Newbie U\W Photography thread

[hammerhead man]

On this board you will find dozens of different opinions regarding "good" underwater cameras. I have a Sea&Sea DX-1G and I am very happy with the results I get (click on my photos link to see a few). The camera can be used in a point and shoot mode as well as full manual. If you are going to invest the money that is the type of camera that I would suggest that you consider. My experience is that I bought a point and shoot camera (Sea&Sea 3000DX) and eventually wanted a camera with more capabilities. That meant that I had to buy a new rig with new lenses. I would also suggest that you get a system that allows you to add wet lenses such as a wide angle, fisheye, and close-up lenses at a later date.

The problem that you will encounter, in my opinion, is that a $1000 will not get you the camera, housing, and strobe. I have seen the DX-1G for around $600 (camera and housing) but then you will need to add a stay, arms, and strobe that will cost another chunk of change.

Occasionally, you can find a used system for sale on ebay. Here is a link to a current offering: Sea & Sea DX-1G Pro kit - eBay (item 220609717511 end time May-26-10 17:03:01 PDT). This set includes the wide angle lens that is an additinal plus.

While I am a fan of Sea&Sea cameras, there are a lot of others out there that can give you excellent pictures as well. The canon and olympus cameras are frequently mentioned on this site. However, they will also cost over $1000 for what you are looking for.

I will also make a couple of other suggestions. First, I notice that your profile notes that you have less than 24 dives and therefore, if you don't have great buoyancy control you need to work on that before getting serious about underwater photography. It is my belief and experience that buoyancy control is critical to getting great pictures. Second, I would suggest that you take a few underwater photo courses to learn how to take pictures underwater. I have taken a PADI underwater course through my local dive shop as well as a couple of online courses from the following site: The Underwater Photographer, Underwater Digital Photography Classes: Improve your underwater photos. I found the Introduction to Digital Underwater Photography, and the Digital Workflow & Image Manipulation for Underwater Photography courses to be excellent. Both Marty and Bonnie responded to all my emails that asked questions regarding things I did not fully understand. Another excellent source of information is Scott Gietler's guide to underwater photography that can be found at this link: Underwater Photography Guide. Scott gives a wealth of information about how to take underwater photos.

Last, I will state that the quality of photos you get depends more on the person taking the picture than the camera that is used. I have seen incredible photos taken on old point and shoot cameras that others have not long discarded.

Sorry for the length of my response but I hope I have provided useful information.

Regards,

Bill

 

[HerraduraDivers]

The Intova can shoot quite nice photos using her the right way and she has a very good price.
The best way is to use her the right was is with a external strobe as this
will be produce a gain in colours and saturation of your pics.
My suggestion is to buy a optical strobe and start to get experience shooting
with a strobe. Theny you may step up with the camera and get something better than the Intova.
Intova makes a nice, cheap strobe or for some bucks more a Inon D-2000/S-2000 or Z-240 and
all of them can be of further use on any other camera setup as fat the housing let somehow pass the flash to trigger the optical strobe.

Certainly the S90/G11 are excellent cameras and everybody is free to buy what (s)he likes, so it would be only a overkill for your budget...

Chris

 

[herman]

Really great examples of flash control, particularly the shrimp thing. And learning how camera's work should be job one, but anyone using a camera should also know that you can do the same thing outside of manual, you just need to understand the camera controls. I don't think I have used manual settings to take pictures for 20 or so years.

Interesting. How do you adjust one of the auto modes to shoot a black background? I know you can adjust the exposure a little by changing Ev values but how do you get the camera to fully expose the near field and at the same time get a dark background? What mode, shutter or aperature priority or something else?

 

[WetPup]

Last, I will state that the quality of photos you get depends more on the person taking the picture than the camera that is used. I have seen incredible photos taken on old point and shoot cameras that others have not long discarded.

Thanks for the advice. I totally understand where you're coming from, but at the same time, I do have a good deal of experience shooting on land with both p&s and slr, and with the Intova setup I have, I've been unable to take any photos topside that I'm happy with. So while I know my inexperience underwater is an issue, I also have reason to believe the camera setup is part of it as well.

I know my photos will improve as I dive more, take more photos and improve my buoyancy control...I know I need more experience. But if I can't get decent photos with this camera when I'm topside, where I do know what I'm doing, what hope do I have underwater? It really is a poor camera. And it does need replacing either way.

I will continue to keep an eye out on the forums for advice I suppose and see what people recommend. I just don't want to spend a fortune on what I expect will ultimately just be for taking photos when I go on diving holidays and probably won't get much use outside of that.

 

[deeper thoughts]

Thnx for a great thread!

 

[HerraduraDivers]

ScubaBrett just posted a beautiful photo he shot with the Intova 8MP and a flash.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/un...-really-good-picture-i-took-last-weekend.html
Learning how this "cheap" and often underestimated camera works and using a external flash she is able to
take quite good photos and especialy considering that the whole rig including external strobe is about 500$

Chris

P.S. I just found the whole rig as bundle for 419$... at a well known online (ex) book store who has no brazilian roots...

 

[Puffer Fish]

Interesting. How do you adjust one of the auto modes to shoot a black background? I know you can adjust the exposure a little by changing Ev values but how do you get the camera to fully expose the near field and at the same time get a dark background? What mode, shutter or aperature priority or something else?

Well, as you basically loose f stops with a point and shot (ok you might have one or two)... all you have left is shutter speeds. But there, you typically have a very wide range to pick from. 1/1000 of a second flash sync is not uncommon. The S90 I believe goes to 1/600.

So rather than even try to use F stops, just set up shutter priority and use a really fast number.

I have mine setup in shutter priority at 1/500 and program mode, and just switch between them, depending on the type of image I want to take.

Here is one from this last weekend:

Note: Could have just had the lone fish, but sort of like the others in the shadows.

Note2: Terrible vis (8 ft or so), but I don't typically clean up images, unless it is for printing, so that is the original shot.

 

[herman]

So you are using shutter priority, letting the camera choose it's own F-stop and then running the strobe in manual to compensate for near field exposure? Had not thought of that but it should work, guess it's time to put the camera in shutter priority and play around a little. I still will use manual on my camera so I can max out the depth of field, with stacked macro lenses you need all you can get but I can see where it would be useful on a P&S without manual controls. Def a method I need to learn.

 

[Puffer Fish]

So you are using shutter priority, letting the camera choose it's own F-stop and then running the strobe in manual to compensate for near field exposure? Had not thought of that but it should work, guess it's time to put the camera in shutter priority and play around a little. I still will use manual on my camera so I can max out the depth of field, with stacked macro lenses you need all you can get but I can see where it would be useful on a P&S without manual controls. Def a method I need to learn.

You have it correct, except I use TTL for the strobe....reality is that most point and shoots only have maybe two stops, so the difference is really small, and as the real lens size is very small, you get lots of DOF. Focus is the issue if you are shooting jellys, but not exposure.

Note: Tiny sensor cameras have lens that far exceed any DSLR in accuracy of mfg (well, the good ones anyway)...but they only have to be good in a very small area. Problem is, if you had F stops, the quality drop off would be terrible. So what they do is give you a couple to make you feel like you have them. Image quality and resolution shots are almost always done wide open.

 

[herman]

You have it correct, except I use TTL for the strobe....reality is that most point and shoots only have maybe two stops, so the difference is really small, and as the real lens size is very small, you get lots of DOF. Focus is the issue if you are shooting jellys, but not exposure.

Note: Tiny sensor cameras have lens that far exceed any DSLR in accuracy of mfg (well, the good ones anyway)...but they only have to be good in a very small area. Problem is, if you had F stops, the quality drop off would be terrible. So what they do is give you a couple to make you feel like you have them. Image quality and resolution shots are almost always done wide open.

A wired TTL or one of the simulated TTLs like some of the Inon strobes have?