anyone have recs for a decent underwater camera?
- Thread starter motlot77
- Start date
check out the olympus line...if you are just going to snorkel or dive under 150ft they have a great line up of point n shoot camereas and underwater cases available....I have a d-580 and underwater case and used it every day my last trip where we were on a boat for 7 days. Took very clear bright pics and was real easy to set up and clean. Good Luck!
godiver908
New member
Sealife just put out two new Digitals one goog to 75ft that you can get for about $230 and one good to 130ft for about $300 then you always have their dc600 at $500 Or if you just want a 35mm they go for about $65....All are great cameras that you can add accessories to in the future
Finesse
New member
To add to whats already been said....
If you have a camera already why not look into an u/w housing for it. Canon, Sony, Olympus etc all sell proprietary housings that are very reasonable. You can also buy from companies that build just u/w housings… but those are a bit more $$$. Doing it this way you are already familiar with how the camera operates. The camera does not need to be the latest and greatest ….Below I’ll post a few pictures that were taken with a good old point and shoot cameras. These were taken with a 3mp and 5mp cameras, nothing fancy …. Again Point and Shoot Olympus cameras…Six years old and are not even manufactured anymore.
Occasionally on some of the diving web sites people are selling their rigs for very little money.
Lighting …. It can make or break your U/W pictures. Not enough and the pictures will be shades of blue, green, brown green … whatever color the water is your diving in. Too much light and its “blown out†... the eel and drum have areas that I think are a little bright.
You can add strobes once you get the composition thing down. There is a learning curve but the results are worth it
If you have a camera already why not look into an u/w housing for it. Canon, Sony, Olympus etc all sell proprietary housings that are very reasonable. You can also buy from companies that build just u/w housings… but those are a bit more $$$. Doing it this way you are already familiar with how the camera operates. The camera does not need to be the latest and greatest ….Below I’ll post a few pictures that were taken with a good old point and shoot cameras. These were taken with a 3mp and 5mp cameras, nothing fancy …. Again Point and Shoot Olympus cameras…Six years old and are not even manufactured anymore.
Occasionally on some of the diving web sites people are selling their rigs for very little money.
Lighting …. It can make or break your U/W pictures. Not enough and the pictures will be shades of blue, green, brown green … whatever color the water is your diving in. Too much light and its “blown out†... the eel and drum have areas that I think are a little bright.
You can add strobes once you get the composition thing down. There is a learning curve but the results are worth it
Finesse
New member
motlot ...Thanks
like zahner said .... keep it close ... real close. Photos beyond a certain distance wont benefit from strobes anyway.
The strobes are much more powerful than what the camera has onboard. There is a lot more you can do (and be successful) with strobes ....that said they need some practice to get use to and are very expensive. Good thing they can go from housing to housing.
The onboard flash can cause a lot of backscatter ( lights up all the tiny stuff floating between you and the subject ... makes it look like its snowing). Also the housing and its design may block a bit of the flash in your subject, ultimately the final picture.
Even with strobes in very high visibility( look at the reef in the background) those butteryflys behind the dot and dash butters dont see light .... as it was those fish were very shy and I couldnt get close to them.
I was hesitant to spend so much on the strobes ... but they are headed towards their third housing so they are getting good mileage!!
like zahner said .... keep it close ... real close. Photos beyond a certain distance wont benefit from strobes anyway.
The strobes are much more powerful than what the camera has onboard. There is a lot more you can do (and be successful) with strobes ....that said they need some practice to get use to and are very expensive. Good thing they can go from housing to housing.
The onboard flash can cause a lot of backscatter ( lights up all the tiny stuff floating between you and the subject ... makes it look like its snowing). Also the housing and its design may block a bit of the flash in your subject, ultimately the final picture.
Even with strobes in very high visibility( look at the reef in the background) those butteryflys behind the dot and dash butters dont see light .... as it was those fish were very shy and I couldnt get close to them.
I was hesitant to spend so much on the strobes ... but they are headed towards their third housing so they are getting good mileage!!
I recently dived in Key Largo. I bought a cheap 35mm ($20) just to have something, and all my pictures turned out very blue with colors washed out. My only good shots were when I used a flash/strobe and focused on something close in.
SeaLife ( http://www.diversdirect.com/ ) have some good cameras without the usual polycarbonate housings. I've heard good things, but I haven't used one myself.
SeaLife ( http://www.diversdirect.com/ ) have some good cameras without the usual polycarbonate housings. I've heard good things, but I haven't used one myself.
yardboy
Advanced Bewilderment
I'd also recommend keeping the camera you have and buying a housing. You will get frustrated if you dive deep (as in >20 ft. in crystal clear water) with only the internal flash, you'll get photo's like this, with a housing shadow and lots of light absorption
But with some photoshop cropping and color balancing, you can get a bit better shots,
But with some photoshop cropping and color balancing, you can get a bit better shots,
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