Bang for the buck

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

divemed06

Contributor
Messages
336
Reaction score
1
Location
Canada
Just want some opinions...what percentage of you u/w photography budget would you allocate to the various tools used...

ie. If I have 2000$ to spend (let's say for a digital cam)

500$ housing
500$ camera
200$ strobe
800$ accessories (ie. lens)

Would you spend more on the housing, strobe, camera or accessories...what percentage of your budget would you allocate to each of these items...

Thx
 
I would spend it most in the following order...

1) camera - you will likely be using it in and out of the water so make sure to get a good one.
2) UW Housing - again you will want one that can survive the depths you are planning on going to (although this is usually not a problem) and has the ability to have all your accessories attached to it.
3) Strobe - you will need this.
4) Accessories - whatever you like...

I'm not expert though so you may want to wait to hear what some other say...
 
I don't bother with percentages. For one thing, your list is way off, you'll never find a good dependable strobe for a digital camera for $200.

I have a total budget and buy at the best price I can and buy in order of importantce to me.

1. Camera - If you shop wisely you can get a good 4-5MP camera in the $500 range. With the new Oly C-5060 out in Nov., there will be lots of C-5050's on the market from folks upgrading. Look for those.

1a. Additional memory cards - prices have dropped tremendously so you can get larger cards very reasonable, depending on where you buy. Don't scrimp here as this is your 'film' and is a very important part of the whole thing!

1b. Rechargeable batteries - The best deal for the money over alkalines. I use 3 sets of four and rotate them.

2. Housing - you can pay anywhere from $150 to $1500+ for a housing. One of the advantages of Olympus is their housing is very well made and for the C-5050 only costs $150 +/-

3. Strobe - Sea & Sea, Inon, Ikelite...they will all run you $500-600, more for some than others. A strobe is also optional to a degree. The internal flash on digital camera are very strong and do very well within their limits of distance. You can get very good pictures while you're saving more money for a good strobe.

3a. Tray and strobe arm - A neccesity for a strobe. Prices vary in prive and design from $150 for the simple small Fisheye tray to $300+ for the ULCS/Inon/Ikelite designs with cam joints and arm sections. Each design has it's good and bad points and needs alot of research to understand what you need.

4. Lens - Add-on lens for macro and wideangle shots can run from $200 on up. Definately an addition as you can afford it.

You can put together a very nice rig for around $1500....camera/housing/strobe/additional memory and batteries. Then add to it as you can afford.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

Back
Top Bottom