flybigjet
Contributor
Greetings to all--
So. Here's the thing. My last two underwater setups were a) a Canon Powershot G9, Ikelite housing and an Ikelite DS51 strobe and b) a GoPro Hero Silver w/ GoPro scuba housing, filter, two underwater floods and a custom AR-15 mount.
I put each setup together individually for our last big trip, and while they both worked well, there were a few issues-- the biggest being that was a TON of gear and accessories to lug halfway around the planet. I also found out that I'm just not much of a GoPro person-- watching the post-dive video's was pretty much like watching paint dry for a few days followed by a few minutes of "ok, that's cool".
Anyhow, lugging that much gear (that Ikelite stuff is BEYOND huge!) pretty much made me hate everything related to the rigs, so they both ended up going to better homes-- between the camera, housing, strobe, accessories, GoPro, filters, lights, mount, and its accessories I pretty much killed my entire carry-on.
And now I'm looking for a somewhat more suitable (for me and my wife's needs) replacement--
Background: Both my wife and I (the rig will be used by both) are experienced still photographers (I grew up in the mystical age of "black and white" and "darkroom", and have dabbled off and on for years. Depressingly, even though I used to TA photography in college and have literally worn out a few silk shutters, my wife has a better "eye" than I do (yeah, it pisses me off). Both of us have excellent breath/depth control and have been diving for 15-30 years, so managing a camera rig and diving aren't much of an issue.
My first thought was to find a housing for one of the various cameras we have laying around the house......Surprise-- nobody makes a housing (or at least a housing that costs less than a Lexus) for any of the camera's that we own.
Next thought? I was looking at the SeaLife DS2000 Pro Duo w/ light & strobe and was getting ready to pull the trigger as our joint Christmas present, but the reviews I've found are sort of..... "meh" (especially about SeaLife's bizarre lens choice), so I started to look for something else.
And quickly got overwhelmed. BlueWater and Reef Photo? I'm talking to you!
The SeaLife camera, sync's, flash and strobe were just about the size/package/price I wanted..... but the reviews were just negative enough to knock it out of consideration
What would I like? Something that's *reasonably* point and shoot underwater w/ the ability to modify ISO (I'll date myself by still calling it ASA), shutter and aperture priority, with TTL ability for the flash to sync to the camera. Essentially, something that I can forget about for 6-8 months, go on a trip, and not waste the entire vacation relearning how to take decent photographs underwater again. Video on the fly would be nice as well, but stills are the primary use. So..... camera, housing, sync and strobe (and maybe light if video works well). No full-on DSLR's or "Pro-Grade" stuff-- obviously, at the price point I'm looking at, I'm looking for something that works "good enough".
An "out of the box, ready to go" package is what I want. In hindsight, I probably should have kept my DS51 and tried to build up a smaller kit, but that's water under the bridge.
Price? Not much more than $1500 plus or minus a little bit. I just can't realistically justify much more than that considering that I'll only use whatever I get once or twice a year.
So. Suggestions? Reviews I can be pointed at? Personal recommendations? I haven't been paying attention at all to what's on the underwater camera/housing/strobe market lately; I turned on the computer and just about got buried.
So. A little help?
Thanks!
R.
So. Here's the thing. My last two underwater setups were a) a Canon Powershot G9, Ikelite housing and an Ikelite DS51 strobe and b) a GoPro Hero Silver w/ GoPro scuba housing, filter, two underwater floods and a custom AR-15 mount.
I put each setup together individually for our last big trip, and while they both worked well, there were a few issues-- the biggest being that was a TON of gear and accessories to lug halfway around the planet. I also found out that I'm just not much of a GoPro person-- watching the post-dive video's was pretty much like watching paint dry for a few days followed by a few minutes of "ok, that's cool".
Anyhow, lugging that much gear (that Ikelite stuff is BEYOND huge!) pretty much made me hate everything related to the rigs, so they both ended up going to better homes-- between the camera, housing, strobe, accessories, GoPro, filters, lights, mount, and its accessories I pretty much killed my entire carry-on.
And now I'm looking for a somewhat more suitable (for me and my wife's needs) replacement--
Background: Both my wife and I (the rig will be used by both) are experienced still photographers (I grew up in the mystical age of "black and white" and "darkroom", and have dabbled off and on for years. Depressingly, even though I used to TA photography in college and have literally worn out a few silk shutters, my wife has a better "eye" than I do (yeah, it pisses me off). Both of us have excellent breath/depth control and have been diving for 15-30 years, so managing a camera rig and diving aren't much of an issue.
My first thought was to find a housing for one of the various cameras we have laying around the house......Surprise-- nobody makes a housing (or at least a housing that costs less than a Lexus) for any of the camera's that we own.
Next thought? I was looking at the SeaLife DS2000 Pro Duo w/ light & strobe and was getting ready to pull the trigger as our joint Christmas present, but the reviews I've found are sort of..... "meh" (especially about SeaLife's bizarre lens choice), so I started to look for something else.
And quickly got overwhelmed. BlueWater and Reef Photo? I'm talking to you!
The SeaLife camera, sync's, flash and strobe were just about the size/package/price I wanted..... but the reviews were just negative enough to knock it out of consideration
What would I like? Something that's *reasonably* point and shoot underwater w/ the ability to modify ISO (I'll date myself by still calling it ASA), shutter and aperture priority, with TTL ability for the flash to sync to the camera. Essentially, something that I can forget about for 6-8 months, go on a trip, and not waste the entire vacation relearning how to take decent photographs underwater again. Video on the fly would be nice as well, but stills are the primary use. So..... camera, housing, sync and strobe (and maybe light if video works well). No full-on DSLR's or "Pro-Grade" stuff-- obviously, at the price point I'm looking at, I'm looking for something that works "good enough".
An "out of the box, ready to go" package is what I want. In hindsight, I probably should have kept my DS51 and tried to build up a smaller kit, but that's water under the bridge.
Price? Not much more than $1500 plus or minus a little bit. I just can't realistically justify much more than that considering that I'll only use whatever I get once or twice a year.
So. Suggestions? Reviews I can be pointed at? Personal recommendations? I haven't been paying attention at all to what's on the underwater camera/housing/strobe market lately; I turned on the computer and just about got buried.
So. A little help?
Thanks!
R.
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