Page 2 of 5
Stability in the water
Before you start taking pictures under water your buoyancy control should be very good. Taking a camera with you under water asks a lot of your attention. If your buoyancy is not sufficiently under control the camera is just too much. If your buoyancy is ok then the first hurdle is taken. But that is still not sufficient as the pictures shows. The picture is not sharp because there was insufficient light for a short exposure and that resulted in blurring when I pushed the trigger. To avoid that there are some things you can do:
- You can increase the sensitivity. This camera was on automatic which means that the camera decides what the best combination is of sensitivity and exposure. A disadvantage is that the maximum sensitivity of this camera is 200 ASA which is just a factor 2 more sensitive than the standard 100 ASA. As a consequence the exposure time is increased (slower) when there is insufficient available light. But that was not the problem in this case. The exposure was 1/42 sec, the opening was F/2.8 and the sensitivity was 50 ASA.
- You have to push the trigger very carefully. That is what I apparently didn't do. It should be possible to get a sharp picture at 1/42 sec although this requires some experience.
This camera uses a push button as trigger. A lever would be better because you need less pressure to release the shutter which means that there is less risk to move the camera when releasing the trigger. This is something to pay attention to when buying your next camera and underwater housing.