vicp
Contributor
I see here that a good number of you use the Panasonic ZS7 for UW photos and videos (which look great, BTW). I just bought one and really like the camera for a point & shoot. I am about to invest in an Ikelite housing (Panasonic is out of stock at B&H - plus Ikelite is rated deeper and may be easier to service in the future), and if I do, I will get a second ZS7 since these housings are way more expensive than the cameras and do not typically fit the camera upgrades that come annually (the ZS10 and 8 are due in March).
My main concern, before I commit to a housing and another camera, is that the lens is fairly slow (F3.3-4.9) and limited in range. With the 12X zoom it makes for a great travel/pocket zoom, but is the f-stop range limiting underwater where there is less light?
Compared to F2.0 (Canon S95 and Panasonic LX5) or even F1.8 (Olympus XZ-1), F3.3 is faily slow. Is this fairly tolerable underwater or do you need to rely on a strobe to get decent results? For that matter, even with the faster lenses, do you still need a strobe (making the slower lens less of an issue)? I am used to snow skiing photography (did it for a living) where one uses high shutter speeds for action vs. high F-stops for depth of field. I don't have any experience in UW photography and don't plan on carrying a tripod underwater for low light!!
Thanks
My main concern, before I commit to a housing and another camera, is that the lens is fairly slow (F3.3-4.9) and limited in range. With the 12X zoom it makes for a great travel/pocket zoom, but is the f-stop range limiting underwater where there is less light?
Compared to F2.0 (Canon S95 and Panasonic LX5) or even F1.8 (Olympus XZ-1), F3.3 is faily slow. Is this fairly tolerable underwater or do you need to rely on a strobe to get decent results? For that matter, even with the faster lenses, do you still need a strobe (making the slower lens less of an issue)? I am used to snow skiing photography (did it for a living) where one uses high shutter speeds for action vs. high F-stops for depth of field. I don't have any experience in UW photography and don't plan on carrying a tripod underwater for low light!!
Thanks