maintenance Cont.

3. Some of the controls have a short shaft and cannot be pulled out exposing the shaft for lubrication. In the unlikely event one of these controls sticks or becomes difficult to operate you can remove the control from the housing and lubricate it, or return the housing to Ikelite for maintenance. To remove the control, loosen the set screw in the knob (allen wrench required); remove the knob. If there is salt or dirt build-up on the exposed control shaft, clean the shaft. Open the housing and gently slide the control shaft out of the control gland. Clean and lightly lubricate the shaft, including the end of the shaft. Slide the shaft back into the control gland and gently slide it back and forth a few times without fully removing the shaft from the gland. Replace the knob, NOTE the flat area on the shaft, the set screw in the knob should tighten down against the flat area on the control so the knob does not turn on the shaft.

General Tips

1. Due to the power required to operate the camera, flash, and LCD screen it is a good idea to start each dive with a fresh set of batteries.

2. Some cameras reset their flash to AUTO when the camera is turned on. If you prefer another setting be sure to select it.

3. As soon as you enter the water, take a moment and check the housing to see that it is properly sealed.

4. Next, check to see if there are any bubbles on the face of the lens port. If there are, take your finger and remove them. If there are bubbles on the lens port they can produce soft focus spots in your photographs.

NOTE

5. If you are shooting with the camera’s built-in flash and the cameras lens is set to the widest angle you may need to zoom the lens slightly or a shadow may appear in the lower left corner of close-up photographs. The lens port may block some

control	housing	gland
control	housing	gland
shaft

Flat Tighten set screw down against this area when

replacing the knob. Lubricate end of shaft before reinserting into gland

Loosen set screw (allen wrench required)

of the light. Installing the flash diffuser will help to eliminate the shadow. (You can test this above water)

To shoot photographs closer than 2 feet (0.6m), you need to use an external strobe such as the DS51 or DS125. With an external strobe you can position it so nothing blocks the light path between the strobe and the subject.

Photo Tips

1. The number one rule in underwater photography is eliminate as much water between camera and subject as possible. Get as close as you can to the subject, then use the zoom. If you are using flash, subjects beyond 6 feet (1.8m)will not have much color.

2. The camera’s built-in flash is very close to the camera lens. The flash can light up any suspended particles in the water and they can be recorded in your picture. This effect is called backscatter. To eliminate as much backscatter as possible, photograph close. Photograph in clear water; do not stir up the sand or silty bottom. If backscatter becomes a problem in the environment you are photographing, an external flash will help eliminate much of the backscatter.

3. Digital cameras have a slight lag time between when you press the shutter release button and the camera actually takes the picture. Hold the camera steady a second or two after pressing the shutter release button.

4. Do not shoot down on subjects as they will quite often blend into the background and be difficult to see in the photograph. Shoot subjects straight on or shoot up at a slight angle using the blue water as a contrasting background.

5. Underwater flash is used to restore the warmer colors filtered out by the water as well as to illuminate the subject. When photographing underwater, set the camera to use flash on every shot. If the camera’s flash is set to AUTO and the sun is behind your subject, the camera may see enough light that it does not fire the flash. With the sun behind the subject the subject is shaded (dark) and needs flash for a good exposure.

Photo Tips Cont.

6. When using daylight or flash if your camera consistently over or underexposes the image you may want to adjust your camera’s exposure compensation settings. Many cameras allow you to adjust both available light and flash exposure with an EV control in the camera’s menu.

7. Many photographers transfer their images to the computer where they can fine tune the appearance of the image. Many of the image manipulation programs make you think you can magically correct any image taken and make a good picture. One thing to remember when using image manipulation programs, if the image is overexposed much of the color is missing. If the color is missing you cannot adjust it. If images are slightly underexposed the color is there, it is just dark and you can adjust it to some degree. So if you error in exposure it is better to have the image slightly underexposed than over exposed.