Sealife DC1400 Limited Edition Pink Bedienungsanleitung

Great Pictures Made Easy

with SeaLife DC1400 UW Camera

Capture the Magic

As a scuba diver, you have encountered coral reefs teaming with strange

creatures and vibrant colors that appear as if they were from another planet.

You know what it’s like to float effortlessly without gravity. You have learned

to use your eyes to see and experience the underwater world, one of the

greatest miracles on earth.

You capture these treasured moments with your underwater camera to relive

the adventure and share your experiences with friends and family. Of course,

there is no better way to tell your story than with pictures and videos

As the manufacturers of SeaLife, we believe that an easy to use underwater

camera will help millions of divers and non-divers to experience and see a

part of our world which is essential to our survival. And we hope that you will

enrich and enlighten your life by capturing valuable impressions in the

underwater world with your SeaLife Camera.

Over the last 20+ years of developing underwater cameras and lighting systems, we have received

countless pictures - some great ones that we post on the SeaLife website Photo/Video Gallery, and some

not-so-great pictures along with your request for help and advice.

While underwater photography certainly has its challenges, we found that most “bad” pictures are the result

of not following a few simple and basic principles. When you understand and apply these basic principles,

your results will greatly improve.

Photo by Karl Lauderback Photo by Nadia Aly

Photo by Annie Crawley

Contents

I. Know your basic camera settings

II. Underwater basics

a. Light and color underwater

b. Effects of water refraction

c. Backscatter or “Marine Snow”

III. Restoring lost colors

a. Use the SeaLife Digital Flash and/or Photo-Video light accessories

b. Use SeaLife underwater color correction modes

IV. Taking underwater pictures without an External Flash or Photo-Video light

a. Set the camera’s scene mode to Dive Mode [or Snorkel mode]

b. Using the built-in flash

c. Fine tuning the White Balance setting

V. Taking underwater pictures with an external flash

a. Setting the camera’s scene mode to Ext Flash

b. Exposure Control: Adjusting the camera for darker or brighter pictures.

c. Exposure control –Adjusting the external flash brightness:

d. Using a diffuser for better Close-up pictures

e. Edge Lighting:

f. Color and White Balance when using an external flash accessory

VI. Taking underwater pictures with a photo-video light

VII. Focusing tips for taking sharp pictures

VIII. Basic tips on taking great pictures

a. Control you buoyancy

b. Crystal clear water

c. Shoot up, not down

d. Pictures of your buddy

e. Framing for your subject

f. Silhouettes against the bright water surface

IX. Underwater video

X. Take your photography to the next level

I. Know your basic camera settings

This guide will teach you the basic principles of underwater photography and how to take great

underwater pictures with your SeaLife camera. Before you start, you should read through the

camera’s instruction manual and become familiar with the basic camera settings and button

controls.

Download the Instruction Manuals here

II. Underwater basics

There are a few important differences between underwater and land photography that you should

know.

a. Light and Color –Water is about 800 times denser than air. As you descend deeper into the

water, the light conditions become darker. The water absorbs red, orange and yellow color,

which makes everything look blue.

The above diagram demonstrates the effect water has on light and color as depth increases.

That is why many underwater pictures turn out blue. There are a couple of ways to restore lost

colors, which are explained later in this guide.

Coral, sponges and most other

underwater sea creatures are bursting

with colors. Brilliant reds, vivid orange

and bright yellows highlight the

underwater world. These intense colors

help to camouflage the sea creatures.

Since red and yellow colors are

absorbed by the water, the sea

creatures appear colorless unless you

bring a light with you and uncover the

hidden treasure of colors.

b. Effects of water refraction –Water has a magnifying effect. Objects underwater appear 33%

larger and closer than they actually are. It tricks you into underestimating your shooting distance.

One important rule for achieving colorful and sharp underwater pictures is to keep your shooting

distance within 6ft/2m.

This Angelfish appears 2ft/60cm away but is

actually 3ft/1m away This fish appears inside of 6ft/2m, but is actually

8ft/2.4m away

The SeaLife Fisheye Wide Angle Lens

compensates the underwater magnifying effect

and allows you to get closer to the subject and

still fit everything in the picture.

Photo by Dan Johnson

c. Backscatter –No matter how clear it may look underwater, there are always plankton and tiny

particles suspended in the water. You may not see the particles with your eyes, until you light

them up with a flash or photo-video-dive light. The small white dots that appear in your

underwater pictures are called “backscatter”The closer the flash or light is positioned to the

camera lens, the more backscatter you will see.

The external flash is positioned very close to the camera lens. Notice all the

backscatter in the top of the image

Here the external flash is positioned away from the camera lens. There is

practically no backscatter.

The above two pictures demonstrate why you should not use the camera’s internal flash unless

you are taking close-up macro (within 12”/30cm) pictures in crystal clear waters. The camera’s

internal flash is not very powerful and positioned too close to the camera’s lens, so it’s only

useful for close-up pictures.

DC1400 shown with Flash Diffuser attached

Underwater photography using an external flash (strobe) or photo-video light results in the brightest,

sharpest most colorful pictures, with minimal or no backscatter because the light source is

positioned away from the camera lens.

Figure 1 Figure 2

Positioning the flash or light next to the lens (Figure 1) illuminates the front of the particles facing the

lens. Positioning strobe away from lens (Figure 2) illuminates the sides of particles not visible to the

lens.

How to avoid backscatter:

Avoid using the camera’s built-in flash unless shooting close-up macro pictures in clear water.

Use an external flash or photo-video light positioned away from the lens, which produces the

brightest, sharpest and most colorful pictures while minimizing backscatter.

Keep your shooting distance to 10% of your visibility. If the visibility is 30ft/10m, limit your

shooting distance to 3ft/1m.

Don’t stir up the sand and debris on the bottom. Control your buoyancy.

III. Restoring lost colors

Blue pictures are the most common complaint among beginning underwater photographers, but it’s

easy to improve. Here are two primary methods to bring back the lost colors absorbed by the water:

Method 1: Use the SeaLife Sea Dragon Digital Flash and/or Photo-Video light accessory (sold

separately)

Taken without flash - image lacks color Taken with flash to reveal the vibrant colors

From left to right: SeaLife DC1400 Sea Dragon Pro Set (SL735); SeaLife Sea Dragon 2500 Photo-Video light; SeaLife

DC1400 Sea Dragon Pro Duo Set (SL736) with flash and 2000 lumen photo-video mounted on Flex-Connect dual tray.

What’s the difference between an external flash and photo-video light?

A flash can only be used for pictures, not video. A photo-video light can be used for pictures and

videos.

An external flash is typically brighter and has longer range than a photo-video light. The Sea Dragon

Digital Flash has an effective range of about 6ft, while the Sea Dragon 2500 Photo-Video light is

about 3 to 4 ft, depending on visibility and ambient lighting conditions.

A photo-video light is easier to use than a flash because the camera “sees” the effect of the light and

automatically adjusts exposure accordingly. What you see is what you get. With a flash, the camera

won’t see the light until the flash fires, which typically requires some fine-tuning of the flash

brightness to optimize image exposure.

A photo-video light can also be used as a focusing light to assist the camera’s auto focus system.

Method 2: Use SeaLife underwater color-correction modes

If you do not have an external flash or photo-video light, you can use the DC1400 camera’s built in

color-correction filter to restore lost colors. Set the camera to Dive Mode for depths greater than

25ft (8m) or Snorkel mode for shallower water. Dive mode will add a little more red and yellow to the

image than Snorkel mode. These color correction modes work well in water depths less than about

60ft, where the ambient light conditions are not so dark. At greater depths, there is a complete

absence of reds and yellows, so color correction modes/filters are not so effective. An external flash

or photo-video light is the most effective way to restore color at any depth or ambient light condition.

Normal underwater picture at 25ft without Dive Mode With Dive Mode color correction - restores lost colors

IV. Taking underwater pictures without an external flash or photo-video light

Now that you have learned how water affects underwater pictures and how to restore lost colors,

let’s learn how to take the best underwater pictures without an external light source. You may skip

this section if you are using a SeaLife external flash or photo-video light.

a. Set the camera’s scene mode to Dive Mode [or Snorkel Mode] –When the camera is in Dive

Mode, the first thing you will notice is that the viewing image on the LCD display appears red in

color. That’s the effect of the underwater color correction filter. Underwater, the viewing image

will look natural. In Dive Mode, the camera automatically turns the FLASH OFF to help avoid

backscatter.

Picture taken at 25ft/8m without Dive Mode Picture taken at 25ft/8m with Dive Mode

b. Built-in Flash setting –We recommend keeping the camera’s built-in flash OFF when taking

underwater pictures. Turning the flash ON will increase the backscatter and cancel the Dive

Mode color-correction effect.

c. Fine-tuning the White Balance color-correction Setting –The White balance (WB) setting will

compensate for undesirable color casts, so that white objects appear white in your picture. You

can correct for the underwater “blue” effect by selecting the appropriate WB. The White Balance

setting is located in the camera’s MENU. Here are some common ones you will find in your

SeaLife camera:

oAuto White Balance –The camera will do its best to automatically detect what the correct WB

balance should be, but this will not work underwater. Only use the Auto WB for land pictures

or in very sunny, bright conditions within depths of 10 feet.

o<25ft/8m –Most effective for shallow water at depths less than 25 ft/8m.

o>25ft/8m –Most effective for deeper water at depths greater than 25 ft/8m. Note: In dark

conditions or depths greater than about 60ft/18m, the color correction will not be as effective

and may result in dark or grainy pictures –consider using an external flash or photo-video

light accessory, which works well at any depth.

o“Green Water” or “Blue Water” –Ocean and fresh water will take on a greenish color if it

contains a high concentration of algae. If the water contains little or no algae, it will take on a

blue color tone. Just look at the water from the surface and you should be able to see if the

color tone of the water is blue or green.

oManual white balance –The color tone of water varies depending your depth or local diving

conditions. You can achieve near perfect color correction by manually adjusting the camera’s

white balance. Remember that the color tone will change as you change depth. Your

instruction manual will provide detailed instructions. It’s really not that difficult once you have

done it a few times.

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