Settings for Digital Camera Luray Caverns Underground?

Question

I have a digital camera and will be visiting Luray Caverns in Virginia in a week or so. I am wondering what settings to use? The Luray website says 'high speed film and a flash'.

What would that translate into with a digital camera? I have an Olympus FE-340. Would just choosing the 'sport' setting suffice or do I need to play with ISO, Compression, White Balance, Exposure Compensation...

I'm probably missing other settings, goodness only knows...

Answer 1

Those will be tough shots to get. Well, tough to make them look nice. Using flash will work just fine, but you won't get much of the interesting light and effects that occur inside the caverns.

Try to go without the flash if you can. Use a higher ISO, and play with the white balance. Start with white balance on Auto, then go from there. Just play with it. The beauty of digital is that you can preview your images immediately to check your settings. If nothing looks good, then go back to using your flash.

Answer 2

You can try using ISO 1600 without the flash. At ISO 800 your flash coverage at the wide angle setting is slightly less than 13'. Don't expect very good results at ISO 1600 though. Your camera begins showing digital noise at ISO 400 so at 1600 it will be even worse. You can use a program like Noise Ninja to "clean up" the pictures but a 5X7 print will probably be as big as you'll want to make.

Those incredible cave pictures you've probably seen are the result of multiple flash units with a tripod mounted camera.