different cameras for land and uw?

Moogyboy · Aug 10, 2005

hey all

Dumb question for this week:

How many of you use a different camera for topside and underwater, and what kind is each one?

Realistically, I can see a good P&S (ie an Oly C-7070) in an OEM type housing and a third-party strobe for underwater stuff, and a DSLR coexisting with all my film cameras for topside use. Of course I dream of an uw DSLR, but then again I dream of a really decent paycheck as well.

(I'm very partial to SLR-type cameras, as you might guess.)

Incidentally, my current UW camera, which I think needs some servicing, is an old Sea & Sea Motormarine II (pre-EX) with a 20mm accessory wide angle lens and a YS-50 TTL strobe.

cheers,

Billy S.

alcina · Aug 10, 2005

As a dedicated shopaholic, I'll jump in here.

I have a couple of systems for underwater. These systems are "too big" to carry around when we go to a party, wedding, the beach with the dogs etc. So I have a teeny tiny camera that slips into my front jeans' pocket - I am currently looking to update this one and will buy another one in Sept!

I also have another small digital camera, not quite as small, that has full manual controls for those on land outings that I think I want to take "real photos" on.

So that's two land systems and several UW systems.

Two of my underwater systems are taken for land outings only when the emphasis of my day/part of my day will be on photo things. They take up some room and are heavier so I wouldn't want to carry them all the time.

Personally, I think two systems are necessary no matter what you shoot underwater - who wants to haul their uw camera out of it's housing to take along on the walk through town or to dinner? A casual camera is needed

But you'd have to sacrifice the dslr as second camera for this concept! (So maybe three systems: underwater, casual and dslr for "serious" land

)

ssra30 · Aug 10, 2005

I think most people end up with 2 different cameras for land and u/w use. Often it is the same camera so you have a back up body in case the camera flood (knock on wood). This is very useful when you are on a long divetrip. This is especially true of u/w photog nuts with dSLR. Also since it is often difficult to extract camera out of the housign in a hurry when those dolphins or whales come by the boat, many people like to have another camera handy for those occasions. When I upgrade to dSLR, I kept my Oly PnS exactly for that purpose. Nowaday I am down to just one camera just becaues I sold pretty much everything I don't need to have the current system

For PnS, it is probably make sense to have a back up body as well since the model shelf life is not all that long. If you flood your camera a year from now, you may end up having to buy a new camera as well as housing at the same time. However if you like shopping like Alcina

, that might not be a bad thing!

alcina · Aug 10, 2005

Shopping is fun!!

Cecil · Aug 11, 2005

I'm on the other side of this fence. One camera top and bottom, I accept the rather limited shortcomings in both places for the convience. I have a tiny PnS for both, underwater there are time I wish I had more manual control, out of the water a longer zoom would be nice. Given these limitations, you just can not beat being able to slip your camera in a BCD pocket for that giant stride or putting it in a pant's pocket for a trip around the island.

Moogyboy · Aug 11, 2005

Your three-camera setup seems like a good solution.

Although I haven't had the pleasure of using a housed camera yet, I think I could probably get by using my uw cam as my "casual" snapshooter because, assuming I had a laptop with me (which seems to be required equipment anymore when traveling with digital cameras) I'd have to take the camera out of the housing anyway to upload the pics and clear up the memory card. But I'm just speculating...reality will probably bite me in the bottom at some point.

Oh, and shopping IS good. It's the dreaming about being able to shop that I can't stand.

cheers

Billy S.

alcina:
As a dedicated shopaholic, I'll jump in here.

I have a couple of systems for underwater. These systems are "too big" to carry around when we go to a party, wedding, the beach with the dogs etc. So I have a teeny tiny camera that slips into my front jeans' pocket - I am currently looking to update this one and will buy another one in Sept!

I also have another small digital camera, not quite as small, that has full manual controls for those on land outings that I think I want to take "real photos" on.

So that's two land systems and several UW systems.

Two of my underwater systems are taken for land outings only when the emphasis of my day/part of my day will be on photo things. They take up some room and are heavier so I wouldn't want to carry them all the time.

Personally, I think two systems are necessary no matter what you shoot underwater - who wants to haul their uw camera out of it's housing to take along on the walk through town or to dinner? A casual camera is needed But you'd have to sacrifice the dslr as second camera for this concept! (So maybe three systems: underwater, casual and dslr for "serious" land )

mjh · Aug 11, 2005

Have two DSLR bodies for flood backup and more serious topside shooting. Then we have the one pocket/purse sized digital for around town/night on the town shots.

Jetwrench · Aug 11, 2005

Moogyboy,
I found my first u/w camera didn't have the manual features I wanted to experiment with, so I just bought one with more manual control. Now I have a camera for u/w shots that is more flexible and my first one(compact/easy to carry) will be my land camera. Since I have housings for both, now I have a backup just in case and can use either one above or below. No add ons right now but when I do buy it will more define which one gets used where. M2C

Jet

Oops! both are digital pns.

Moogyboy · Aug 11, 2005

Some provision for manual control is a must for me, at least for topside photography. I thought I mentioned it but I guess I didn't; see, I come from the world of 35mm SLRs, especially manual ones with lots of dials and interchangeable lenses. I also tend to try to make even my most casual photos semi-artsy--that's my visual arts background. I still don't entirely trust little electronic P&S cameras, you know. (I also drive a car with a stick shift.

) But for uw, a good P&S in a housing is a lot more convenient, not to mention cheaper, and I don't mind one for casual topside too, as long as it gives me a decent amount of manual control and takes good pictures.

cheers

Billy S.

Jetwrench:
Moogyboy,
I found my first u/w camera didn't have the manual features I wanted to experiment with, so I just bought one with more manual control. Now I have a camera for u/w shots that is more flexible and my first one(compact/easy to carry) will be my land camera. Since I have housings for both, now I have a backup just in case and can use either one above or below. No add ons right now but when I do buy it will more define which one gets used where. M2C

Jet

Oops! both are digital pns.

sharky60 · Aug 11, 2005

I used to use a Vivitar 35mm point-n-shoot for my land photos, but it went south on me and stopped working for some reason. Now that I have bought my DX5000G I use it both above and below. Outside the housing it's small and lightweight and makes a nice land camera. I plan on moving up to an SLR in the future as I'd like to be able to add lenses and do more telephoto photography.

I do have an old Zenit fully manual 35mm that I use on land for black and white photography, but don't take it on vacation with me. I call it my Russian spy camera because it has 'Made in the U.S.S.R.' stamped on the lens.

My wife has a simple Canon 35mm point-n-shoot camera that we take with us on trips also, but I don't use it much.

different cameras for land and uw?

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