Any thoughts on using a J1 or V1 as a dive camera?

[bronccat]

I am too cheap to buy a real DSLR housing

That and watching a buddy come up with a flooded D80 a few years ago did it for me too....

 

[chris196]

have you seen this:
Housings :: Mirrorless Housings :: Olympus Housings :: Olympus E-PM1 Camera + Housing + Gear Bundle -

stupid cheap and a great camera.
should be better image quality than a J1/V1
if you want better than P&S quality without breaking the bank, it just doesn't get better than that.

It's not Nikon, but so what.
It is the deal of the decade in underwater cameras.

 

[bronccat]

That's sweet

One of the reasons I was liking the J1 / V1 because of the F mount adapter so I could borrow my wife's lenses and make this my land camera when my wife isn't using it diving

 

[bronccat]

I ordered the J1, etc and will build from there - we'll see how things go

 

[Darth Bangkok]

So how did things go?

 

[Pyro_]

I have used my nikon v1 with a Polaroid housing when I was diving in belize earlier this year. It worked well considering the was no strobe available. Already considering how I can mount a video light in the future to help out a bit

 

[bronccat]

So how did things go?

Horribly

The housing that Cameta had (Polaroid) wouldn't allow for the flash to open - so no strobe trigger.

I returned the whole kit.

Instead we are back using the Nikon 4600 / 5600s and have added two reconditioned Intova ISS 200 strobes for $65 each, cables for $19 each and $15 shipping.

6 month warranty.

These strobes seem to work quite well - first real test in two weeks on the Brac.

 

[Darth Bangkok]

Ok, thanks both for the info! It seems the issue is the housing then. I see there is a Nikon housing for sale at B&H (on back order though). It seems to allow you to use the flash to trigger a strobe even though the flash is blocked by the opaque housing. Looks like there is a fiber optic connection. I wonder if this is compatible with my YS-02 strobe.

 

[bronccat]

Ok, thanks both for the info! It seems the issue is the housing then. I see there is a Nikon housing for sale at B&H (on back order though). It seems to allow you to use the flash to trigger a strobe even though the flash is blocked by the opaque housing. Looks like there is a fiber optic connection. I wonder if this is compatible with my YS-02 strobe.

Def housing issue - I knew about the Nikon housing just didn't want to spend that much $$

 

[Darth Bangkok]

Yeah, it definitely costs too much. And I am not sure how good the camera itself is underwater. I am thinking about this one because I have a D90 body and a few lenses. If I get the j3 with the kit lens, I can get an adapter to use some of the other lenses with it.

Has anyone shot manual with the j3, how do you find it?