TG-4 vs TG-870

[akg2000]

I've narrowed my choice down to these two, so I'd love the community's opinion! I'm looking for a beginner UW photography kit that won't break the bank. I feel like I could really get into UW photography, but at this point it's safer to say I intend to be a light hobbyist for the occasional diving trip.

TG-4 + PT-056: Seems like a popular choice and I see a lot of user photos on this board which is reassuring. I can attach wide angle lenses like the UWL-04 if I feel like spending more on the hobby later on. The gear nerd in me likes this expandability.

TG-870 + PT-057: The price for the PT-057 went down significantly (less than $50 where I live), which is why I'm drawn to this rig. If I get a used TG-860, I could probably get this rig for half the price of TG-4+PT-056. But the PT-057 doesn't accommodate add-on lenses, so no expandability besides strobes, lights, etc. I've read it has a wide enough angle as it is, which is why there's no add-on capabilities. Also the lens isn't as bright as the TG-4.

I want to start with one of these setups, and add strobes later on. I'd appreciate any opinions/perspectives from the experienced members on this board!

 

[Skeptic14]

This link might be handy:

Olympus TG-870 vs Olympus TG-4 Detailed Comparison

There is a lot of info there to look over, but a few of the biggest differences:

The tg-870 doesn't shoot raw, if that matters. The tg-4 has a faster lens and as far as the 21mm width lens of the tg-870 vs the 25mm of the tg-4, I doubt that'll be very noticeable. With the uwl-04 added to the tg-4 the change of angle of view is very dramatic and IMO if you want to shoot beyond macro/portrait pretty much necessary.

One final thought, depending upon how you plan to use your camera you might consider buying a package with a strobe immediately. If visibility where you dive is always great and you are doing shallow dives (less than 40ish feet) than perhaps the strobe won't be as important. But, most of my local diving is 70+ ft and on good days 30ft of visibility. The difference between strobe and no strobe at those depths and visibility is dramatic.

Take a look at this thread too:

TG-4 w/PT-056: To strobe, or not to strobe...

I posted two pictures in there taken back to back, with strobe off and then on at only 25ft depth and 80+ft of visibility. And even there it's pretty noticeable how it brings the color back, of course if you can get close enough (less than a foot) the internal flash might be sufficient for macro.

Whatever you decide, uw photography is a very fun hobby, and can get expensive

 

[akg2000]

Hey Skeptic, thanks for chiming in! I agree about the strobe. In fact, your rig is exactly what I would want to work up towards. I was just thinking I could rent at the dive shops at first and buy later. I'll admit this is simply a ploy to not shock my wife with the upfront cost of this hobby In any case I'll be going to Okinawa in a month to get my Advanced cert, so I'm hoping to learn how to use strobes also. By the way, how does your YS-03 hold up in night dives?

TBH, I'm not too concerned about raw vs jpg yet, since I don't know what the difference is from experience. I just wish there were more user submitted photos from a TG-870/860 rig so I can see the results myself! The fact that you don't see many on this board may be bad sign...

 

[Skeptic14]

It's definitely got some up front cost... first you buy your scuba gear, then you can spend as much or more on camera gear, and of course the certs aren't free either!

I've yet to do a night dive, but I did recently do a dusk dive and I was pretty happy with how my shots came out, despite a lot of particulate in the water and really having to be careful with backscatter.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/LeNvZH][/URL]

RAW is just that, an unaltered version of what light the sensor was exposed to when the shot was taken, a lossless format. Jpeg on the other hand is a lossy format, its compressed when digitized and saved to memory to save space. As an example, my jpeg shots are around 3-4 Mb, whereas because my camera is 16MP the RAW are 16Mb. The jpeg already has white balance and the other settings of the camera "interpreting" the image whereas the RAW hasn't, you can do all of that custom in post processing. Other than playing with some RAWs for learning purposes I've yet to "save" a shot with it, but I guess it's handy in the future...

 

[anenomefishman]

This link might be handy:

Olympus TG-870 vs Olympus TG-4 Detailed Comparison

There is a lot of info there to look over, but a few of the biggest differences:

The tg-870 doesn't shoot raw, if that matters. The tg-4 has a faster lens and as far as the 21mm width lens of the tg-870 vs the 25mm of the tg-4, I doubt that'll be very noticeable. With the uwl-04 added to the tg-4 the change of angle of view is very dramatic and IMO if you want to shoot beyond macro/portrait pretty much necessary.

One final thought, depending upon how you plan to use your camera you might consider buying a package with a strobe immediately. If visibility where you dive is always great and you are doing shallow dives (less than 40ish feet) than perhaps the strobe won't be as important. But, most of my local diving is 70+ ft and on good days 30ft of visibility. The difference between strobe and no strobe at those depths and visibility is dramatic.

Take a look at this thread too:

TG-4 w/PT-056: To strobe, or not to strobe...

I posted two pictures in there taken back to back, with strobe off and then on at only 25ft depth and 80+ft of visibility. And even there it's pretty noticeable how it brings the color back, of course if you can get close enough (less than a foot) the internal flash might be sufficient for macro.

Whatever you decide, uw photography is a very fun hobby, and can get expensive

i shoot with only the internal flash on my camera. the internal flash is good for 3-4 ft.