SJCAM to SeaLife DC2000 and Options

[mrcavallo]

hello all,

now i have a number of dives behind me i am starting to notice the limitations of the small SJCAM with no lights or flash options that i purchased originally. colours are washed out, there is little contrast and subjects are often out of focus.

so i have now decided to bite the bullet and spend more in order to take better and more memorable underwater shots. note that i do not want to spend thousands, nor do i want to lug about a big rig - but i definitely want a fairly big improvement over my current setup.

i came across the DC2000 and really like the loo of it. my question is - for this price range - do i have any other cameras to consider for the equivalent quality of imagery? i expect to take photos from 10 - 30 metres deep - not too much macro - but larger sea life - from small fish to sharks and even wrecks. i prefer a camera i can mostly rely on to take good mages automatically, to start with anyway.

secondly - if i decide to use just one attachment - would you recommend a flash or LED light? i am no expert when it comes to photography and wonder if the LED option would be better.

thank you so much for any feedback you can offer.

 

[dmaziuk]

While I can't comment on DC2000, I can strongly recommend SeaLife customer service.

 

[mrcavallo]

@dmaziuk thanks for that. that is certainly a big plus for me given some poor experiences i have had with expensive equipment.

as an example for the types of images - i have attached a couple. as you can see they are almost duotone. i would love to be able to capture more accurate colour and contrast.

do you think the SeaLife with LED lights will automatically take much better photos than these?

thank you.

 

[dmaziuk]

do you think the SeaLife with LED lights will automatically take much better photos than these?

Automatically, maybe not. On auto my DC1400 could make a better shot of that ray, or not -- it's hard to tell by looking at the photo. I don't know if a regular light/flash would do much for that one either, other than highlight the silt: it may be too far. That said, I do believe it would do a better job on manual white balance if you got it right.

 

[stepfen]

Hi,
I’m not a specialist by any means but with my limited experience (mainly photography on dry land) I can tell you this: Underwater photography is not easy and no matter how much you spend for gear there is no camera/light combination that will give you good results in auto mode under all conditions. A lot of studying, practice and experience are needed.
Concerning the particular images you uploaded and lights: External lights are useful when there is not enough natural light e.g. for macro, in holes/shadows, deep enough or in night dives etc.
For wide angle, open water images with enough sunlight like the examples you attached above artificial lights don’t help because their light dissipates fast with distance compared to the natural ambient sun light. Actually under these conditions external lights will probably destroy your pictures because any slit/dirt/plankton near your camera will brighten up adding a lot of noise.
The thing you can do to improve your pictures even with your SJ is to learn how to correct the white balance with post processing. Google for “underwater photo white balance” or similar to get an idea of what white balance is and how to correct it.
Better cameras allows you better white balance control during the dive and in post processing (raw editing) but still it needs a lot of effort and it doesn’t usually work in auto.
More experienced people in here can definitely give you better advice than the above.
Good luck

 

[dmaziuk]

Well a RAW-shooting camera like DC2000 should let you do much more post-processing than a JPEG-only one. Also it's not clear if OP's original camera has manual white balance in the first place: you can get better results with just setting manual WB before the shot. But then below 20-ish or something metres it is all monochrome as there's no red or green left anyway.

 

[mrcavallo]

Hi,
The thing you can do to improve your pictures even with your SJ is to learn how to correct the white balance with post processing. Google for “underwater photo white balance” or similar to get an idea of what white balance is and how to correct it.
Better cameras allows you better white balance control during the dive and in post processing (raw editing) but still it needs a lot of effort and it doesn’t usually work in auto.
Good luck

Well a RAW-shooting camera like DC2000 should let you do much more post-processing than a JPEG-only one. Also it's not clear if OP's original camera has manual white balance in the first place: you can get better results with just setting manual WB before the shot. But then below 20-ish or something metres it is all monochrome as there's no red or green left anyway.

great advice thank you so much. i do believe the SJCAM does have white balance but before my last trip i did not know anything about it. i only decided to research after seeing the results of my photos underwater.

found an very good article here:
Ambient Light & Manual White Balance
thanks to your suggestion @stepfen and i think it has convinced me to learn a little more and try some manual shots. i also like the idea of using a white dive slate.

anyway - i am now certainly tempted to get a new camera mainly for the RAW files if post-processing is required.

i really appreciate the time you have taken to help me out. thank you so much. hopefully i will be able to post better photos in the future!

 

[dmaziuk]

There is a post somewhere in this forum that says DC2000 has 5-second write delay when saving RAW. It's not clear what speed memory card that person was using, but if true, that would be a downside. (It's a lot of pixels to save, I would prefer lower MP count on physically bigger sensor -- to capture more light per pixel.)

I flooded my DC1400 before I got the chance to play with white slate -- I wasn't happy with sand and tanks and bought a slate -- and was thinking a used or refurbished canon S100 w/ an ikelite case, but SeaLife sold me a brand new replacement camera for a very nice price. They also offered a discount on DC2000, but between the lack of optical zoom, doubts about its RAW performance and sensor, and the price tag, I'm sticking with the DC1400.

PS: this one's not mine -- our DM on Roatan borrowed my camera because he wanted to make few shots of a turtle -- and I think he did it on the camera's "dive" white-balance pre-set, but the light and depth were just right for it. I did photoshop the colours a little, but then of course what you see depends on your screen. This looks good on my phone, not so much on my work monitor.

PICT1389.JPG

 

[mrcavallo]

I'm sticking with the DC1400.

PS: this one's not mine -- our DM on Roatan borrowed my camera because he wanted to make few shots of a turtle -- and I think he did it on the camera's "dive" white-balance pre-set, but the light and depth were just right for it. I did photoshop the colours a little, but then of course what you see depends on your screen. This looks good on my phone, not so much on my work monitor.

PICT1389.JPG

wow that's a great photo - so clear. so dmaziuk - i have found a Sealife DC1400 Pro Duo 14.0 MP Digital Camera

for just $650 - would you think that is a better option especially for someone just starting out and from your comments re the CD2000?

thanks again for taking the time to help.

 

[dmaziuk]

Well, like I said, I don't know: I haven't used DC2000 and it's too new to find many reviews. I have some doubts about it, ICBW. I do think that lack of RAW is DC1400's biggest downside, so...

That particular shot was made without the strobes and on a pre-set WB, I was just pointing out that you can get a decent shot out of what you have, once you get the hang of it and if ambient light cooperates.