need recommendations for entry into macrophotography- and nice battery life

[archman]

I have a little Olympus F360 for messing about. It's super compact and takes ok pictures, but the pathetic battery life is really making my dives no fun. Basically after about 15 minutes, I have to conserve battery life heavily. That's uber lame. The battery on this thing is not much bigger than that on my cell phone, haha. This piece of poo basically doesn't make diving something I want to do, anymore.

So I want a new UW camera with a big, FAT battery.
And while I'm at it, heck, I might as well upgrade to something that is good for macro. After thinking about what I like most about diving (sitting in one place staring at stuff on rocks), I am quite excited about taking better macro pictures.

So a decent UW camera that is well liked for macro, can handle a UW strobe if I choose to get one (quite probable), and doesn't have a sissy battery. Recommendations? I would prefer a model that is not brand new, that the UW photography crowd has had time to beat around and evaluate. A good, solid camera system that is well suited for macro work.

 

[PatW]

Archman

I am not sure what kind of system you want. There are three basic kinds: compact camera, 4/3 systems, and DSLR.

Each system has its advantages and disadvantages.

The compact cameras generally have small sensors. The size of the sensors hurts the performance on ISO, NOISE, and Diffraction. Since you have to use live view, you get shutter lag. Shutter lag is not such a bad thing in macro because most of the subjects are stationary. The advantages are that these systems are small and they are less expensive. Canon has their new G version camera with a large sensor and a relatively large price.

The next systems are the 4/3 systems. The advantages of these are the fact that they have DSLR size sensors. The larger sensors improve performance and the cameras have a limited range of interchangeable lenses. The advantages here are the compact size. These systems cost more than compact systems and still have shutter lag. These systems could also potentially rival DSLRs in performance.

Finally you have the DSLR systems. These systems are quite expensive. They are also large and heavy. However, the systems can not be beaten for performance. You even have a choice in macro from 60 mm to 105 mm being the popular systems.

Whatever system you get, I would strongly advise you to get a system that has RAW format. RAW really helps because you can adjust white balance in post processing. Also having a strobe is very important.

You can go online to the sites for Reef Photo and Backscatter. They discuss the merits of the various systems and even certain popular camera models. I notice that you are in South Florida. Reef Photo is in Fort Lauderdale. You could go down there and actually handle a system rather than buying sight unseen.