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Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Location
Malaysia
# of dives
1000 - 2499
Hi there. Its been a while since I posted anything in this forum, though I frequently read it for information and tips.

I would greatly appreciate all your thoughts as I am unsure of what to get.

I started shooting with a Canon G9 in an Ikelite housing with one strobe and a close up lens. The main reason I moved onto DSLR was shutter lag when shooting fish and other fast moving objects. For macro, it was not too much of a problem. This was in 2009. At that time the G9 was considered the best for the pro-sumer segment and the only way to go was to DSLR. I then bought the Canon 500D with an Epoque ERX housing and have a 10-22 mm wide angle lens with the 215A dome port and a 60mm macro lens with the M100 Flat port.

I now travel quite a lot for my diving and with all the airline restrictions and having to pay for more weight, it is getting quite ridiculous. On my last dive trip, I travelled with dslr body, 2 lenses, housing, macro port, dome port, arms, clamps, video light, 2 strobes, chargers, batteries, electrical sync cord, fibre optic cords, etc and together with one hard case and one rucksack, the total weight was almost 19 kgs. That excludes the dive equipment, toiletries, clothes and other items.

The other issue I have now is that with presbyopia, I have difficulty reading the information in the eye view. I find it easier to read things that are a little further away.

Technology has moved on now and as I see it the point and shoot cameras have much bigger sensors and faster processors with very quick auto focus capability. We also now have a large number of companies with micro four thirds and mirrorless models which are smaller, lighter and have the added advantage of having both lcd and eye piece for framing the shots.

I would also ideally like to be able to shoot everything from medium to large objects (wide angle) to macro (and super macro) in one dive. To be perfectly honest, I take photos for my own pleasure and for sharing amongst friends and on social media sites. I never publish or have entered any competitions todate. With that in mind, buying another bigger or better SLR seems to be pointless.

To that end, I have been looking at options like the new Sony RX100 IV or the Oly OMD EM 10 Mark II in Nauticam Housings. Both offer smaller and lighter travel features.

I know that the RX 100 IV has a very fast autofocus but my concern is shutter lag. As far as the Oly is concerned, there should be no issue with shutter lag, but I may be wrong?

The Nauticam website recommends that for both the Oly (with the kit 14-42 mm lens) and the RX 100 IV, we dive with the CMC-1 and the WWL1 (which provides for full sharpness through the entire zoom) to basically provide for full flexibility for wide angle See Nauticam 2015 and Nauticam 2015.

On the assumption that I will purchase the WWL1 (or a similar wide angle lens like the Dyron) and the CMC1, as far as 14-42mm on the Oly and the 24 – 70 on the RX100 IV, which will give me the better flexibility for everything from wide angle to macro?

As such, which would you recommend?

Your thoughts would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance
 
I shoot the EM-1 and am quite happy with it, but it is not so much smaller/lighter than the smaller DSLR systems when you add the weights of the strobes/arms/focus lights. You can shoot sort of wide to sort of macro on the same dive with the 12-50 so that is a plus, but if you want better photos shooting dedicated lenses will give you better images. the RX100 is good for wide but quite crappy for macro at least in may hands. On the Sony, the cmc gets you to 35 mm full frame which is not what I think of as macro and on the 14-42 you get 0.8 magnification and still 21 mm full frame. Compare that to the 60 macro which is 17 mm full frame without the CMC and 9 mm with the CMC. I haven't shot the wwl-1 (for wide I shoot the 8 mm fisheye) but hear good things about it.

Bill
 
Hi Bill, thank you for your response. Much appreciated. Base on what your experience, I may as well stay with my current system then.

As between the RX100 iv and the G7X, have you tried that yet? I hear the macro on that is better.
 
If your motivation for switching to a compact is your presbyopia, I'd really rethink that if I were you. I've got presbyopia and my reading correction is currently +2 diopters. That means that an LCD screen "viewfinder" plainly sucks to use if I'm not wearing my progressives. A dSLR or an m43 with a proper viewfinder (e.g the OM-D) has diopter correction on the viewfinder, so I can use those fine without reading correction.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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