Mark's F810 Helpline

[Mark Davies]

Okay, so I've got this fancy camera and the whole thing is new to me. Up to now I've just been doing point and shoot stuff with digital cameras and I'm well aware that's not going to cut it to get good results underwater.

I'm going to need some help, so this thread is where I'll be asking those questions specific to my camera - the Fuji F810.

First thing - I've picked up that manually adjusting white balance is critical to get decent colour reproduction under water so I thought I'd best get that sorted for starters. I don't seem to be getting it right though - or at least I'm not sure I am.

I set the camera to 'Manual' and go to menu and select 'WB' then go up the menu one step to get 'Custom White Balance'. I then have to press the shutter to set a new balance and this is where I lose my way and the owner's manual isn't very clear.

After pressing the shutter with some white paper in front of the lens I invariably get a message saying 'Over' or 'Under'. The book tells me to 'set the exposure compensation again'. I've found the section on that and do what it says but no matter what I try I can't seem to get it to set the white balance and show 'Completed!' as the book promises.

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? Any tips?

[TimIngmire]

Hi Mark,

Right, after reading the manual I think I've solved your problem. When you are in manual you need to set the aperture and shutter speed such that you get the correct exposure. You change the shutter speed by turning the command dial, change the aperture by holding the +/- and turning the command dial. Checkout page 35 of the manual for an explanation of Exposure. Page 42 shows you how to tell if the exposure is right. It might be best to this whilst looking at the white piece of paper.

Now, once your exposure is correct then try doing the manual white balance. You now shouldn't have a problem.

HTH

[Mark Davies]

Right, I think I've got it. Managed to actually set the white balance at least! Thanks for that.

[Mark Davies]

I know the Olympus cameras have a 'My Mode' into which you can program permanently custom settings - such as an underwater set up. This would be really handy for a numpty like myself to have a rough set-up available at the flick of a switch.

Looking through the manual I can't seem to find any reference to anything like this on the F810. Do I need to reprogram settings every time I use the camera, or have other users found a way to avoid this?