New DX-1G

[TheDeepDweller 0]

Hi all,

Finally got my new setup wet so thought I'd let you see the pick of my shots, not really edited just converted over from DNG.

A few problems with camera taking time to focus esp in macro mode, much reduced by taking time / care to get the focus light in better position. Also I found the YS 110 would tend to switch out of slave mode quite easily, may need a bit of gaffer tape there.

See Here

Dive safe,

TDD

[mbailey 0]

Nice stuff! I have not done much Macro and none with this setup, but hope to do some in Komodo this October.

 

Do you have closeup lenses or just use macro mode? Did you shoot manual or auto? More details please!

 

Thanks for sharing

[TheDeepDweller 0]

For macro I was using the camera fully zoomed in to increase the max f stop from 9 to 15 to give more depth of field, using the macro mode of the camera. I have a reasonable shot of a nudi about 6mm long filling most of the frame using this method. I was shooting auto focus, manual apature (set to max) and manual shutter speed (usually 1/124th sec). Had to turn the strobe right down to min to avoid over exposing and I have gaffer taped over the flash on the housing to reduce backscatter (May not be such a problem in Komodo?). I am thinking about getting some sort of dedicated focusing light to improve the focus time for macro shots, possibly a compact torch diffused and mounted on the shoe fitting on top of the housing?

The wider angle stuff was max f stop (ie 9ish?) zoomed right out and shutter around 1/125th again for the black backgrounds and shutter speed slower (1/30th or so) for the blue/green backgrounds, Strobe turned up to about 1/3 - 1/2 power.

I now have the wide angle adaptor as well which looks very impressive so will be trying that out fairly soon. Was mainly looking to record overviews of habitats hence a lot of wide angle stuff, the adaptor should let me get closer and reduce all the gunky bits.

Hope this is of help,

TDD

[Travy 0]

Hi all,

Finally got my new setup wet so thought I'd let you see the pick of my shots, not really edited just converted over from DNG.

A few problems with camera taking time to focus esp in macro mode, much reduced by taking time / care to get the focus light in better position. Also I found the YS 110 would tend to switch out of slave mode quite easily, may need a bit of gaffer tape there.

See Here

Dive safe,

TDD

 

They look fantastic.A good quality image.What were the conditions like?In Scotland i take it greenish water abit murky and you manage to come out with something good without editing.Also it just shows you how important a strobe is in the these conditions.

[TheDeepDweller 0]

Water clarity was good when we were there, probably 10-15m overall vis, but with large stringy clumps of diatoms (Especially visible in the shot of the seapen habitat). Water colour / ambient light was fairly green hued. Very little light penetration below about 25m. Strobe is useful to give better colour any deeper than about 5m, and essential below 25m.

The files on the site are low quality jpegs (500k or so), the quality of the original dngs is really very good and would probably blow up / crop down quite well, and certainly cope with a little touching up if required.

TDD

[sideways 3]

Water clarity was good when we were there, probably 10-15m overall vis, but with large stringy clumps of diatoms (Especially visible in the shot of the seapen habitat). Water colour / ambient light was fairly green hued. Very little light penetration below about 25m. Strobe is useful to give better colour any deeper than about 5m, and essential below 25m.

The files on the site are low quality jpegs (500k or so), the quality of the original dngs is really very good and would probably blow up / crop down quite well, and certainly cope with a little touching up if required.

TDD

 

Very nice shots!!! I'll be getting my DX-1G in about 2 weeks, and trying it out in a month! Here's a noob question... you talk about putting gaffers tape over the flash....so basically confining the flash to the strobe FO Port? Another question...to anyone shooting the DX 1G... what type of arm floats are you using? Whats compatible with the sea arm VII? Well done DD!

 

Cheers,

 

Greg

[TheDeepDweller 0]

Greg,

The housing has a couple of sockets/ports which the fibre optic plugs into, and a window which the internal flash can fire through. I was having some problems with backscatter from the internal flash and also with the ys110 getting turned off (ie slave mode to Off instead of On) and failing to fire, but me not noticing as an image was still appearing on the review screen (under exposed + heavily backscattered), causing me confusion. To prevent this I have stuck a small piece of tape over the window so there is no significant amount of light coming from the internal flash. If you are shooting in clearer water and are able to remeber to ensure your strobe is firing you might find the internal flash useful to give a bit of light to the foreground and not want to cover it?

I am using the sea arm VII with YS110 strobe and find the setup to be around neutrally bouyant if not slightly positive, the wide angle adaptor seems fairly heavy + dense so may make the setup slightly negative but I don't think it will be too much of a problem. Also the system is quite a bit more compact than the SLR systems I have seen so current drag is more manageable.

Hope this is of help,

TDD

 

Very nice shots!!! I'll be getting my DX-1G in about 2 weeks, and trying it out in a month! Here's a noob question... you talk about putting gaffers tape over the flash....so basically confining the flash to the strobe FO Port? Another question...to anyone shooting the DX 1G... what type of arm floats are you using? Whats compatible with the sea arm VII? Well done DD!

 

Cheers,

 

Greg

[sideways 3]

Greg,

The housing has a couple of sockets/ports which the fibre optic plugs into, and a window which the internal flash can fire through. I was having some problems with backscatter from the internal flash and also with the ys110 getting turned off (ie slave mode to Off instead of On) and failing to fire, but me not noticing as an image was still appearing on the review screen (under exposed + heavily backscattered), causing me confusion. To prevent this I have stuck a small piece of tape over the window so there is no significant amount of light coming from the internal flash. If you are shooting in clearer water and are able to remeber to ensure your strobe is firing you might find the internal flash useful to give a bit of light to the foreground and not want to cover it?

I am using the sea arm VII with YS110 strobe and find the setup to be around neutrally bouyant if not slightly positive, the wide angle adaptor seems fairly heavy + dense so may make the setup slightly negative but I don't think it will be too much of a problem. Also the system is quite a bit more compact than the SLR systems I have seen so current drag is more manageable.

Hope this is of help,

TDD

 

Thanks TDD!! So...if Im getting this right, the internal flash will always fire, well has to fire to send the signal to the strobe...correct?. That internal flash will give the reflection straight back to the lens in the form of backscatter? So....just block out that light as much as possible? Dang Im such a noob...lol

 

Thats good to hear about the bouyancy. Someone brought it up to me the other day and said it was an issue with other set ups and that I should look into it

 

Cheers!!

 

Greg

[TheDeepDweller 0]

Greg,

As the strobe is slaved to the flash from the camera you have to make sure the camera flash is firing (ie set it to always fire) and you have to make sure it is "popped up" before you put the camera into the housing as the only control you don't have on the housing is the one to pop up the flash. I know that I will forget one day and curse quite excessively, a good argument for firing off a quick shot or 2 after you've put everything together to make sure it works I guess?

I think backscatter will always be a primary concern for us temperate water divers?

Dive safe,

TDD

[sideways 3]

OK....after everyones fantastic help and input I've took the plunge! Went down and bought my DX-1G Pro package Pick it up on Thursday!

[Karl 7]

Hi all,

 

Been a lurker for a while but I thought I would pass on some info in regards to the DX-1G. Sea & Sea have brought out a little plastic mod that fits over the camera's internal flash so that it raises the fibre cable up - so that it is directly in front of the camera's flash as there was an issue in that sometimes the external flash did not always fire. Not sure how much they cost but I was given a couple a few weeks ago when I was in Singapore. Hope this helps - I love the camera.

 

Karl

[sideways 3]

Hi all,

 

Been a lurker for a while but I thought I would pass on some info in regards to the DX-1G. Sea & Sea have brought out a little plastic mod that fits over the camera's internal flash so that it raises the fibre cable up - so that it is directly in front of the camera's flash as there was an issue in that sometimes the external flash did not always fire. Not sure how much they cost but I was given a couple a few weeks ago when I was in Singapore. Hope this helps - I love the camera.

 

Karl

 

Hiya Karl,

 

Any idea where this can be found at??....besides Singapore. I'll take a look at Sea and Sea Japan, see if they have anything on that, and the new 110 replacement too

Edited August 12, 2008 by sideways

[mbailey 0]

Hiya Karl,

 

Any idea where this can be found at??....besides Singapore. I'll take a look at Sea and Sea Japan, see if they have anything on that, and the new 110 replacement too

 

That's some great information. I too would like to know where to get these. I am going to Indonesia Oct. 5 and would like to acquire one before then.

[Karl 7]

I only found out about them when I visited the Sea and Sea shop in Singapore - I haven't seen any in Australia. If you email Andrew Yeo at seansea@pacific.net.sg or telephone +65 6337 6334 he will help you as he had a box full of them when I was there.

 

On a side note - I have painted one of the ones I got black on the outside in an attempt to reduce the backscatter from the internal flash, so hopefully this will work.

 

Karl

[mbailey 0]

THanks for the info.

[sideways 3]

Karl.... a million thanks for the information! I just received my piece from Mr. Yeo. After all the bad publicity I've heard about Sea and Sea customer service I was QUITE Impressed with Mr. Yeo's responsiveness and assistance. After a couple e-mail exchanges, in which we determined my vendor here in SoCal didn't have the piece, he rushed it out to me from Singapore.....Free of charge, and with his Compliments. Now THAT is how customer support is supposed to be! Andrew...if you read this board.... a Million thanks Sir! Thanks again to Karl for bringing this possible solution to my attention.

 

 

Karl, have you used the piece with sucess? I know you said you modified it to reduce backscatter...results? Thoughts?? Thanks

 

 

Greg

Edited September 20, 2008 by sideways

[eskasi 1]

I too bought my DX-1G from My Yeo.....I was quite happy with his service. In fact, he shipped the package to me in Malaysia where I was having my holidays. Later on, when I had problems with my strobe, I went back to see him and he promptly gave me a spare Oring and batt cover for free to solve my slight leak problem. I was impressed.

 

I highly recommend buying from him if you are in Singapore. Service like that got me to stick to Sea & Sea even after I moved on to housing my D300.

[Karl 7]

Karl.... a million thanks for the information! I just received my piece from Mr. Yeo. After all the bad publicity I've heard about Sea and Sea customer service I was QUITE Impressed with Mr. Yeo's responsiveness and assistance. After a couple e-mail exchanges, in which we determined my vendor here in SoCal didn't have the piece, he rushed it out to me from Singapore.....Free of charge, and with his Compliments. Now THAT is how customer support is supposed to be! Andrew...if you read this board.... a Million thanks Sir! Thanks again to Karl for bringing this possible solution to my attention.

 

 

Karl, have you used the piece with sucess? I know you said you modified it to reduce backscatter...results? Thoughts?? Thanks

 

 

Greg

 

 

Hi Greg - PM'd you thanks.

 

Basically I blacked it out by masking off the bits that didn't need to be black and sprayed it black. Have used it once since then - due to the bad weather here in the Perth region of Western Australia and it worked well. A small bit of flash still escapes but not enough to cause any problems. Can't wait to get back in the water to try it out fully. We are planning a trip to Rottnest Island (just off of Perth) next month as well as down to Busselton (2 1/2 hours south of Perth) to dive the Busselton Jetty and the wreck of the ex HMAS Swan - all are excellent dives with great photographic opportunities, so I should give it a real good work out then.

 

Karl

[E_viking 30]

I can also highly recommend Mr. Yeo at Sea&Sea in Singapore.

[sideways 3]

Yesterday I had my first dive with the new FO adaptor in place. On previous dives I was seeing missfires with my 110 anywhere from 20-50% of the time. With this piece, I had "0" misfires in 300 shots. Plus.... the results in flash performance we're quite different. These results are closer to what I envisioned as TTL capable when I bought this system.

[mbailey 0]

I am leaving for my trip aboard the Komodo Dancer, next Sunday, October 5th, where I will give my DX-1G it's first real workout. I can not wait. I'll post some photos here when I return sometime around the 25th of October.

[kal 0]

I am leaving for my trip aboard the Komodo Dancer, next Sunday, October 5th, where I will give my DX-1G it's first real workout. I can not wait. I'll post some photos here when I return sometime around the 25th of October.

[sideways 3]

Well now Im leaning back towards the "Sea and Sea has crappy customer service" side. After the great help by Mr. Yeo, the Sea and Sea Rep on the Scubaboard Sea and Sea forum either deleted, or had a mod delete the 4 page thread there. The thread had been up well over a month or 2, and had quite a few good questions and points. Nothing at all confrontational or disrespectful. The last post was one I made asking about the FO adaptor talked about here. When it might be available in the states...etc.. Well, log on today, the rep was online for the first time in over a week since that post.....and now the threads gone.

 

Greg

 

 

 

**update...... this from the S&S rep on Scubaboard....

 

HI Greg-

The post was deleted since it developed into a more general photography thread with mention of other manufacturer's and accessories etc with links. Not due to any issues regarding the SEA&SEA topics. To answer your question, the US is receiving stock of the "DX-1G Fiber Optic Cable Adapter" in the next 2 weeks and will be able to provide them to our US retailers or consumers who contact us at seaandsea@tusa.com requesting such with their housing serial # and mailing address, of course at no charge.

New 2009 products will be shown at DEMA at end of this month and appropriate announcements will be made during that time and into November.

Edited October 3, 2008 by sideways

[mbailey 0]

I just returned from Komodo Dancer trip, and My DX-1G performed flawlessly, or almost. I got some great photos and will be posting some as soon as I have time to sort through them. I Love this camera!

 

 

 

 

Well now Im leaning back towards the "Sea and Sea has crappy customer service" side. After the great help by Mr. Yeo, the Sea and Sea Rep on the Scubaboard Sea and Sea forum either deleted, or had a mod delete the 4 page thread there. The thread had been up well over a month or 2, and had quite a few good questions and points. Nothing at all confrontational or disrespectful. The last post was one I made asking about the FO adaptor talked about here. When it might be available in the states...etc.. Well, log on today, the rep was online for the first time in over a week since that post.....and now the threads gone.

 

Greg

 

 

 

**update...... this from the S&S rep on Scubaboard....

 

HI Greg-

The post was deleted since it developed into a more general photography thread with mention of other manufacturer's and accessories etc with links. Not due to any issues regarding the SEA&SEA topics. To answer your question, the US is receiving stock of the "DX-1G Fiber Optic Cable Adapter" in the next 2 weeks and will be able to provide them to our US retailers or consumers who contact us at seaandsea@tusa.com requesting such with their housing serial # and mailing address, of course at no charge.

New 2009 products will be shown at DEMA at end of this month and appropriate announcements will be made during that time and into November.

[mbailey 0]

Here is a link to some of the photos from Indonesia.

 

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#...3030&ref=nf