Underwater camera - advice sought

Hi Folks,

I need to purchase new rental cameras for the dive centre and I would like to get some recommendations and feedback on the cameras that you folks use including:

- Picture quality
- ease of use
- price
- housing req?

Your assistance is appreciated.

Carl

Hi Carl,

I have a DSLR, and dont think you can beat the picture quality and ability to get killer shots... but for rental in your dive shop I can see no better choice than the Olympus 1030SW. It's that one you've probably seen the ad for on tv that can go underwater...

Not much good in only 10m without another housing...but there's the best bit, put it in the PT-043 housing and it's good to 40m; and if the housing floods it wont kill the camera as you will likely never flood it so bad that the effect on the camera inside is more than that of 10m...Does that make sense?

Additionally, nice wide angle lense built in and also has a macro facility, so all basics are covered.

HTH

Carl,

Matt may be right, but from painful personal experience, if an Olympus floods and it's not your fault, you can expect no help from their customer service.

Here's my thread, and I know there are others you could search: -

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ph...ers/143870-olympus-dont-swim-help-needed.html

Maybe they're better these days, but as far is I'm concerned, the bridges are burnt.

LIke Matt, I shoot with a DSLR (Canon), but also have the Point and Shoot G9 (last year's model). The advantage is that you can pick these up on ebay relatively cheaply, and should be able to get an Ikelite housing from the same place, again, at knock-down rates.

The best thing to my mind is that they shoot as well underwater as on land in Auto mode (I'm lazy), but have the full manual ability if you want to be creative (as if).

Like most, they also do video, and well, too. Here's an example: -

Stop. Hammertime! on Vimeo

You can see a bunch of pictures from Galapagos taken with the same camera here: -

Moglets/Galapagos - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

On quality, they're more than you'll need, and I especially like the genuine metal body, which makes it feel sturdier. Dropped it a couple of times without tears as well.

Ease of use? It's one of the most popular compact cameras recently produced, so you can figure on the lowest common denominator going for that.

Price? Not the cheapest at all. But value for money? Very high. Camera (used) on ebay now from $300 (buy it now), with package. Ikelite housing, (new) $430 (buy it now), but bide your time and a cheaper one (read used) will come along.

Alernatively, there's a good buy it now deal here: -

Find Canon PowerShot G7 10 Megapixel Underwater pre G9 G10 on eBay Global Buying, with worldwide deals on items in all your top categories

for the older G7, which is still a damn good camera.

Housing? Canon's own would be cheapest ($140 buy it now on ebay), and I haven't heard any real complaints. I just like Ikelite, and it allows me to use the sodding great Ikelite strobes I already own.

The internal flash works nicely in Macro, with a diffuser (if you don't get one with the housing, which you should, they're easy to make yourself).

Phew. That's a lot of parentheses.

Have to agree with Larry that the G? range has a great history. I had a G3 back in the old days as my first camera UW. Worked great in an Ikelite housing, and back then 3MP was enough for most people!

Bit bulky now as a point and shoot though when the little ones do as well...

Depends what you are after really.

for rental purposes (i'm seeing recreational photog/ dive tourist here vs. serious photographer) i'd recommend the Snapsights Intova

my first u/w camera was this guy's older brother - 3MP came w/ its own housing, got it at rustans for 11,000 Pesos - yup, camera AND housing...

it didn't take the best photos but it did the job well enough. i didn't treat it with the care i do my current setup, i didn't overly clean the o-rings or anything... just popped the case open and put in batteries and went diving...

it held up wonderfully - then i sold it to get a canon A620...

this new version looks very very promising - higher megapixel count, more controls (mine only had flash on/off and "macro" switches...), it works on SD cards (dirt cheap), has simple video and auto/ manual photo controls :: INTOVA ::

and it's 16,000 pesos in manila (maybe even in cebu if you can find a branch of Digital Studio at the mall)

if you rent it at 1,000/day to a diver you've got the cost covered in 16 dives (that's about 2 months conservative)...

if you want to have high-end rental stuff as an option you can then invest in a G9 or similar canon setup - either way it gives you lots of options instead of shelling out $$$$$ for expensive camera gear that's at the mercy of plainloads of korean divers...

with an intova system, if it floods, it doesn't hurt as much... and you can get a replacement unit with a quick call to a friend in manila and air21's 3-day delivery to cebu...

if you need to outfit it with strobes and stuff the Fantasea Nano Fantasea Line Water Sports Photo Products & Accessories- Nano Flash got mine in manila for 5000

unfortunately the tray and arms are going to hurt but i do enjoy the loc-line arm system i got from larry... it's cheaper than the current ball/arm setups like ultralight and inon

extension arms, for instance, i got off the internet (ModularHose.com - Loc-Line Modular Hose System) for $7 for 1 foot... it's more than i need to extend my arm setup

hope this helps

Jag

+1 on the G9. i've used this camera topside and pretty impressed with what it can do.

but i don't really know how valuable my contribution is, considering that i've never used this underwater.

it would be cool to have a "tourist-y" rental cam.. then a higher end rental cam (for those who are interested to get into underwater photog -- i'm one of them).

ps. jag - i love the mention of my favorite demographic... hahaha...

Id say get some Cannon G10s with Cannon housings.
The picture quality on the G-series is great, they support RAW, full manual shooting. Is not too advanced (or expensive) and the housings rated to 40m. Should be all you need.

As Matt has mentione, a bit bulky for point and shoot cameras, but they have a few of the more advanced features of DSLRs as well as being a lot LESS bulky than those..

G9 UW with cannon housing, no flash (CHDK enabled and post-processed) http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=3506

merry christmas everybody!!!!

jigo:

merry christmas everybody!!!!

Click to expand...

wow.. we almost went one page without veering away from topic... that was close.. *phew* good save jigo.. good save!