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Bonaire Photography & Videography: Film speed
Bonaire Talk: Bonaire Photography & Videography: Archives: Archives 2003- 2004: Archives - 2004-08-15 to 2004-12-31: Film speed
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Lang (BonaireTalker - Post #14) on Tuesday, September 14, 2004 - 4:30 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I just purchased a reefmaster rc pro camera w/strobe I have been told to use both 200 speed film and 100 speed film which is the best?? different speed for different depths??? HELP FROM SOME OF YOU CAMERA PRO'S!!!!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cecil Berry (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3738) on Tuesday, September 14, 2004 - 5:58 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

David, the best advice I can give you is take it back and buy a digital. For the same money you could get a great little digital and housing that will take an order of magnitude better picture than any Reefmaster. I had one for a while and was pretty disappointed in everything about it. Lousy pictures, lousy camera and expensive to use (film and developing). The final straw for me was a VW sized loggerhead turtle that flew right over my head, I was ready with the Reefmaster. When I got home and developed the pictures I got a great picture of one fin. I had a digital before the next trip.

If you insist on keeping it, go for the higher speed film to get a faster shutter speed (less motion blur). I used 400 speed film mostly.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bob Birk (BonaireTalker - Post #13) on Friday, September 17, 2004 - 8:53 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

I am definitely not a camera pro, but I do have a reefmaster. Would prefer to have a digital, but at the moment not an option. From what I can determine, the camera is not all that sophisticated and can't handle much faster film reliably. I have had the best results with 200. On my last dive trip I tried 600 (reasoning being the faster film should give me more capability at depth). Didn't work out that way. Even the shallow pics turned out bad. Took a few with the camera outside the housing topside, and even they were substandard. Looking at the documentation for the camera, I see 100 and 200 specified only.
A hint, be very careful on the positioning of the strobe or you get a lot of backscatter. Keep the strobe aimed somewhat off to the side so the subject is just within the edge of the cone of light.
I've got a Fuji A210 that is giving me very good topside results, but can't find any housing for it. Any suggestions? As long as I am here, what is the secret of embedding pics in the messages? I read the instructions, but seem to run into problems. What is the max size allowed?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cecil Berry (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3752) on Friday, September 17, 2004 - 4:21 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Bob there is not a housing available for that Fuji (but you already know that). In the future always check digideep.com for housing availability. The best bet is to stick to Olympus, Canon or Sony, who make UW housings for most of their cameras.

Attached pictures is not that easy but simple once you know how. The max picture size is 50k and it is best to practice in the test area until you get it right. The other trick is to get a reasonable sized picture below 50k, this involves messing with the .jpg compression number to keep the picture under 50k.

 


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