Ikelite vs OEM (DMW-MCTZ30), and the accessories?

[nardini]

Hi there,

I'm new to diving, so new in fact that I'm still in the process of getting my Open Water qualification (half way there). Anyway, I've always been a keen photographer on land. I have a Nikon DSLR and a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ30. As you can guess given the Forum name, I'm looking for an underwater housing for the Panasonic. I've done a bit of reading around, and found the OEM version for a couple of hundred dollars, but there doesn't seem to be many manufacturers for the red filters (the only one I could find was Dyron), which is again another kick in the wallet.

So I was just wondering if anyone had suggestions or ideas, or even better experience with this issue.

Thanks in advance,

Regards,

Nardini

 

[Greenjuice]

I hope you enjoy many years of fun photographing underwater, as many of us on these forums.

I can only speak from personal experience with the OEM housing. Using the camera's custom white balance (on a slate or something close to white like sand) can offer better results than a red filter. I set my white balance at around 15m and then saved it as a Custom setting.

Eventually, you'll find that the best results come from using external strobes.

These said, I think the most important suggestion I can make to you at this time is NOT to rush to start underwater photography until you have mastered scuba to a reasonable level. You want to develop excellent buoyancy skills, an awareness of hazards, and a good understanding of your subject matter (the marine life). Take your time and enjoy diving first.

If you are already a competent photographer on land, your will adapt to the underwater environment fairly quickly. In the meantime, you can still mentally compose and create photos in your mind without the distraction of actually having to do it.

In other words, don't risk the photography becoming an additional scuba hazard to you. You want to be so comfortable with scuba skills that checking you gauges, knowing your gear and being aware of what is going on around you is second nature without having to think.



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[nardini]

Hi Greenjuice,

Cheers for the info. The diving in South Korea so the water where we're learning doesn't have the best visibility, I think about 5 metres as absolute best for where we are. The water is a nice murky blue/green, so do you think that I'll still be able to get away with just a custom setting of the white balance?
What kind of external strobes have you used before, and do they fit on the horse shoe at the top of the housing?
Is there any other equipment you'd recommend as part of the underwater photography kit?

I definitely agree with your suggestion of taking it slow. The questions I'm making now are for a couple of month's time so that I can be prepared, and concentrate on the diving in the mean time. I was even considering asking the local dive centre in Busan if I could go and practice in the pool with the camera once I feel more comfortable with the necessary dive skills.

Cheers,

Nardini

 

[Greenjuice]

Hi Nardini,
Red filters actually work by absorbing the blue/green spectrum (not 'adding red'), so in low light situations the in-camera white balance should be a better strategy.

Also, once you have a strobe or use the flash, you have to take the red filter off because the light emitted is correctly balanced. This is not an issue if you adopt the custom white balance strategy because the camera automatically reverts to daylight colour balance when the flash is fired.
I use the Inon system with their rather compact S-2000 strobe. There is a little photo of a Lumix configuration on this page:
http://www.inon.jp/products/key_components/lensadapterbase/top.html
This leaves the hot shoe on the housing free for a video light. I use a Light and Motion Sola 600 there.
If you search for threads on TZ30 on this forum, you should come across some photos of my rig and some sample photos using that configuration.



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---------- Post added May 23rd, 2014 at 11:17 PM ----------

Sorry the thread with some photos was actually about the TZ40 here:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/panasonic-planet/457302-experience-lumix-dmc-zs30-tz40.html

Overall, these items are pricey, so take your time and build up your system as you gain your skills. This is only one strategy (mine), to have a cheap upgradeable camera which I can swap out as I get more experienced. Others may choose to start with full frame SLRs. It's a personal choice.
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