5. Underwater photography

I needed an affordable solution to place my flash underwater. I found that an empty box of nuts from Costco does the trick nicely. It also has the perfect height, putting just a little pressure on flash to hold it in place. I recommend using a layer of teflon tape around the edge of the opening to make sure it is watertight.

Next you need to trigger your flash from the main camera. This is tricky. RF triggers won't work. A cable between the camera and the flash is source of trouble because it requires drilling holes in the watertight cases. Remains light triggering through a hot-shoe. But as soon as you place your main flash more than 2-3 feet away from your main camera, it will not trigger, especially if the in-camera flash is weak.

This is where fiber optics come to the rescue. More precisely Toslink optical cable which are normally used to transmit digital audio between a CD player and an amplifier. I also purchased a female-to-female Toslink coupler, which I modified by cutting in two and gluing both ends to a small plastic surface which I tape to the front side of the camera case, facing the in-camera flash. This makes a solid receptacle for two Toslink cables.

I then run the Toslink cables to the box holding the flash and tape the other end of the cable face the optical hot-shoe trigger. You may want to choose an hot-shoe trigger that ignores the pre-flash (and the NEX-5 has a nasty pre-flash).

I finally use a bungee cord to tie the box to a brick which I let rest at the bottom of the pool, with an occasional translucent umbrella attached in between.

Finally, I set my camera on manual, adjust aperture and ISO and jump into the water.

I have not yet tested this new underwater case (as I was not satisfied with my previous underwater bag). Hence I will take a dive tomorrow. Expect some images in the coming days ;-)

Disclaimer: Do this at your own risk... If your box of nuts implodes... well, tough luck . Find a better option and share it back ;-)