LF: Entry Level UW Camera and Housing

[Peach Fish]

Hi! New to this forum and thinking of getting a camera/housing. Nothing fancy just basic gear which can take decent UW photos. No arms, trays or strobes yet. Budget is 25k.

Thanks in advance,

Christine Sagpao
pikaymed@gmail.com

[jeremyl]

This should probably go in an underwater camera forum, not here... or over on wetpixel.com you will probably get better advice.

But from my personal viewpoint you will be MUCH better off in the long run to work to double your budget and get one of the "new" micro 4/3's cameras. The Olympus E-PL2 is ~$600 US and the housing is the same. But this will function very very nicely underwater and be much more responsive and more expandable than getting a point-n-shoot camera. I plan to upgrade to this myself (from a canon G9 with OEM housing and Inon strobe). Of course this may be way out of your price range, but if it is doable I think it amazingly worth it.

[DonCebu]

I am selling a Canon WP-DC800 Underwater Housing (http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/trips-local-marketplace-philippines/384637-canon-wp-dc800-underwater-housing.html).

Housing only, then you can still buy a Canon PowerShot S400, S410 or S500 Digital Camera on eBay.

[tarponchik]

Did you mean 25k budget like $25,000???;-)

I would strongly recommend Canon s90/95 for an entry level (~$500 with housing, could be less if you buy used). It will give you deent quality, including RAW files you can play with. If you do not flood it in one year and feel lile you could do better then that, then get a better one. If you snorkel you do not need a strobe, but if you dive you should have one. So get a cheap slave strobe with a side-arm and learn how to use it. Here are some:
ISS2000 Intova ISS 2000 Underwater Slave Flash Kit with 4 Power Output Level Settings (http://www.adorama.com/UWISS2000.html)
ISS4000 Intova ISS 4000 Underwater Slave Flash Kit with 4 Power Output Level Settings (http://www.adorama.com/UWISS4000.html)
(you need to buy the arm separately for these)

[Pao]

Did you mean 25k budget like $25,000???;-)

I would strongly recommend Canon s90/95 for an entry level (~$500 with housing, could be less if you buy used). It will give you deent quality, including RAW files you can play with. If you do not flood it in one year and feel lile you could do better then that, then get a better one. If you snorkel you do not need a strobe, but if you dive you should have one. So get a cheap slave strobe with a side-arm and learn how to use it. Here are some:
ISS2000 Intova ISS 2000 Underwater Slave Flash Kit with 4 Power Output Level Settings (http://www.adorama.com/UWISS2000.html)
ISS4000 Intova ISS 4000 Underwater Slave Flash Kit with 4 Power Output Level Settings (http://www.adorama.com/UWISS4000.html)
(you need to buy the arm separately for these)

No 25K Php (around 500 USD). I already bought a Canon 220HS (ELPH 300) and an ikelite housing is on order.

[altaskier]

You can go a long way with this, especially with close-up shots. Here (https://picasaweb.google.com/chris.j.jacobsen/AnilaoFavoritesOct2010) are some pictures I took in Anilao with a Canon SD870IS and the Canon housing.

[tarponchik]

SD870 isn't bad for a point-and-shoot, but do not overestimate it. I know this camera well since my wife uses it when she travels alone. Since I am the one who does the editing later, I estimate that half of her pictures have either overexposed or underexposed details that cannot be recovered, and about 25% have both over- and underexposed non-recoverable areas. It looks like the dynamic range of the sensor in SD870 is really narrow. Surprisingly, my older SD550 worked better but this is only 7 mpixel camera.