I'm lucky enough to be going on Great White Shark dive at Isla Guadalupe next week, but as luck would have it I'm having strobe problems, which I have isolated to the Sync cord.

Now I've ordered a replacment and fingers crossed DHL will get it to me by Tuesday (I'm also crossing any other part of me that I can)

I've also received my magic filters today that I intend to make good use of.

However my question is this, do I need the strobe? Most of the shooting in the cage is in shallow water less than 10 feet. I'm making the assumption that the cord won't be here in time.

Hi Fred,

One of our Sponsors Marine Camera Distributors is in San Diego. If you can't get your cord in time, you should contact them. Heck, you should contact them anyhow.

There is NO WAY I'd let something as inexpensive as a sync cord ruin a $5,000 trip. You should bring extra everything.

As for your other question - do you NEED a strobe. I haven't been to Guadalupe, but I have been shark diving, and a strobe is VERY good to have.

Cheers
James

As has been mentioned, you may find a bit of a shadow under the shark when shooting with ambient light. A bit of fill from underneath might be in order...

I liked the coloring I got on sharks when using the filter (without strobes), but also found the reduced shutter speeds while shooting ambient only to be problematic.


btw, as Alex has mentioned... stick to RAW. White balance during a shark soot will be difficult.

Thanks James,

I've sent an email to MCD so hopefully I'll have a back up plan.....

UncleFred,

Interested in hearing and seeing your results on your return. We leave for the same trip on the 18th. Being a green water diver I have not been able to play with the Magic Filters. Have a great time!

Since you will be standing in about 8 ft of water, won't filters provide too much red? The water is usually pretty bright at Guadalupe - bluish with good vis. Past trips I've been some guys are using strobes more as fill. Too big of a rig might be a little hard to maneuver in the cages. (My experience was with SD Shark Diving which uses the Horizon.)

I'll be using Alex's magic filters and my understanding is they are designed for Shallow water, he's given me some pointers in another post.

Good to hear from someone who's been out there already, do you any pictures online?>

What lens did people use most? I have the 10.5, 12-24 and 17-35. Also about how many sessions in the cage did you get per day? We are doing the 5day Horizon trip.

On Horizon trips cages go in first thing in the am, out when light starts to fade. Northern dive site is pretty close to the island cliffs. Once the sun drops behind the island light underwater diminishes pretty quickly. As I recall they pulled the cages about 6pm. Cage rotation starts when the first shark is sighted . 1 hr in cage, 1 hr out, til its time to pull em.

Hi,

Just Came back from Gansbaii SA,last sunday.The vis close to the shore where they do the cage diving during winter wasnt that great but we went to dyer island in the afternoon where we had 7-8m vis. I wouldn recommend to use a strobe in the cage if there are more than 2 divers inside.It just get stuck somewhere. I shot all my pictures without a strobe and without a filter .Here are some examples.

..