Buying an underwater camera

Rafael · Aug 28, 2005

could somebody help me? i want to buy a digital underwater camera, but i have not idea on what to buy what are the best brands or where to look every place i check in the internet have a million options, the price range is huge, so i'm getting confuse. :11:

If you can share with me the name of a couple models that you may think will work for me will be very helpful, i'm located in Boston, so the vis is low underwater for the most part, so i may need a flash as well.

Thank you! :goldfish:

maractwin · Aug 28, 2005

Rafael,

You'll get a lot of advice here. There are a lot of questions about budget, where you dive and what you want to photograph that need to be answered before anyone can give a meaningful recommendation.

If you want to see any of this stuff in person, the nearest place that carries more than the very basic cameras you'll see in dive shops is Underwater Photo Tech in Londonderry, NH (www.uwphoto.com). Or join a local dive club and talk to photographers there and ask to see their photo rigs. While Internet shopping has made a lot of stuff available that you would never be able to get otherwise, I find that there's nothing like being able to see and touch something new to really understand it.

-Mark

HowardE · Aug 28, 2005

Rafael:
could somebody help me? i want to buy a digital underwater camera, but i have not idea on what to buy what are the best brands or where to look every place i check in the internet have a million options, the price range is huge, so i'm getting confuse. :11:

If you can share with me the name of a couple models that you may think will work for me will be very helpful, i'm located in Boston, so the vis is low underwater for the most part, so i may need a flash as well.

Thank you! :goldfish:

If you look at my gallery, you can see a bunch of photos taken with a canon s70 camera. All of the newer posts are with this camera... I got the camera and the canon housing for it for about $550. Many of these photos are taken only with the internal flash no strobe.

Howard-

Rafael · Aug 28, 2005

maractwin:
Rafael,

You'll get a lot of advice here. There are a lot of questions about budget, where you dive and what you want to photograph that need to be answered before anyone can give a meaningful recommendation.

If you want to see any of this stuff in person, the nearest place that carries more than the very basic cameras you'll see in dive shops is Underwater Photo Tech in Londonderry, NH (www.uwphoto.com). Or join a local dive club and talk to photographers there and ask to see their photo rigs. While Internet shopping has made a lot of stuff available that you would never be able to get otherwise, I find that there's nothing like being able to see and touch something new to really understand it.

-Mark

Thank you, well i dive in New England where the vis and light is not very good, some rock diving as well as ship wrecks are popular here, about budget i do not want to go over $700.00 i want something simple but good enought to keep i can wait a beat and save more money in order to get a good camera, i do not want to get something just because is cheap if is not going to give me good quality pictures

maractwin · Aug 28, 2005

I'd suggest looking at housed point-and-shoot digitals. These are very popular these days, particularly those by Olympus, Canon and Fuji.

Personally, I use an Olympus C-5050Z in a PT-015 housing with Inon D180 strobe. This camera has been discontinued by Olympus, but there are newer ones to consider there. The Fuji 810 is pretty popular at the moment, as are several of the Canon cameras. This type of setup can be had in your price range, though you won't be able to add a strobe and keep it under $700.

As someone in Boston who primarily dives in the tropics, I've found photoraphy here to be disappointing. A good day is 20 ft visibility, with it often much worse. To take pictures in this environment, an external strobe is helpful to reduce backscatter. And a wide angle lens to get really close to a wreck and still see some of it.

-Mark

Cecil · Aug 29, 2005

Agree with Mark, although I would also suggest you look at the Canons. Make sure there is an UW housing available before buying anything. I dive NE all the time without an external strobe, just get real close. You can look at my home page for many examples.

DesertEagle · Aug 29, 2005

I like to buy from Underwater PhotoTech. Their location in Derry, NH is only an hour from Boston (93N to exit 4).These people are experts and their prices are competitive. It's also nice to see all the equipment in one place. Like a candy store for adults.

maractwin · Aug 29, 2005

While I was the one to first mention Underwater Photo Tech, I should point out that they don't carry any Olympus or INON equipment, so the only thing they've got that's useful to me is strobe arms and misc connector hardware. My kid-in-a-candy-shop moment occured on vacation in California when I walked into Backscatter. They stock all of the stuff in my rig, and lots of higher end equipment as well.

-Mark

Monkey Knife-fight · Aug 29, 2005

Well i recently bought into UW photography with the FujiF810. It's awesome in my opinion (my first ever UW camera). You can get setup with the F810 + Ikelite housing + everything else (batteries mem cards etc) for around $700 (might be closer to $800). It has great low light focusing capabilites and i use it most every weekend in Monterey which can get DARK under kelp/schmeg.

www.digitaldiver.net is a great resource for camera info (though their search is a little weak)

Chris

PS It also takes very sharp pics.
chrissyt.smugmug.com/Monterey
and
chrissyt.smugmug.com/Mendocino
are my pics in visibility ranging from 10'-no more than 40'

Jetwrench · Aug 31, 2005

Rafael,
The list is long and you can find a nice rig for $700(external strobe excluded)

I have a Sony P10 and a Canon A95. Both are good for P&S in auto, and have good pixel capacity for u/w. The P10 has limited manual functions and the housing has been discontinued, but they can still be found. Nice size package! The A95 has many features that the Sony doesn't, most of all manual settings.

Olympus, Nikon and several others have excellent candidates and many on this board are experienced with them. So, my advice would be to just pick a camera that has an u/w housing available for it, has an mp of 3 or more, and as many features as you can afford. Then go shoot, and shoot, and shoot some more. Constant comparing will only confuse you, and new products every 12-14 months will make it worse. Bottom line is the fun is in the act and seeing the results, IMO.

Jet

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