Underwater digital camera quality?

[Newhampster]

I don't have a 1.8 lens for underwater work. I wish I had the bucks.

Here's one of hundreds of pix I've taken underwater with an orange filter.

 

[clive francis]

Dee once bubbled...


I see everyone has pretty much explained about the brightness of the 1.8 lens. And yes...I do have a picture taken with it. This squid picture was taken without any auxillary lighting at all...no internal flash and no external strobe. Also there was no manipulation done at all. You're seeing it exactly as it came from the camera.

Dee, were you topless when you took the photo?

it looks like a slightly out of focus breast to the right of the squid

 

[jhelmuth]

Rax make a good point - and one that I've found to be true in my research. The fact is that most (more than 90% I'll bet) pix are not recorded with apatures wide open (for those cameras sporting f2 or larger). Color loss does, in fact, make the larger issue for UW photos. I'd guess that even in shallower depths, most would still be taken at f4.5 and smaller apatures with internal or external light sources providing the needed balance. Having said that, there are secondary benefits to the faster lenses. [1] The rare - but occasional - shot taken at the wide open setting (probably manual). [2] The quality of the lens - therefore the optix that goes hand-in-hand with the faster lens'.
Let's face it, there are many really great pix that are taken (and will continue to be) using f4.5 - f11+ boxes without the super fast lens'. Don't get too focused on features - features never made the shot - the photograher did! What's more, I'd rather see my money (and yours) spent on the much needed aux light sources which will absolutly improve ALL of my shots vs. spending the extra cah on a fast lens. Go for value and what really makes sense.

 

[Newhampster]

a lot prettier uncropped and with less compression...but then it's a megabyte in size...

 

[clive francis]

the sea looks too blue though

 

[Dee]

These pics with the orange filter all look too bright and intense to me. More like neon colors than naturals.