Opinions from experience please

[plok]

Experienced...? 48 dives...? You are kidding. I call myself a beginner with some experience... having over 100 dives under my belt. Don’t think I am arrogant; it is my belief that experienced diver is someone with way much more logged dives in various conditions. There is a lot to learn and to experience...
Now about the camera. I personally own Sea & Sea DX-2G equipped with two YS-110a strobes. It is a top level advanced point and shoot camera and I am very happy with it. I bought it last fall, had one dive trip so far, preparing for another. Added a focus light to the setup. Hope to have less problem with focusing.
Take a look at pictures https://picasaweb.google.com/vgrinevi/DivingInPhilippines?authkey=Gv1sRgCLKA_6zw1Oq9tQE&feat=email# That was my first underwater photography experience, though I always enjoy playing with the camera. I’ve never owned an SLR.
Believe me it takes much more to shoot a descent underwater picture than one on the land. The first consideration is a strobe. It is a must have, otherwise you will have no colors on any picture taken deeper than 20-30 feet.

 

[Osric]

Experienced...? 48 dives...? ... The first consideration is a strobe. It is a must have, otherwise you will have no colors on any picture taken deeper than 20-30 feet.

The OP said inexperienced, not experienced.

This photo was taken at 80' with no strobe. It has problems, but lack of colour is not one of them.



Osric

 

[Puffer Fish]

Experienced...? 48 dives...? You are kidding. I call myself a beginner with some experience... having over 100 dives under my belt. Don’t think I am arrogant; it is my belief that experienced diver is someone with way much more logged dives in various conditions. There is a lot to learn and to experience...
Now about the camera. I personally own Sea & Sea DX-2G equipped with two YS-110a strobes. It is a top level advanced point and shoot camera and I am very happy with it. I bought it last fall, had one dive trip so far, preparing for another. Added a focus light to the setup. Hope to have less problem with focusing.
Take a look at pictures https://picasaweb.google.com/vgrinevi/DivingInPhilippines?authkey=Gv1sRgCLKA_6zw1Oq9tQE&feat=email# That was my first underwater photography experience, though I always enjoy playing with the camera. I’ve never owned an SLR.
Believe me it takes much more to shoot a descent underwater picture than one on the land. The first consideration is a strobe. It is a must have, otherwise you will have no colors on any picture taken deeper than 20-30 feet.

That is a camera I should have had on my list. Nice work, I'm jealous of the clear water and interesting life.

What sort of RAW software comes with the camera?

 

[dmoore19]

Here is one I took with my Sealife 1000 at 80 fsw. I does have a single strobe and I think the colors are quite nice and true. It is downsized to allow it to be loaded as an attachment here. So for a beginner in UW photography and a relatively inexperienced diver, the point and shoot has served me well. I may someday require spending more money on better equipment but for now it works well for me. The DC 1200 is a very nice camera, it came out (of course) right after I bought mine. Sealife has come out with a video light that will match up with the camera and strobe I currently have and can be mounted together with the strobe. I am seriously considering it. The Video from the DC1000 may not be commercial quality but it is probably good enough to preserve some memories. I think I will be buying the video light and trying it out on my upcoming trip to Cozumel! I suppose it, like so many things in scuba is going to be a matter of preference and opinion but I am in no way disappointed with my Sealife camera. Have fun no matter what you decide to buy.

 

[plok]

The OP said inexperienced, not experienced.

Osric

Yes, my bad... I need more experience reading forums...


About photo. It is more like a lucky exception from the rule. It probably was a sunny day and crystal clear waters. Anyway, I think you wouldn't argue that if you had an external strobe, the picture would be much more colourful and sharp.

 

[diver 85]

Experienced...? 48 dives...? You are kidding. I call myself a beginner with some experience... having over 100 dives under my belt. Don’t think I am arrogant; it is my belief that experienced diver is someone with way much more logged dives in various conditions. There is a lot to learn and to experience...
Now about the camera. I personally own Sea & Sea DX-2G equipped with two YS-110a strobes. It is a top level advanced point and shoot camera and I am very happy with it. I bought it last fall, had one dive trip so far, preparing for another. Added a focus light to the setup. Hope to have less problem with focusing.
Take a look at pictures https://picasaweb.google.com/vgrinevi/DivingInPhilippines?authkey=Gv1sRgCLKA_6zw1Oq9tQE&feat=email# That was my first underwater photography experience, though I always enjoy playing with the camera. I’ve never owned an SLR.
Believe me it takes much more to shoot a descent underwater picture than one on the land. The first consideration is a strobe. It is a must have, otherwise you will have no colors on any picture taken deeper than 20-30 feet.

hmmm---my computer says he said: "inexperienced diver".......plok, you may want to take a 2nd look...

 

[plok]

That is a camera I should have had on my list. Nice work, I'm jealous of the clear water and interesting life.

What sort of RAW software comes with the camera?

Well, I still haven’t checked what is on the CD... I used Lightroom trial to convert RAW to JPEG and do some enhancements.

BTW Water wasn’t as clear as it seems on pictures; a lot of tiny marine life – cause for backscatter. I studied how to avoid it appearing on the picture before getting camera wet, and then some work on pictures...

 

[herbdb]

Here is an example of adjustments you can do on a photo shot in RAW mode. I was experimenting with manual modes and grossly underexposed this image. The only difference between them is that the exposure was corrected in lightroom. You just cannot do this with a jpg image. The data is just not there to recover.

 

[plok]

hmmm---my computer says he said: "inexperienced diver".......plok, you may want to take a 2nd look...

had already, and admitted my mistake.

 

[Puffer Fish]

It is not that you cannot take good pictures with one, it is that you have to do a lot more work underwater to get good images, or you have take only strobe images. And work means it takes time and sometimes things go by while you are adjusting.

Here is one I took with my Sealife 1000 at 80 fsw. I does have a single strobe and I think the colors are quite nice and true. It is downsized to allow it to be loaded as an attachment here. So for a beginner in UW photography and a relatively inexperienced diver, the point and shoot has served me well. I may someday require spending more money on better equipment but for now it works well for me. The DC 1200 is a very nice camera, it came out (of course) right after I bought mine. Sealife has come out with a video light that will match up with the camera and strobe I currently have and can be mounted together with the strobe. I am seriously considering it. The Video from the DC1000 may not be commercial quality but it is probably good enough to preserve some memories. I think I will be buying the video light and trying it out on my upcoming trip to Cozumel! I suppose it, like so many things in scuba is going to be a matter of preference and opinion but I am in no way disappointed with my Sealife camera. Have fun no matter what you decide to buy.