U N D E R W A T E R C A M E R A S

Sea & Sea MX-10POINT AND SHOOT SIMPLICITY;

PROFESSIONAL QUALITY PHOTOSTEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACK AND SUE DRAFAHL

E ach year Brooks Institute of Photo-graphy in Santa Barbara, California,

offers an advanced professional under-water photography course. Several tripsaboard the school vessel Just Love aremade to the Channel Islands. Workingprofessional photographers are often in-vited to come along so the students havethe opportunity to learn first-hand.

This year we were invited to join the ex-pedition and dive San Clemente andSanta Barbara Islands. We are not surewhat the students were expecting but wedefinitely gave them a surprise. In addi-tion to our standard underwater photosystems, we brought aboard Sea &Sea's underwater point and shoot cam-era, the MX-10. Viewing our setup for thefirst time, the students laughed and kid-ded us about our little toy camera.

The MX-10 has a permanent, focus-free 32mm lens and an internal flash fortopside use. This lens can also be usedunderwater and there are two accessorylenses; a 20mm wide angle or a macro.These can be attached to the front of the

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permanent lens via a bayonet mount.You can even switch lenses underwater!A separate flash—the YS-40—is alsoavailable for underwater use.

Loading the camera is quick and easy.Simply release the latch andopen the backplate.Inside is a second back-plate. Open it and dropin the film cassette. (TwoAA batteries next to thetake-up spool power thecamera.) When the inter-nal backplate is closed,the camera automaticallypulls the film onto the take-up spool.Before closing the backplate set the filmspeed, selecting either ISO 100 or 400.Advance the film a couple of frames bydepressing the shutter release on thefront of the camera.

There is a blue O-ring on the outerbackplate, it should be cleaned and light-ly coated with silicone grease, then re-placed, before closing the backplate.

The camera has two controls on the

front, the shutter release and the aper-ture control. This latter has settings fromf/4.5 to f/22. Two special f/stops—f/4.5and f/11—fire the internal flash.

The cordless YS-40 flash is powered byfour AA batteries. It attaches to the side of

Top: The Sea Bat and britt/estarswere photographed with the MX-10 macrotens. Above: MX-10 with YS-40 flash.

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SEA & SEA MX-10

the camera via a hot shoe, much like thehot shoe found on the top of land cam-eras. An infrared sensor in the base of theflash mates with an identical sensor in thecamera. A diffuser should be slipped overthe flash head for both wide angle andmacro photos.

The MX-10 camera and flash form acompact package weighing just threepounds. It is light enough to use snorkel-ing and easy enough for any member ofthe family—even a child—to operate.

MX-10 SPECIFICATIONS

MX-10 camera 35mm fixed focusLens 32mmf/4.5Depth 150 feetShutter Leaf shutter, 1/100 secondFilm advance AutoViewf inder 80 percent of frameStrobe Built-inLow exposure Red light indicates

available light too lowPower Two AA batteriesDimensions 3.7 by6.2 by 2.8 inchesSuggested retail ..$413.00

CAMERA ACCESSORIES

Macro lens $156.9520mm lens $271.00Close-up lens Available soonLens caddy Available soon

YS-40 FLASH

Beam angle 72 degreesPower Four AA batteriesRecycle time 5w/alkalines(seconds) 3 w/nickel-cadmiums# of flashes 100 w/alkaline

50 w/nickel-cadmiumsSync Infrared optical triggerDepth 150 feetSuggested retail $264.00

Our first test shots were done usingthel :4 macro lens and framer becausewhen we descended we found theocean floor blanketed with brittlestars.After turning the YS-40 flash on, we setthe aperture control to f/16 and pressedthe shutter. The flash fired and the cam-era automatically advanced the film. Hey,this was pretty easy!

In the middle of the dive, we decidedwe wanted photos of a larger area. We re-moved the macro lens/framer and theflash diffuser and set the aperture to f/8.We finished the roll of film by taking photosfrom a distance of three and a half feet.

When we got back onto the boat, weprocessed our film. As we looked at iton a light box with a loupe, we realizedthis point and shoot camera was pro-viding professional quality photos.When the students looked at our filmthey laughed no longer.

After a complete testing of the normaland macro combinations, we moved onto the wide angle setup, attaching the

20 SKIN DIVER FEBRUARY 1997

f/4.5 20mm lens to the front of the stan-dard lens. After slipping a sportsfinderonto the top of the MX-10 we wereready to get wet again. Since the primaryand the 20mm lenses are fixed focus,we had only to look to determine thenecessary distance for the f/stop wewere using. Garibaldi gliding throughthe kelp forests made perfect subjectsfor our wide angle tests.

For flash fill, lightly press the shutter re-lease until a red light appears in the view-er. Then open the aperture until the redlight goes out. You must make sure thatyou are the correct distance for the f/stopindicated before triggering the shutter. At

The Sea & Sea MX-10 system includes theYS-40 flash (with diffuser), macro lens withframer and the 20mm wide angle lens.

UPDATEAfter our tests were complete, we learned

there are three changes on the horizon forthe MX-10 system. The new YS-40A flashwill allow the photographer to select eithermanual or two automatic f/stops. ISO 100film would dictate the use f/4.5; ISO 400 filmwould allow the use of f/8. The distancerange for these new auto flash settingswould be from .82 - 5.45 feet.

In addition to the improved YS-40A flash,a new close-up lens and a lens caddy areplanned for the MX-10 system. All should beavailable early this year.

f/8, for instance, everything will be insharp focus from 2.3 to 1 2.6 feet.

On the fifth day of our trip, Ernest H.Brooks, the president of Brooks Institute,asked to borrow the MX-1 0. He normallyshoots black and white images with ahoused Hasselblad but was impressedwith our results. He found the MX-10 agreat complement to his medium formatsystem and was very excited about thephotos he took with it. We think you'll beimpressed, too!

For more information about the MX-1 0,contact your local Sea & Sea dealer or Sea& Sea Underwater Photography USA at2105 Camino Vida Roble, Suite L, Carls-bad, CA 92009; (61 9) 929-1 909.

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Crete f106 on Reader Service Card SKIN DIVER FEBRUARY 1997 21