I have a trip booked to Bali in July and I will be diving there for a month( maybe around 20-30 dives). I have always wanted to get into underwater photography and this is where my journey begins. I am looking currently on purchasing a used RX100 IV for around 500-600$ on craigslist and purchasing a Meikon housing. I understand that I will need to purchase a Light/strobe and a tray. Am I missing anything? is this a good starting camera? do I need a different lens for macros? Any advice? or helpful articles that you guys can recommend?
is a Sony RX100 IV a good beginner camera?
- Thread starter tomek77pl
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Supernaut05
Registered
No, you don't. An housing with camera inside and a strobe (better than fixed light for taking pictures) are all you can need for underwater photography. And sure Sony RX100 IV is a good choice for a lot of reason: tiny, very good image sensor and last but not least full manual control, an option you'll find necessary to get a good achievement.
Maybe you can consider to go cheaper for an RX100 III and so improve your money for a very good strobe or also consider to go for a RX100 II to obtain also a better focal lenght for underwater use compared to the mkIV...but all of the RX series are very good choice in my honest opinion.
In any case if you want to go for decent macro you'll need at least a 6+ diopter lens to achieve good shots but at the same time it's also true that the 1" image sensor will give you the opportunity to crop without losing too much definition.
Maybe you can consider to go cheaper for an RX100 III and so improve your money for a very good strobe or also consider to go for a RX100 II to obtain also a better focal lenght for underwater use compared to the mkIV...but all of the RX series are very good choice in my honest opinion.
In any case if you want to go for decent macro you'll need at least a 6+ diopter lens to achieve good shots but at the same time it's also true that the 1" image sensor will give you the opportunity to crop without losing too much definition.
K
KeithG
Guest
nope.
for a raw beginner that is not sure that they will enjoy underwater photography, your proposed setup is overkill. you will sink more than $2000 into it.
buy something used, simple and cheap. olympus tg3 without a housing should be under $200 ish? since you are just learning to take pictures, make your photo dives shallow, no need for housing, tray, arms, lights, cables.
consider the cost of the tg3 to be just part of your learning curve. use it to determine if you like photo and then what type of photos you want to do. once you have learned more then invest your money as an informed photographer.
for a raw beginner that is not sure that they will enjoy underwater photography, your proposed setup is overkill. you will sink more than $2000 into it.
buy something used, simple and cheap. olympus tg3 without a housing should be under $200 ish? since you are just learning to take pictures, make your photo dives shallow, no need for housing, tray, arms, lights, cables.
consider the cost of the tg3 to be just part of your learning curve. use it to determine if you like photo and then what type of photos you want to do. once you have learned more then invest your money as an informed photographer.
Thank you for the response guys, I will be doing a lot of land activities and thought that the rx100 iv would be perfect for both land/underwater. sony rx100iv will cost me $525 and I think a meikon housing is 160$ new but I'm sure I can find a used one somewhere. I also want to use this camera for macros in my marine aquarium. My trip is in 3 months so there will be practice time in local freshwater quarries .
K
KeithG
Guest
you need to include the cost of a tray, an arm system, a strobe, a fibre optic cable and a good macro lens...
K
KeithG
Guest
to get decent macro with that camera i believe you will need a wet diopter - which makes the onboard flash useless since the diopter blocks light from the onboard flash.
if you are really interested in using natural light, then i suggest you do some research and make sure you understand white blance and the use of color filters. natural light is great in the caribbean on a warm sunny day down to about 12 feet. deeper than that (or a cloudy day) and you need to have the proper equipment and know how to use it.
a strobe is the simplest solution, not the cheapest.
Haleyeah
Registered
- Messages
- 30
- Reaction score
- 16
- # of dives
- 200 - 499
I was in your same situation two years ago. I went on a liveaboard on the GBR and figured I better bring back some photo evidence that I did it. I was able to rent a compact camera before setting sail from Cairnes. It was a decent compact with a built in flash with a diffuser. I got some amazing photos and absolutely fell in love with it. When I got home, I had to get my own, so I went with the Canon G7x with fantasea housing. From what I remember, this is the competing camera to the one you are looking at, so they are pretty close spec-wise. The housings usually come with the diffuser so you will be able to add light to the subject using the built-in flash as long as you are pretty close. Like Giffenk said, unless you are diving super shallow on a sunny day, you need a flash. As you descend, you lose colors from the visible spectrum (starting with red). Ive attached a link to a really cool video someone made demonstrating this (check out the red stick in the video). Anyway, I took it to the Caymans this winter, and the liveaboard let me borrow a strobe for the week. It made it just that much better. This year ill be adding a strobe to the set up....I sounds like we were thinking along the same lines, and I've been very happy with mine.
A blog post of mine demonstrating the effectiveness of a strobe vs ambient in varying conditions by taking the same photo with and without firing my strobe.
Do you need a strobe? – Emerald Coast Underwater
Thank you for the link, and wow on the difference without the strobe. I will start looking for used strobes before purchasing new equipment.
Thank you for all the info and video. I did not expect the red to loose so much color. What kind of Strobe are you thinking of purchasing?
Similar threads
