Recommendations for best underwater macro setup that's not dslr

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The sensor is quite small though, only 12MP which is the same as my compact. Do you mean the A7R??

Good catch - the a6000 / a6300 is 24MP. The a7R (and a7s) series is full frame but way out of my budget. I would guess even at 12MP the image quality is going to be pretty good on the s7s.
 
The sensor is quite small though, only 12MP which is the same as my compact. Do you mean the A7R??
no the a7s, a7sII is what i mean. i think they've sacrificed higher megapixel range in order to improve the dynamic range of the sensor. which as a natural light photographer i will Gladly give up. given that megapixel numbers at some point are almost negligible unless you're planning and printing a HUGE print. check out some sample photos/footage of it. its a beast for its price.
 
Not to derail the question originally posted but am considering getting an U/W housing for our Sony a6000.

Do you know if you can set the internal strobe on the a7S or a7SII to 1/64 (or some fractional power) to trigger an external strobe set to manual. With my Olympus, I can set it to either TTL or fractional power for use with my S&S YS01 set to TTL or Manual accordingly.

The Sony a6000 and it is unable to be set for a fractional power on the strobe. Implications for this are battery life (which is not that great anyways), strobe recycle time and difficulty (if it is even possible) to shoot a fiber optic triggered S&S in manual. Great image quality and everything else on the Sony a6000 series (other than strobe setting and battery life).
gstrek I'm not entirely sure. like i said in my original post. if i had the extra cash I'd buy one. so no real long term hands on with the camera. my buddy has one and from what he tells me, its a game changer. 4k raw, and like I've said before it can basically shoot in no light.
 
Hi,

I am upgrading my setup from a canon s95 which becomes my backup. I loved this camera and it yielded quality images with wet lens and strobe.

I am looking to spend Max £2.5k for a setup. Ideally nauticam housing but ikelite would do. I have people saying the Sony a6300 with 90mm lens is choice now but others say g7 X mark ii will yield quality macro, even Olympus tg4 has been recommended but seems a step back.

I will eventually go dslr once I find time to dive more to justify the outlay and when I can take long trips to justify the weight during travel.

I have a ys-01 strobe so needs to work with that and I favour super macro if that helps. I don't shoot much video tbh.

Any help would be great as I am a bit stuck. Compact vs mirrorless vs cheapest dslr in a cheaper housing ????

Thanks in advance

Hi pughio83,

I messed around with a Canon compact and then an Olympus compact, both in factory housings, for about 10 years. I finally decided to get a better camera for both stills and video. I doubt I'll ever be very serious about underwater photography and videography and sometimes do not even take my camera.

I bought a Canon G7X with the Nauticam housing, vacuum system, and compact macro converter with flip adaptor. Like you, I already had one strobe. The setup cost about $2500, that would leave you about $800 in your budget to spend on other things you may need. This system is certainly not in the league with the mirrorless and DSLR setups but does a very good job for what I need, reasonable wide angle and macro as well as video. The one button white balance is great advantage and it does shoot in RAW. The system does require a short port for optimum wet, wide angle lens use.

Best of luck, good diving, Craig
 
The price of the A7 series and their lenses is why I didn't suggest them to the OP. Love them. I considered going with the A7 II last year, but I had lenses and ports for the Nikon DSLRs I had already been using so it was easier to get a housing for my D810. Once in the water I never wish I had anything else, but getting it there is another story!
 
Ok thanks. I will look at the a7s. I am leaning towards the a6300 with Sony 90mm lens but i may end up spending a little more if go with nauticam housing. I like the 4K footage as well. I agree MP is not everything. Would love the Nikon 810 but so pricey for everything. Decision decisions
 
Nobody really mentioned the new Nikon D500 and for macro a cropped frame sensor really can't be beat. Large, bright viewfinder, 4k video, extremely fast AF and available lenses like the 60mm AF-S make a killer combo. This camera can literally focus in the dark.

That being said, the a6300 and 45 or 90mm lenses should work very nicely. It's 4D focus system has a blend of phase detect AF points that is much better than the a6000.

Unfortunately, it still lacks true manual flash control; you can only turn down the EV to a low level. It's max of 1/160th sync speed is pretty weak too. It is a better video camera with many of the controls and quality of the a7II.

Overall if you just want to do stills, the E-M1 with the 60mm is probably a better camera, but it's certainly weaker for video.

There's quite a price difference in setting up a DSLR vs. MIR system and size and weight has really driven divers towards the latter.
 
Thanks. I had ruled out the em 1 as the MP was only 16 and my compact 12 MP but I understand that I needed to crop a lot with my compact so lost some detail where as I assume with the em 1 and a 60mm lens the need for crop should be less.
 
Don't fall into the MP trap. The sensor size is the bigger "picture" ;-). Sharpness, detail and dynamic range will be much better.
 
I agree with Jack. OLY/Panasonic with the 60 mm macro lens. 17 mm full frame subject (2 x typical 100 macro on full frame). Add the CMC and you will shoot things 8 mm or smaller.
Not sure you can do this for 2.5K but close. I would look at a used EM-1 or a new EM-10.
Bill
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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