Speedlite inside tank...???

[flipteg]

i am using the Canon EOS system... i just experimented with the Canon wireless Speedlite... i had the 580EX II on the camera, but i have it set so that it will not go off... it's only there to trigger a 420EX that is sitting on the top glass... i got pretty good results but i was wondering if i can get even better results if i put the 420EX inside a Ziplock bag and submerge the part that lights up into the water... i'm not sure if it will help any since the light would not have to pass through the surface of the water...

here is one from tonight's shoot... the rest are here...

 

[Nuuze]

Nice pics! What lens are you using?

 

[flipteg]

i am using the Canon 24-70 f2.8... i think it should be even nicer if the lens was the 100mm macro... pretty much all photos in the gallery are already at 100% crop...

with just the aquarium's MH light for ambient, i am getting exposures at 1/80 sec. f4.0 at 400 ISO... since the depth of field at f4.0 is too narrow when focused that close, especially for wiggly clownfishes, i decided to use flash to allow me to close the aperture a bit and also to give a more balanced light to fill in the shadows...

this is what the setup looked like... pardon the blurry photo... both of my flashes and my tripod are tied up at the moment... hehe...

 

[iba95]

wow thts cool how did u zoom in so close whenever i try it doesnt look good

 

[flipteg]

hello iba95, getting in close to a subject is a function of the lens... the lens i was using, the Canon 24-70, is not a macro lens, but for a non macro lens, it still allows for quite a close focus... i just cropped away the edges in Photoshop to get the subjects to fill the frame... the lens have a 0.28x marco specification... this means at its closest focus, a subject that is 1cm long will be 0.28cm when projected by the lens on the sensor plane... most true macro lenses have a 1x magnification... some even have more...

 

[clippo]

flash in the tank probably won't have any noticeable effect. I sometimes shoot with my omnibounce just below the water but it won't increase the level of lighting much. The 420EX doesn't have manual control as far as I know so the light output is dictated by the camera settings.

 

[flipteg]

thanks for the feedback... i guess i'll just stick with having the flash on the top of the glass... i am using the 420EX slaved to the 580EXII... so even though it doesn't have manual controls, it is still versatile when controlled from the master flash...