Hi All
Hope everyone is staying safe with all that is going on in the world at present.
I've moved to PNG a year ago and now have the luxury of diving great reefs every weekend. As part of this I bought along my old (6 years) clear ikelite case and RX100. I've been getting very much into underwater photography however I feel I am hitting the limitations of the camera and case in natural light. I am planning on buying a strobe to help but also looking to upgrade to a newer camera system (before this old case floods haha). For reference I currently have the RX100 mk1 so have experience with this system, and a A6500 + 18-105, 35mm 1.8, 12mm 2.0 for land use.
I enjoy both macro and wide angle photography, and would prefer to be able to shoot both on the same dive as we generally encounter both sharks/rays and critters like pygmy seahorses/ghost pipefish etc on every dive.
I am in a dilemma of deciding whether to get a fantasea case plus a suitable zoom lens for the A6500, or get a new compact, either a newer RX100 or G7X mkii with fantasea case. I will initially include a macro diopter for the smaller stuff and down the line look at wide angle wet lenses too. I looked at the TG6 but was turned off by the lack of full manual control.
Obviously budget is a consideration and don't want to have to sell a kidney, however I am happy to pay a little extra for robust gear, with decent photo performance that won't be obsolete in 3 months.
My main questions are:
- Would the quality of the A6500 + 16-50 kit lens + diopter be on par or better than the quality I would get from a newer RX100 or G7X? Sample pictures would be appreciated if possible.
- Are there any other zoom lenses that are compatible with the A6500 fantasea case that could provide better results than the 16-50 and allow the option to swap between wide and macro diopters on the same dive?
- Are the newer RX100's really that much better than the G7X mkii or mkiii considering the obscene price of the Sony's (Buying in Australia so may be different in the States/Europe etc)
I know i'm asking a lot of a camera system to be able to cater for various shooting scenarios underwater, and am aware there will be compromises. If you have any other suggestions I'm all ears, but would prefer not to have to change main camera systems again if possible (Went from Nikon D7000 to Sony A6000, now A6500).
Thanks for reading and sorry for the essay haha
Pete
Hope everyone is staying safe with all that is going on in the world at present.
I've moved to PNG a year ago and now have the luxury of diving great reefs every weekend. As part of this I bought along my old (6 years) clear ikelite case and RX100. I've been getting very much into underwater photography however I feel I am hitting the limitations of the camera and case in natural light. I am planning on buying a strobe to help but also looking to upgrade to a newer camera system (before this old case floods haha). For reference I currently have the RX100 mk1 so have experience with this system, and a A6500 + 18-105, 35mm 1.8, 12mm 2.0 for land use.
I enjoy both macro and wide angle photography, and would prefer to be able to shoot both on the same dive as we generally encounter both sharks/rays and critters like pygmy seahorses/ghost pipefish etc on every dive.
I am in a dilemma of deciding whether to get a fantasea case plus a suitable zoom lens for the A6500, or get a new compact, either a newer RX100 or G7X mkii with fantasea case. I will initially include a macro diopter for the smaller stuff and down the line look at wide angle wet lenses too. I looked at the TG6 but was turned off by the lack of full manual control.
Obviously budget is a consideration and don't want to have to sell a kidney, however I am happy to pay a little extra for robust gear, with decent photo performance that won't be obsolete in 3 months.
My main questions are:
- Would the quality of the A6500 + 16-50 kit lens + diopter be on par or better than the quality I would get from a newer RX100 or G7X? Sample pictures would be appreciated if possible.
- Are there any other zoom lenses that are compatible with the A6500 fantasea case that could provide better results than the 16-50 and allow the option to swap between wide and macro diopters on the same dive?
- Are the newer RX100's really that much better than the G7X mkii or mkiii considering the obscene price of the Sony's (Buying in Australia so may be different in the States/Europe etc)
I know i'm asking a lot of a camera system to be able to cater for various shooting scenarios underwater, and am aware there will be compromises. If you have any other suggestions I'm all ears, but would prefer not to have to change main camera systems again if possible (Went from Nikon D7000 to Sony A6000, now A6500).
Thanks for reading and sorry for the essay haha
Pete