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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Pocket Wizard thru water
Les Schofer, Assistant
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Lynchburg | VA | USA | Posted: 8:11 AM on 01.09.10 |
| ->> Will a pocket Wizard signal travel through water to trigger strobes mounted around a swimming pool? When shooting swimmers underwater do you autofocus? Some of the Ewa products look like they have room for PW, even room for Canon ST-E2 for focus. I've never shot under water before. |
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Rene Mireles, Photographer
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Holland | MI | USA | Posted: 8:48 AM on 01.09.10 |
->> Les,
Won't work, I tried once using one of the ewa bags and it was a no go in 1 foot of water,
Also check here http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1025&message=26415498
I believe you will have to go either hardwired or optic slave with another flash underwater.
I'm currently trying to create a hardwired cable for just this for my upcoming shoot in the water in a month. |
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Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 9:00 AM on 01.09.10 |
| ->> www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=34326 |
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Shelley Cryan, Photographer
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New England | CT | USA | Posted: 11:17 AM on 01.09.10 |
->> Les,
I've done underwater portraits multiple times with an Ewa-Marine bag and a pocketwizard to trigger a pair of sb-800s poolside. It can work and can be fun. Yes, I have insurance.
I use a pocketwizard in the EwaMarine -- the model of bag that fits a flash to have room for a PW.
I manual focus on a spot in the pool, then have my subjects stay in that area. They'd have stay in that area anyway to be lit correctly. Using a wide angle lens gives me some DOF wiggle room. I also set the camera on manual. I find it easier to get the camera settings in the ballpark and adjust the lights manually to fine-tune the exposure; adjusting camera settings in the bag is pretty clunky. In fact, using the bag at all is pretty clunky. It helps if you're good with Hail Mary shots.
I don't have the camera too deep -- the PW is only underwater a couple inches, if that. Because he PW naturally sticks up so far, that lets me get the camera in deep enough for a good shot. With that setup, the signal carries fine. I'd guess it wouldn't trigger if your camera were deeper.
The second image in my rotating gallery on my home page was done this way:
www.shelleycryan.com
I also did a blog post with more info here:
http://shelleyreport.blogspot.com/search?q=underwater
Have fun!
Shelley |
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Rene Mireles, Photographer
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Holland | MI | USA | Posted: 4:49 PM on 01.09.10 |
->> shelley,
What version of pocketwizard did you use? I was using the Multimaxes and never had luck.. |
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Bradly J. Boner, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Jackson | WY | USA | Posted: 8:38 PM on 01.09.10 |
->> I've used PW to fire a remote camera, but did find that if the camera was too deep it wouldn't fire. If I remember right the camera had to be less than three feet below the surface and I had to hold the transmitter just above the camera. However, I'm no underwater photography expert.
A friend of mine, however, is. You might contact him for advice.
http://www.studiojinc.com/
A long time ago when I interned in Baton Rouge, I actually had high humidity interfere with PW's at a high school basketball game. That was crazy... |
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Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 11:18 PM on 01.09.10 |
| ->> bradly, nothing like that humidity in baton rouge and new orleans in august and september heh? 8) |
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David Royal, Photographer, Assistant
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Bradly J. Boner, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Jackson | WY | USA | Posted: 10:56 AM on 01.10.10 |
| ->> Chuck - You're tellin' me! There's a reason I no longer live there! My blood's just too thick for that kind of heat. I guess that's why I've settled in the mountains... |
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Shelley Cryan, Photographer
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New England | CT | USA | Posted: 1:59 PM on 01.10.10 |
->> Rene,
I use(d) either PocketWizard Plus and PocketWizard Plus II. Fired every time. But then again, it wasn't submerged too deep -- a couple inches, if that. You can get a sense of the depth from the photo I referenced.
Also, the camera was only maybe 15 feet away, max, from each of the strobes. It's worked in a few different pools, multiple times. All indoor.
Shelley
www.shelleycryan.com |
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Curtis Clegg, Photographer
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Sycamore | IL | USA | Posted: 8:16 PM on 01.10.10 |
->> There was some discussion a while ago about using fiber optics between an underwater onboard flash and an optical slave on the surface of the water, connected to a Pocket Wizard (perhaps in a clear Pelican case):
http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=33438 |
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Jeff Mills, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Columbus | OH | USA | Posted: 12:08 AM on 01.11.10 |
->> Optical is your best best. Radio waves only can penetrate about an inch or two at best so its just not a very practical method.
fiber optic cables using a bulkhead on the housing are the best solution, but pricey, as the weighted sync cord alone can be a very hundred dollars, last time I priced one at SPL.
What you can do however on a budget, especially if your using a housing that can have a hotshoe flash, like the EWA Marine stuff is simply use optical slaves.
Its not for the faint of heart, but some airtight smaller food containers actually can make very nice underwater housings for additional lights, such as the SB800/900, which have the SU-4 slave mode.
Get an assistant or two to hold those under the water, and when you fire your on camera flash the slaves will pick up and fire as well.
Great way to get extra directional light for little money.
One thing that doesn't seem to work though is triggering poolside lights as they just dont pick up the optical flash.
Might be possible to make a trigger cord using a peanut slave in some sort of sealed housing that goes under the surface and could better pick up the optical signal. I've never actually gotten around to experimenting with that idea but its always been on my drawing board
Most pools though are going to be brighter on the deck area so usually as long as you've got a decent underwater exposure the surface is going to be well balanced if not blown out if your shooting upwards at it. |
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Les Schofer, Assistant
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Lynchburg | VA | USA | Posted: 2:52 PM on 01.11.10 |
| ->> How about if I have EWA make me a cable exit and snake out as much synch cord as I need to reach a deck-mounted PW +2? Another cable coming out of their cable exit port could handle the Canon 30 ft extension so I could trigger the camera when I want it to be a remote. Their tech guy said up to 4 cables could go through. That could leave way for Live View also. Has anybody found good use for Live View when using underwater remote camera? |
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Richard Denham, Photographer
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Toronto/Buffalo/Niagara | On | Canada | Posted: 4:15 PM on 01.11.10 |
->> Les
Now you're thinking. |
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