Question Choose Camera Balance of Three Ease of Use, Cost, Quality for Macro

[Bubblesong]

My goal is very high resolution for detailed macro photography, used in New England low viz water, so no wide angle photos worth it. Night, black water, strobes, snoots, flourescence photos will be taken. Very short videos. Not buying used.
Cost is a concern, so under $2,500.00
Ease of use underwater with thick gloves, (how do Artic divers operate cameras anyway? Aren’t their fingers like numb sausages?)
Ease of use to extract photos is also important. Battery life, camera storage is important also factor.
Does anyone make excel spreadsheet with all the options to compare what is out there to buy? Would some generous soul share one with me as a starting point? I will do my own research but would appreciate a leg up by someone experienced. NB, my previous camera experience is go pro 6 video from which i grab screen shots. Not suitable for framing. But did get some pix worth posting. I am heaving all go pro out the door.
Please share your most detailed high Rez photo if you can when recommending a set up!

 

[tursiops]

I'm trying to decipher your criteria and their weighting.
#1 - Macro
#2 - high resolution. Do you mean pixels on the sensor, or image quality edge-to-edge? or both?
#3 - video capable
#4 - cost under $2500. Is this camera only, or includes housing, strobes, etc?
#5 - ease of use u/w with thick gloves
#6 - ease of use to extract photos. I don't know what this means; you mean reading an SD card? To what?
#7 - Battery Life. That is enough for one dive; two? 5? What?
#8 - camera storage. I don't know what this means; storage u/w when not suing? Storage at home? When traveling/ What?

• If you actually have eight criteria, equally weighted, you'll probably find no solution.
• You are missing an important one: what will you do with the results? Share on the web? Print 4 ft x 6 ft wall images? What?
• You'll probably find that essentially ALL possible cameras satisfy #s 3,6,7,8, depending on what 6 and 8 mean.
• If you are not going to make huge blow-ups, then all will satisfy #2 if total pixels is your goal.
• #1 depends on what you are shooting; some camera/lense combos will allow more standoff distances, which is helpful for some subjects. What subjects are you shooting?

 

[Bubblesong]

I'm trying to decipher your criteria and their weighting.
#1 - Macro
#2 - high resolution. Do you mean pixels on the sensor, or image quality edge-to-edge? or both?
#3 - video capable
#4 - cost under $2500. Is this camera only, or includes housing, strobes, etc?
#5 - ease of use u/w with thick gloves
#6 - ease of use to extract photos. I don't know what this means; you mean reading an SD card? To what?
#7 - Battery Life. That is enough for one dive; two? 5?

Battery life two hours

you actually have eight criteria, equally weighted, you'll probably find no solution.

• You are missing an important one: what will you do with the results? Share on the web? Print 4 ft x 6 ft wall images? What?
• You'll probably find that essentially ALL possible cameras satisfy #s 3,6,7,8, depending on what 6 and 8 mean.
• If you are not going to make huge blow-ups, then all will satisfy #2 if total pixels is your goal.
• #1 depends on what you are shooting; some camera/lense combos will allow more standoff distances, which is helpful for some subjects. What subjects are you shooting?

Thank you for asking helpful questions!
#1,2 I want high resolution photos of macro subjects, seahorse, nudibranch barnacle details so high number pixels with good lens for edge to edge clarity and chromatic fidelity.
Video capable.
Yes, all parts under $2500,, but would one vendor sell all parts?
Ease of use with gloves is big buttons, don’t have to press too hard
Ease of use to download, WiFi enabled
Battery life two hours
Print huge photos for wall art.

 

[tursiops]

#1,2 I want high resolution photos of macro subjects, seahorse, nudibranch barnacle details so high number pixels with good lens for edge to edge clarity and chromatic fidelity.

Print huge photos for wall art.You've just spent some real money.

Latest model cameras for the megapixels, pro-quality lenses. You are looking at the high-end Nikons, Canons, Sonys, Olympus.

Video capable.

All will do this.

Yes, all parts under $2500,, but would one vendor sell all parts?

Yes. Talk to Reef Photo, Backscatter, Mozaik Underwater, Optical Ocean...all the big ones.

Ease of use with gloves is big buttons, don’t have to press too hard

Could be an issue. Need to talk to the big houses (above). Button push is OK, but some of them on most of the housings are pretty close...set by the camera inside.

Ease of use to download, WiFi enabled

Most people just pull the memory and and download it. WiFi is unusual at the high end. Using wifi eats ip the battery, too.

Battery life two hours

Not usually a problem unless you keep your LCD screen on all the time. Most don't. It is video that will kill your battery, and you'll need video lights in addition to strobes. More money and weight.

You can save a lot of money on your initial expenditures by getting just one strobe (often that is plenty for macro) and one lens (like a [35mm equivalent] 60mm or 100 to 120mm). Spend your money on the camera, lens quality, and housing. Think of spending some of your budget on a magnifying viewfinder so you can actually see what you are photographing and if it is focussed or not. Spend your money on lenses and image quality, not pixels. Don't use the smallest f-stops so as to avoid loss of resolution from diffraction. use a strobe, not a vido light for crystal-sharp macro shots.

FYI, I have 3ftx4ft wall art from my old Olympus OM-10. You can easily upscale your images to prevent pixelation, and underwater pictures are pretty robust anyway.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

It sounds like the saying where I used to work.
You want the job done quickly, correctly, and inexpensively. Choose two.

 

[Nemrod]

The closest you will get to your desired compromise is the OM Systems TG7, OM housing (Olympus) or Kraken housing, two Inon S220 strobes and a tray and small video light like the Kraken (2500?). Or similar.

 

[tursiops]

The closest you will get to your desired compromise is the OM Systems TG7, OM housing (Olympus) or Kraken housing, two Inon S220 strobes and a tray and small video light like the Kraken (2500?). Or similar.

I've never seen a huge print from a TG; have you? That seems to be a concern.

 

[Nemrod]

I've never seen a huge print from a TG; have you? That seems to be a concern.

No, I have not seen a huge print if you mean larger than 8X10? It has the 1:2.8 sensor so I am pretty sure huge is out. But I did say "compromise" as there is an incongruence between wishes, expectations and the budget of $2,500.

Edit to add, maybe this with some liberal budgeting then with a wet macro lens:

Backscatter Olympus OM-D E-M10 IV Underwater Octo Housing UH-EM10IV

Backscatter Olympus OM-D E-M10 IV Underwater Octo Housing UH-EM10IV: Excellent image quality, more affordable than similar rigs, and compact enough for travelers and novice shooters - is this the new Best Bang For Your Buck in underwater photography? That’s a 10-4, good buddy!

www.backscatter.com

 

[bvanant]

I routinely print 16 x 20 inches from TG. All the modern software like Topaz up-res almost seamlessly. A lot depends on the scene though. $2500 is not a lot for this. You could get the Backscatter octo housing, camera lens and strobe for $2500 (with tray). Add $300 for OLY 30 mm macro and you will be started. This is using a single MF-2 strobe. When you talk about night shooting and snooting and fluorescence then all bets are off. Best bet is something used.

Security Measure

www.ebay.com

is a well known guy with stuff on eBay. Try him
Bill
SB doesn't allow for high res images at full size, here ia a shot from today. This is a 20 MP shot and will easily print at 16 x 20 inches with no up-res.
Bill

 

[Bubblesong]

Thank you for hints about my budget. I can save more$ and pay more, I’m just afraid of dropping an expensive rig. (Chicken)
So paying more to get blasts of color and clarity is worth it. My foray into the used market will be when i sell. I have just had too many disappointments buying used.
i was going to wait until March Scuba show in Danvers MA, or at least for Holiday sales, but first need to decide what i want, since #3 is price concern.
I also see people with huge cumbersome rigs, and would rather get something that is smaller, as i am a small person with skinny arms. The folding arms or bendable arms for lights and flash are something that is on interest, which brand arms work best for flexibility and not drifting out of place?
Is there such thing as setting up camera on sea floor, then backing away so fish will come close to camera, then remotely triggering the photo?
I had set up the go pro to video, dribbled crumbs in front of it, and backed off to get fish video, but quality of screenshots was unsatisfactory.