This page is intended to be a repository of tips, tricks
and general observations about how to use your Ikelite Aquashot II to make
good underwater photographs using Fuji QuickSnap or Kodak FunSaver disposable
cameras. I'm not associated with Ikelite in any way; this is just for fun.
I'm also not the world's expert on this subject. Most of what is contained
here are the lessons learned on a single diving trip. In total, I have
made about 75 dives with the Aquashot, and my insight into the camera hasn't
changed much since I wrote this page. However, if you have doubts about
anything I say, or want to add, correct, or elucidate, please
e-mail me. Photos from other
photographers are of great interest! Please help me add to this page and keep
it fun for everyone!
The information and images herein (except photos submitted by other
contributors) are copyright (c) 1998 by Nathan Terry. All rights
are reserved. Photos of the Aquashot and its accessories are copyrighted
by Ikelite Underwater Systems.
Why did I bother to say all that? Because I don't want to see material
from this page in somebody's book or magazine article without my permission
(like that's likely to happen). I don't really care if private citizens
download a copy of a photo they like, or make a print-out of this page
or something... That's what this page is all about! But if you want to
make commercial use of anything on this page (Wayne and Garth would say:
"as if!"), I want to be consulted first.
Contents
Ikelite Announces the Aquashot 3
In early March, Ikelite announced the arrival of the AquaShot 3,
and its sister model the AquaShot 3e.
These two new camera housings update the AquaShot's ability to
accept one-time-use cameras. The AquaShot 3 will handle almost every one-time-use
camera on the market today. The AquaShot 3e accepts the Fuji Endeavor 10
camera, which is an autowinding APS camera (that is, it uses the APS drop-in
film canister system). APS film and its advantages/disadvantages
over 35mm film is a subject too long and too controversial to get into
here, but in my opinion, any disadvantages of APS film are outweighed (in
this case) by having a reloadable, auto-winding camera to use in the AquaShot.
Ikelite will allow owners of AquaShot and AquaShot II housings
to upgrade to the
AquaShot 3 for $40. There is also an additional charge to upgrade water-correcting
and macro lenses, if you own these.
Check Ikelite's
WWW site on the AquaShot 3 for a full description of the AquaShot 3
and 3e, with FAQ files, photos, and more. Especially, don't miss
the design notes,
which are very enlightening...
How to contact Ikelite
Ikelite has truly superior (damn near legendary, IMO) customer service.
If you need to contact them for some reason (repair, upgrades, questions
which I don't answer here, etc.), here's the contact info:
Ikelite Underwater Systems
50 W 33rd Street
Indianapolis, IN 46208
USA
317-923-4523
Ikelite has a WWW page! http://www.ikelite.com/
Also be sure to check out the all-new Aquashot
FAQ page at Ikelite. You might find some stuff which is not available
on this page!
How to overcome the Aquashot's positive bouancy
The housing is very positively boyant. I found this extremely
annoying, so I bought lead fishing weights from Any-mart for a couple of
bucks. There is a lot of space inside the housing under the camera,
and also *inside* the viewfinder of Fuji disposables. Just make sure the
weights you buy are small enough. A better way I found was to melt the weights
in an old sause pan on the stove and poring it out on the back of a griddle or
on the bottom of a frying pan. It will be thin enough to cut with a pair of old
scissors. Cut a bunch of them so they will fit in the air spaces between the
housing and the camera.
What film/camera to use in your Aquashot II
The Aquashot II accepts the Kodak Funsaver 24+3 and Fuji Quicksnap 24+3
disposable cameras, in both flash and non-flash versions. Beware of the
newer models of Kodak Funsaver 24, which will not fit in the Aquashot II.
In order to be completely sure that you have a usable camera, I advise
using the Fuji Quicksnap 24+3.
I should also mention that I have seen several other brands of camera
which are Fuji QuickSnaps in disguise. Recently I bought a Polaroid disposable
camera at Wal-Mart because it looked very similar to the QuickSnap. Upon
opening the package, I discovered that the Polaroid camera was really a
QuickSnap that had been relabelled by Polaroid. These camerase are completely
identical to Fuji cameras (hell, they probably have Fuji film in them!),
but cost about $2 less.
Warning! Recently I have had a report that the Polaroid design
has changed, and that they might not fit the Aquashot any more! Before
you buy, be sure to check the dimensions! The proper cameras are 4.5"
x 2.25 " x 1.125" (flash version). Anything smaller will not
work!
If you intend to use the Aquashot primarily for snorkeling or shallow-water
photography, it's probably best to use cameras without the flash. This
is because the flash unit is mounted very close to the lens of the camera,
which makes back-scattering a major problem. Click
here to see an example of what happens when you use the disposable
cameras with a flash in cruddy water. If your water is extremely clear
(vis. in excess of 100 feet), you probably won't have a problem with backscatter.
However, the light output from the flash unit is relatively low, so it's
unlikely to do you much good unless you're right on top of your subject.
If you intend to use the Ikelite Substrobe AQ/S with your Aquashot II,
you must use the flash cameras, as the Substrobe AQ/S performs slave
synchronization by detecting the flash from the camera.
Camera prices are not outrageous. With a little looking around, you
should be able to buy the flash versions for about $8, the non-flash versions
for about $6.
Why won't any of the disposable cameras work in my Aquashot I ?
There are some older Aquashot housings running around. These differ
significantly in design from the Aquashot II, the current model. You can
tell the difference because the new Aquashot II is mostly white, with some
black & red plastic on it. The older Aquashot I housings are transparent
(I think).
Anyway, the original Aquashot will not work with the newer Fuji and
Kodak cameras, due to changes in the camera design. Ikelite has an upgrade/exchange
program, whereby you can send in your old Aquashot I (and $35) and they'll
send you a shiny new Aquashot II housing.
Contact Ikelite before doing this, of course!
What happens if Fuji/Kodak stop making cameras compatible with the Aquashot?
This is a valid concern. Already Kodak has changed the design of some
of their cameras so they no longer work with the Aquashot. What happens
if Fuji stops making the QuickSnap 24+3?
Ikelite sells recycled Fuji QuickSnap cameras, packaged specially for
Ikelite, under the name AquaSnap. Thus, you are pretty much guaranteed
that disposable cameras will still be available for the Aquashot, for the
foreseeable future. I have tested a five-pack of these cameras, and am
pleased to report that they are "just what the doctor ordered."
I also have to report that I really like the results from these cameras.
I took the five-pack on a dive trip with me, along with a few cameras reloaded
(by me) with Kodak Gold 400 film. The results from the Ikelite AquaSnaps
were clearly superior to those reloaded with Kodak film. I really like
the color saturation and balance of the film in the AquaSnaps.
Are there other cameras which will work with the Aquashot?
Short answer: I don't know. Here's a list of cameras which have been
used successfully by myself or other people in the Aquashot II:
- Fuji QuickSnap 24+3 (no flash)
- Fuji QuickSnap 24+3 (flash)
- Kodak FunSaver 24+3 (no flash)
- Kodak FunSaver 24+3 (flash)
- Ikelite AquaSnap 24+3 (flash) (recycled Fuji QuickSnap)
- Polaroid SideKick (flash) (same as Fuji QuickSnap)
Warning! Recently I have had a report that the Polaroid design
has changed, and that they might not fit the Aquashot any more! Before
you buy, be sure to check the dimensions! The proper cameras are 4.5"
x 2.25 " x 1.125" (flash version). Anything smaller will not
work!
If you intend to use the Aquashot primarily for snorkeling or Recently
a reader of this page pointed me towards a WWW site for a company which
reloads / recycles Fuji QuickSnaps. Custom
Camera Design sells recycled QuickSnaps which have been reloaded with
24-exposure rolls of 3M film. They can also load one with 36 exposures
if you make a special request. The 24-exposure cameras sell for $5.95 without
flash, $7.95 with. If you order, be sure to specify that you want the recycled
QuickSnap 24+3 models which are compatible with the Aquashot II.
I think these prices are a little high considering that the camera bodies
have been recycled, and the film in them is film I consider to be less
than desirable. However, the interesting thing about these cameras is that
I suspect they have been modified to accept regular 35mm film canisters.
If this is true, reloading them myself should be easy, and I may buy a
dozen just for the bodies!
I received an order of two cameras this week, and will disassemble one
soon. Stay tuned for further information!
OK, here's the update on my experience with Custom Camera Design. I'll
start by saying that I was not satisfied with them. The cameras arrived
quickly, but that's the best thing I can say.
I ordered two, and wasted one just to get the film out and open the
body. The film jammed on about exposure 20; by forcing the issue I was
able to wind the rest of the film into the canister, but when I opened
the camera body, there were bits of film rattling about.
Also, CCD's reloading technique does not involve modifying the camera
to accept regular 35mm cans; they have special geared cans made for them
(with their logo). Further, they ream out the bottom-side glue spot, leaving
a gaping hole in the back of the camera, which requires extensive use of
black tape in order to get a light seal. This also makes the cameras difficult
to load at home, so their cameras are of no use to me.
All in all, I can't recommend buying CCD's cameras for use in the Aquashot.
OTOH, the person who pointed me towards CCD's Web page recently reported
entirely satisfactory results, including 4 rolls shot with no jams, and
good print quality after processing. In light of this info, I think perhaps
CCD is a viable source for cameras to use in your Aquashot, although I
still would not recommend them as a source of reloadable bodies.
More information on this front: apparently Custom Camera Designs has
been informed through other channels about the camera jamming problem.
Supposedly they are working on a fix for this problem. I will try again
with CCD cameras in a few months and see if they work out better in the
future.
Please e-mail me if you
have used any other cameras successfully in your Aquashot. I'm especially
interested in hearing about reloadable (i.e. non-disposable point-and-shoot)
cameras which fit into the Aquashot II !
Tips for using the various disposable cameras
Each of the disposable cameras has its quirks, some of which are worth
mentioning.
Kodak Cameras
The following tip comes directly from Ikelite:
One big problem is failure of people to turn the advance knob slightly
in the wrong direction both before and after advancing the film when Kodak
cameras are used. Film will never advance if this procedure is not followed.
The sharp teeth on Kodak film advance will shred our advance tire if people
are not careful to stop turning the knob when they hear the ratchet noise
vstop, and the film counter jump to the next number, indicating film has
advanced. Fuji cameras work much better mechanically because they do not
require this specific wind sequence.
Fuji Cameras
This tip also comes from Ikelite:
I did notice you mention a flash spot appearing in the upper left corner
of pictures. This happens with the external flash on older housings; and
usually with Fuji cameras. We have a free update kit available that consists
of two strips of rubber you stick inside of the housing. We found the flash
was bouncing off the shield (that bounces the camera strobe to our strobe)
back into the housing and down into lens area. Current housings have this
shielding installed, and the kit is available free to anyone.
Click here to see an example
of a photo which suffers from this flash flare.
Conditions required for good results
The Aquashot II can yield surprisingly good photographs, but the conditions
required for great results can be rather stringent.
First, the water must be clear. Low visibility has several consequences,
all of which are bad. Less light is the first problem; the gook in the
water causes less sunlight to reach you, at whatever depth you're located.
The camera needs light to function well, and since the aperture and shutter
speed of the disposable camera are fixed, less light means worse photos.
You can compensate for some of this by staying shallow, but obviously
this is not the optimal solution. Alternatively, you can use a camera with
a flash, but low-vis water means overwhelming back-scatter for the built-in
flashes, and less range for the outboard strobe unit.
Clear water, on the other hand, lets you go to deeper depths without
a flash, lets you use the built-in flashes instead of the strobe, and generally
results in better photographs.
Another condition for getting good results is that you have to have
decent command of your diving skills. You don't have to be a master diver,
but if you can't stay in one place for a few seconds at a time, you can't
take a picture of anything. You've heard this in a billion other places,
but buoyancy control is the key. You need to be properly weighted, and
you have to be able to control your lung volume well enough to hover for
at least a few seconds. Finally, as will be discussed later, you have to
be reasonably close to your subject in order to get decent results. This
means that you have to be able to approach a fish without scaring it away!
Primarily, this means that you have to be able to swim without flailing
your arms, and that you have to be patient. You will never win a swimming
race with any fish, unless that fish is injured or dead. :) If you can't
convince the fish that you are not threatening it, you won't be able to
photograph anything except its tailfins. Here are
a few tips for 'stalking' fish:
- Don't chase the fish; let it come to you. This is especially important if you are a novice diver, or if you are diving in unfamiliar locations or conditions. I can't tell you how many times I have followed a fish until I have gotten lost, or had to swim upstream against a strong current because I followed my subject downstream without realizing what I was doing.
- Don't make sudden movements (like swinging the camera around when you see something you want to photograph)
- Swim streamlined (no arm flailing)
- If possible, hand-over-hand pulling yourself along the bottom works well. Don't do this on a reef, or you can damage the corals! You can also inadvertently put your hand in a moray-hole, which is a Bad Thing. Find rocks or sand to pull yourself along slowly.
- If you can, hold the camera out in front of you all the time. The fish will get used to it, and will be less scared of it (and you).
How to aim the Aquashot II
If you've used your Aquashot, then you have already discovered that
all of your photos show the subject very high in the frame (if at all).
This is because the Aquashot II uses a view-finder system, which introduces
parallax error. If you don't understand what's going on, just hold
a pencil at arm's length, pointing up & down. Then close one eye, and
look at something a few feet behind the pencil. Then switch eyes without
changing anything else, and note how the view of what's behind the pencil
changes. The Aquashot's view-finder / lens system is similar to your two
eyes, except oriented verticlly.
The basic problem is that the viewfinder's line-of-sight crosses the
lens's line-of-sight about four feet in front of the camera. This means
that if you center your subject in the view-finder, it won't be centered
in the photograph, unless it's four feet from the Aquashot.
The diagram below shows how the Aquashot, and the viewfinder work together
if your subject is the right distance from the camera. If you assemble
your Aquashot and viewfinder, and look at them from the side, you'll see
that the viewfinder is tilted downwards, as shown in the picture. When
you look through the viewfinder, you're actually looking down, towards
the lens. Your line of sight intersects the camera's line of sight four
feet from the camera. If your subject is at the intersection point, then
it will be centered in the view seen by you, as well as in the view seen
by the camera.
But what happens if the subject is not four feet from the camera?
The diagram below illustrates this situation. The red lines
show the field of view presented to you by the viewfinder. The blue lines
show the field of view as seen by the camera. There are two subjects
shown in the diagram, one at a distance of two feet, and another at a distance
of 6 feet. Both are centered, as seen by the viewfinder. Notice how the
closer subject appears too high in the camera's field of view, and the
farther subject appears too low. In fact, if your subject is too close
(or too far) from the camera, it will get cut off by the edge of the camera,
or it might not appear in the frame at all! It is worth noting that the
problem is worse for subjects closer than 4 feet away than it is for subjects
farther than 4 feet.
Now here's another diagram which shows you how to correct this problem.
In this diagram, both subjects are centered as seen by the camera. Notice,
though, that the close subject appears low in the viewfinder frame (i.e.
it's below the centerline of the view), and the far subject appears high
(it's above the centerline). This is what you have to do to correct for
the parallax error: if the subject is closer than 4 feet, put it a little
lower in the viewfinder. If it's farther than 4 feet, put it a little higher!
Click here to see a photo where the parallax
error ruined the picture.
There are probably dozens of ways to compensate for this problem, and
I'm sure everyone has his/her favorite. Here are my two favorite methods:
- Instead of centering your subject on the little circle in the center of the Aquashot's viewfinder, try aligning the subject somewhat lower in the frame, perhaps as low as the bottom cross-bar of the frame. The closer you get to the subject, the lower you should move the subject in the frame.
- Skip the view-finder altogether (this is what I do). Just hold the camera in front of you with both hands, and block your view of the subject with the camera. This method works great if the subject is moving slowly, but poorly if the fish is swimming around. It's also hard to get pictures of open moray or shark mouths, etc., because you don't know when to push the button. For these subjects, you'll have to use some other method for framing the picture.
Experiment, experiment, experiment. You'll never find what works
best for you if you stick with the same (possibly bad) method all the time.
After a while you'll find that aiming the Aquashot II comes more or less
naturally.
How close you need to be to your subject
This is a matter of some delicacy.
You have to be close enough to the subject that the subject is visible
in the frame, but if it's the only thing visible in the frame, valuable
context information is lost. For instance, background corals or other fish
offer someone viewing the photograph clues as to the size of the subject.
On the other hand, if you're very far from the subject, you get a picture
of a teeny-weeny fish in a giant field of coral or rocks or whatever. Farther
still, the colors get blued out, even if you have a Substrobe.
The optimum distance for most subjects (small fish, morays, turtles,
etc.) seems to be between 2 and 6 feet (0.75-2 meters). For larger subjects
(sharks, dolphins, whales, gorgonians, etc. ), you'll need to be farther
away. Expect the photos to come out blue if you get far enough from a large
subject to capture the whole thing.
There is a limit to how close you can get to the subject due to focussing
requirements; 4 feet / 1.25 m is as close as you can get without the water-correcting
lens. With the W/C lens, you can get as close as 2.5 feet / 0.75 m.
After a recent dive trip, I have come to the conclusion that 4 feet
is the optimal distance to be from your subject (using the Substrobe).
Remember that 4 feet looks like 3 feet underwater. I was surprised at how
far from my subject I had to be to get good results, but that was the distance
which produced the best images for me.
Click here to see a photo where I was too
far away from my subject when I took the picture.
See the section on using the Substrobe
strobe unit if you want to know why the fish look blue rather than
yellow & white.
I highly recommend purchasing and using the water-correcting lens so
you don't have to worry so much about whether you are too close to the
subject. Also, most fish won't let you get closer than about 3 feet / 1m,
so if you have the water-correcting lens, just get as close as you can
(within reason).
The distance requirements are more stringent in low-visibility or low-light
conditions. If you are using the built-in flash from your disposable camera,
4-5 feet / 1.25-1.75 meters is really as far as you can get and still have
any effect from the flash. Using the Substrobe AQ/S gives a little more
flexibility, but still the optimum distance is very narrow (about 4 feet);
see the section on using the Substrobe.
Using the Ikelite Substrobe AQ/S
In my opinion, the Substrobe AQ/S is the single most important accessory
you can buy for the Aquashot. It lets you get the shots when you're deep
and there's not much light, it lets you get shots in caverns and under
ledges, it helps capture sneaky camouflaged fish like frogfish and scorpionfish,
and, when used properly, it corrects color-balance problems in almost all
lighting conditions.
The main key to getting good results from the Substrobe is controlling
the distance between you and your subject. There are two reasons the distance
issue is critical. The first reason is that the apparent brightness of
the light flash diminishes rapidly with distance; if you double the distance
between you and the subject, the flash is only 1/4 as bright when it reaches
the subject. Triple the distance and the flash dims to 1/9. More complicated
underwater cameras let you compensate for this effect by opening the lens
aperture, but, as we already know, the Aquashot has a fixed aperture, so
you're stuck with this particular problem.
The second reason that distance to the subject is important is that
the mounting arm for the Substrobe AQ/S holds the strobe unit so that the
light from the flash will cross the line of sight of the lens at a particular
distance (this distance is about 3-4 feet). If your subject is closer than
that distance, the flash area will appear to be high and to the left on
the subject. Conversely, if the subject is too far away, the flash spot
will appear low and to the right on the subject.
Finally, there is one more reason that the strobe is best used at the
proper distance: color balance. As you already know from diving, everything
at depth looks blue to some degree. This is because the water absorbs light
at longer wavelengths. The more water light has to traverse, the more the
longer wavelengths (red, yellows & oranges) are absorbed.
The flash from the strobe is intended to overcome this problem, much
the way you can see true colors at depths by shining your dive light on
something. The flash puts out light at very long wavelengths, mostly in
the yellow-red range. The effect of this is to bring a little piece of
the sun underwater with you, so that you see colors with the balance your
eyes have evolved to expect.
The problem? If you are far away from your subject, not only is the
flash light diminished by the distance, but the intervening water absorbs
the flash light the same way it absorbs the sun light, and you lose the
effectiveness of the color-balancing light from the flash. Hence your pictures
start to look blue again.
The photo of the teardrop butterfly fish from
the previous section demonstrates what happens when you are too far from
your subject for the flash to be effective.
You can see this effect easily in almost any picture of a fish with
a reef in the far background; the fish is brightly colored, but the reef
is colored that same pale blue of everything under water. BTW, this effect
is often an effective way for viewers to find the fish in your photos (if
the fish is small); they can just look for something which is not blue!
Click here to see a Substrobe photo which
is properly exposed and has decent color balance.
So exactly how far should you be from your subject for effective use
of the Substrobe? I find that about 3-4 feet (1-1.25 m) works best for
me. If you really want to find out for yourself, assemble your whole Aquashot
/ Substrobe kit and sit it on a table. Use a couple of pieces of string
to find out where the strobe line crosses the lens line, and you've just
about nailed the best place to put the subject. A few inches/cm either
way won't matter too much.
There's another trick here, though. Shiny subjects (like Barracuda)
will reflect more light (making them much too bright in the print), while
dark subjects (like Black Durgons) will absorb light (making them too dark
on the print). You can compensate for this effect by adjusting your distance
to the subject. If you move farther away from your subject, the flash
will be less intense when it reaches the subject. Thus if you move farther
away from bright, shiny subjects, they will be closer to proper exposure.
If you move closer to dark subjects, they will get more light from
the flash, and will show more details in the print. You'd be surprised
how well the textures on a Black Durgon will show up if you get within
3 feet of the fish!
There are other things which are important to getting good results from
your Substrobe. First on my list is fresh batteries, in your Substrobe
and in the camera itself. If you use the disposables just once and shoot
the whole roll in one dive, this isn't a concern. If you like to reuse
the disposables, be sure to change the flash battery about once per roll
or so. Either way, it's best to turn off the flash charger if you're not
going to use the camera for more than a few minutes. Remember to set the
flash selector to 'off' when you get out of the water between dives! Leaving
it on overnight will surely net you a dead battery the next day, hence
disabling the Substrobe.
Fresh batteries in the Substrobe are important, too. You can't take
effective photos if the flash won't fire! I find that I can get about 5-7
rolls from one set of new AA batteries in the Substrobe. To keep costs
down, I use Renewal rechargeables. So far they work fine.
How do you know when the batteries are dead? When it takes too long
to charge the flash, and you start missing shots. I figure that when the
Substrobe takes more than 20-30 seconds to charge, it's time to change
the batteries. You may want to change them sooner if you really blast away
under water.
Using the water correcting lens
There's not much to say about this subject. If you have one of these
lenses (they come with the Substrobe, or you can buy one separately), attach
it and use it. If you want to take pictures at the surface, be sure to
detach it before shooting.
The only tip I have connected with this lens is that it's a good idea
to examine the camera face after you descend and before you shoot your
first shot; often small air bubbles accumulate between the water correcting
lens and the main camera viewport. Shaking the camera vigorously will sometimes
dislodge them; usually I just remove the lens, brush off the bubbles with
my finger, and re-attach the lens.
Using the Ikelite Macro Kit
I have used my macro kit only a few times, but I have some observations
which might be of use. If anyone reading this knows more about how to get
good results from the Macro kit, please e-mail me!
The first tip I have to offer concerns the wire framer (there are more
tips below, from other people). It seems to me that the adjustment of the
framer is a completely critical step in getting good results from the macro
kit. Here's how I adjusted mine so that it did not show up in any of my
macro shots.
Start by attaching the framer so that the plastic mounting hardware
snugs up tightly against the back of the Aquashot, and be sure to tighten
the mounting screw firmly. Then place the Aquashot on a table, resting
squarely on the front of the framer (so that the framer is the only thing
touching the table, and the weight of the camera is supported by the framer.
The idea is to set everything up so that the front of the framer is squared
up, and the camera is positioned correctly with regards to the framer.
If the camera won't balance on the framer, bend the framer wires until
it does. Gently! Don't bend too much, either. Just twisting the front of
the framer should do the trick.
Once you're able to balance the camera on the framer, look at the camera
from the front, through the framer. You want the camera housing to roughly
centered in the framer; twisting the corners will let you align the camera.
When you're completely finished, you should be able to balance the camere
on the framer, and everything should be squared up nicely, with the front
of the camera parallel to the front of the framer, and the camera perfectly
centered as seen through the framer. I spent about 10 minutes setting up
my framer, and had zero pictures ruined due to the framer showing up in
the picture!
Below you'll read a comment about using milk-jug plastic to help reduce
the amount of light from the camera's flash. This turns out to be really
important, because all of my macro shots come out a little hot (too bright).
I tried using three sheets of milk-jug plastic, cut roughly to fit in the
macro kit's flash diffuser. Three sheets seemed to absorb just enough light;
the prints are on-target for brightness, and the negatives look to be about
the right density.
Finally, I have a comment about the macro kit and the focal distance.
Recently I took about half a dozen shots of Christmas Tree worms, and another
half-dozen of tesellated blennies hiding in empty barnacles. Almost universally,
the focus was a little off. I think that the framer tells you how close
you can get; if your subject is much closer (by as little as half an inch!),
it will be out of focus. I suspect that you have a little more leeway going
away from the camera, but I'm not too sure about that. The upshot is this:
line up the subject so that it's exactly lined up with the framer (distance-wise),
and you shouldn't have any problems.
Also note that the brightness of the flash will vary very rapidly as
you change the distance from the camera to the subject.
Recently I took the Aquashot and macro kit on a night dive on Cayman
Brac. The results were nothing short of breath-taking (to me). Check out
the Aquashot Gallery, and find the pictures
of the Flamingo Tongue and
Arrow Crab.
Here are some hints given by Bruce Baber:
I've taken about 7 rolls with no accessories (in the Virgin Islands),
1 roll with the strobe, and 2 with the macro lens (in Monterey, CA). So,
as you can tell, I still need some experience to work out the bugs.
Some of the macro shots can be dramatic. But of course there can be
problems. As Harri Ojanen writes on his page: paint the metal framer! It
is inevitable that it will show itself in some of your shots. I'm working
on the mystery of why.
Since macros shots are supposed to be dramatic, I recommend that you
attempt to fill as much of the frame/framer as possible OR for some subjects
like anenomes, the feeding plume of sea cucumbers, or a turban snail crawling
amidst a "jumble" of kelp, try over-filling the frame so that
some parts of the subject don't show in your photo.
Some of the shots (or part of it) are too hot. I have one shot of a
white dorid nudibranch on a background with deep colors. It it so bright
that all of the details are obliterated. The entire left side of a photo
of a wolf eel is over-exposed (BTW, this was a real cool experience).
I ran into a semi-professional UW-photographer in Monterey. He offered
this suggestion: cut out a piece of plastic milk jug and use silicone cement
(found in aquarium stores) to attach it to the Aquashot's flash diffuser.
Using silicone cement should allow you to remove it later (and it's tranlucent).
Since there are different surfaces on the milk jug (some smooth, some bumpy),
you might try experimenting. I have not yet tried any of this yet, but
will give it the test on the next dive outing.
Lastly, things don't always turn out centered like I thought they would.
Another mystery I'm working on. I suspect I'm not paying enough attention
to what I'm doing, probably distracted by the surge.
More macro kit comments, these from Rick
Werner:
I wanted to comment on the macro setup... I think that the best pictures
can be obtained by using the macro! One important tip though: Leave that
stupid clunky framer behind! If all you want to photograph is nudibranchs
and shells it's great, but otherwise it scares the hell out of whatever
subject you are trying to frame, ie. hawkfish, eel, octopus.
I simply attached a stiff wire the length of the framer to the upper
left corner of the housing. It will mark your upper left corner of the
frame, and give you focal distance. From there it isn't to hard to visualize
the whole frame.
Also if you use the wire as your "framer", it allows you to
have access to both standard and macro on the same dive!! :-) Simply bend
the wire up along the strobe arm for shooting normal... See a nice close
up?... Pop on the macro lens and diffuser (I carry mine in a zippered BC
pocket), bend the wire straight out, turn off the external strobe... BAM,
you are shooting macro! I have found this to work great!
Using the Aquashot while snorkeling
For the most part, using your Aquashot while snorkeling is just like
using it while diving. The main differences are related to the Substrobe
AQ/S strobe unit, if you have one.
The Substrobe is hard to use effectively while snorkeling. There are
a host of problems, including the annoying tendency of the Substrobe to
fire when a the slave sensor is exposed to sunlight. If you're snorkeling
along the surface, you'll probably notice the flash firing for no particular
reason. What's happening is the that Substrobe's slave sensor (the little
clear plastic blister on the underside of the strobe unit) is getting exposed
to sunlight, which makes the strobe think that the camera flash just went
off. Thus the Substrobe flashes.
You can get around this by hiding the Substrobe under your body, or
turning it away from the sun, but neither of these is particularly convenient,
and you're still likely to get a few misfires. I usually just turn off
the Substrobe until I see something I want to photograph.
Why do you care? Because each flash uses up some juice, and you'll run
down your batteries pretty quickly. No problem if you have spares, but
it sucks to be snorkeling along and then miss a shot you want because the
strobe takes a long time to charge.
It's also hard to get good results with the Substrobe near the surface,
because the strobe's support arm can raise the strobe housing out of the
water, which renders it ineffective (the light from the flash will mostly
get reflected by the surface of the water). It's better not to bother with
the strobe right at the surface; you should have plenty of sunlight anyway!
Another effective way to get good results while snorkeling is to dive
to the bottom when you want a picture. I won't go into the whole topic
of how to breath-hold dive while snorkeling, but it's well worth your time
to learn how to do so if you want to take photos while snorkeling.
Here's one tip for getting good results from breath-hold dives: don't
find the fish you want and then dive straight down to it. Most reef predators
wait at the surface until they see their prey, then dive down and attack.
When some butterflyfish on the reef sees you swimming along at the surface
and then diving straight down at it, what do you think you look like to
the fish? And now, what do you think that fish is going to do?
Find your subject, swim 20-30 feet away, and then make your dive to
the bottom. Approach the subject on the bottom, slowly (hand over hand,
if you can avoid damaging the reef), and you'll find the subject hanging
around for the photo. Also be prepared to make several dives to get the
shot you want. Most fish will become accustomed to your presence after
you have approached a few times (and not eaten them), and will allow you
to get close enough to make the shot.
Random Tips & Tricks
Here are a few things I have learned while using the Aquashot II. Some
of them appear elsewhere in this document.
- The Aquashot II is positively buoyant. If this annoys you, try taping about 6 oz. (170 gm) of lead to the bottom of the casing. Duct tape is more or less water proof. Change the amount of lead to suit yourself. Once you have the weight where you want it, you can use a dot of super glue so you can break the weights off easily if you need to.
- You also may want to weight the Substrobe unit. Be sure to weight the strobe separately from the camera, so the buoyancy doesn't change if you remove the strobe.
- Always pack extra batteries.
- It's a good idea to pack an extra dispoable camera in case you see something really cool and want to use all of the first camera on your first dive!
- If your disposable camera exhausts its flash battery (i.e. you left the flash activator on overnight), you can replace the battery. The Fuji cameras use standard AA batteries. You have to tear the paper off of the camera to get to the battery. Before tearing off the paper, press the bottom of the camera firmly in a few places until you figure out where the battery is; once you know where it is, use a pocket-knife or a razor to cut the paper away in a small area around the paper, and replace the battery.
- 90% of the game in using the Aquashot is learning how far to be from your subject. It's worth your time to train yourself in what the proper distance is. (I think 4 feet is it)
- Before you get in the water, take a single picture of your boat, the dive site, the briefing board, anything, so that you will have a frame on the negative strip which identifies the dive location. It will save you a bunch of hassle when you want to remember where that one great photo came from. If you're using the water-correcting lens, remember to remove it before you take that surface picture!
- Fish have to be 'stalked' like any other game animal. Learn how to be a good stalker! See the stalking tip list for more info.
- If you're diving with a group (especially a guided group), it's helpful to be the first person in the water. This gives you time to survey the scene for photo opportunities, and to set up your camera the way you want it. Waiting for other divers is also a good time to clear the bubbles off of the water-correcting lens and the main camera viewport.
- If your group encounters something special which everyone wants to see, try to take your photo before the group gets too involved; they'll often kick up silt and obscure the photo before you get a chance to take the shot. If you're on a guided dive, stick close to the dive and you can avoid most of this.
Ideas for things you can photograph
Brand-new photographers often have no idea of what sorts of shots work
and which don't, and sometimes lose interest because they don't find anything
interesting to photograph. Now I'm no professional photographer, and I'm
not an art teacher, either, but here are a few ideas of things you can
photograph "down there." It's not an exhaustive list, of course,
but just a starting place, and one you should ignore if you have better
ideas.
- Fish portraits are an easy and fun place to start. It can be entertaining to try to come how with a picture of every variety of fish you saw on a trip. For fish portraiture, try to fill as much of the frame as possible with your subject fish. Often this will mean getting very close. Very small fish (wrasse, gobies, fairy basslets, etc.) are difficult to photograph because they are so small, and yet they will not cooperate with the macro kit.
- Cleaning stations make for interesting pictures if you can approach slowly enough that you don't disrupt the cleaning.
- Reef critters like large crabs, lobsters, flame scallops, giant clams, etc. are easy targets. They tend not to move around too much, which makes it easy to frame them very carefully.
- Diving in California? I've seen some great Aquashot photos in the kelp beds. Aim towards the surface, into the kelp, getting a little sunlight at the top of the frame if you can.
- Don't take just fish portraits with your Aquashot! Adding other elements to the composition of a scene will make the photos more interesting to other people. Frame up the edge of a coral head, or the side of a wall, so that the coral slopes diagonally across the frame. If something interesting swims into the field of view, you'll have a great photo!
- Remember to look for interesting backgrounds when you shoot! One underwater photography book I read spoke extensively about the importance of negative space. This is space within the frame which is not occupied by the subject. The basic idea is this: if your photos had only a subject and nothing else, they'd be really boring! Land-based photographers will make uninteresting backgrounds blurry (out of focus) so they don't deflect attention from the main subject, but you don't have that option. As a result, your background should add to the photo rather than not.
- People love to see people! If you can photograph your dive buddy playing with an octopus, or your buddy looking at a huge sponge or something, you'll get another interesting photo. Divers also add an immediate sense of scale to a photo.
Can I reload disposable cameras for use in the Aquashot?
In short, yes. It's difficult but not impossible, and with a little
patience (and practice) I think anyone can do it. If you want detailed
instructions on how to do it, see my Reloading
QuickSnaps WWW page.
For a slightly different take on how to reload QuickSnaps, you can also
read Harri Ojanen's
WWW page on how to do it.
Can I use panoramic cameras in the Aquashot?
It looks like the answer is "yes," but it may not be worth
the trouble. Using the panoramic cameras to get wide-angle results requires
modifying the cameras, and the procedure is very similar to the way you
have to modify regular QuickSnaps for reloading. In other words, it's not
for the faint of heart. Additionally, the conditions required for decent
panoramic shots with the Aquashot are even more stringent than what's required
for regular shots...So far I have not gotten a really good panoramic photo
with my Aquashot!
If I haven't scared you off yet, check my "Using
QuickSnap Panoramic Cameras in the Aquashot" Web page for a complete
rundown of what I know about the subject.
