Beginner Photographer looking for a starter underwater camera

[scubalo.com]

Hi,
I'm new to underwater photography and looking for a starter camera to take photos for a platform/website that I've been working on. I have heard from many divers that Olympus TG7 is the way to go as a starter camera but before I commit I would like to hear more opinions.

What do you think about the Olympus TG7 and is this the best budget/starter camera or do you have any other recommendations? And if I get the camera, what additional gear do I need for it such as lenses?

Thank you!

 

[d^2b]

The more you can tell us about what kind of photography you want to do, the better answers you will get.

Probably two most important questions
1) Video or stills?
2) Mainly wide angle or mainly macro?

Other things that might help
3) Approximate Budget
4) Level of experience/interest as a photographer on land. Do you like to play with f-stops and shutter speeds, or would you rather point and shoot?
5) Comfort as a diver, particularly buoyancy.

PS. The TG-7 is certainly a good option if you mainly want to do stills and macrophotography (small critters).

 

[scubalo.com]

@d^2b The primary use case would be for stills and using it to capture the main details of a specific dive site, so this would include macro's but also the environment. Is this a possibility?

I would say in terms of budget no more than 1k euros, not much experience and would rather point and shoot. Buoyancy isn't perfect (working on it) and currently diving in Indonesia where currents could be strong so an auto focus of some sorts might be helpful.

 

[TNEngineer]

The TG-7 is a great choice unless you want to get really deep into lenses and lighting. It has internal depth color compensation and macro modes which will cover most situations you're likely to encounter unless photography becomes the primary reason for your diving. It also has a reasonable optical zoom which helps compensate for the inability to exchange lenses.

Its biggest drawback is relatively poor battery life, I get about 1.5 hours per battery which means I swap batteries before every dive just to be sure.

 

[JohnN]

Id suggest finding a used TG-6. The 7 is a better camera, just not that much better

Take the money you saved and put it toward a housing. Id suggest Ikelite over the Olympus housing because it gives you the option of adding a flash in the future

 

[grantmac]

Personally I'd look for a used M4/3 or ASPC. You can use automatic exposure settings in a variety of ways and also have a path forward.
My last two M4/3 have been under 700 euros with housing, port and lens.

 

[Anbaric Cog]

I agree with d^2b that the crucial first step is honing in precisely on what type of photography or video you want to do
Short answer is you can’t do it all ( macro, wide angle, videos ) cheaply with the same rig on a single dive. There are cheaper options for each type of photography but hard to get them all at once

I’d suggest mastering buoyancy first

U/w photography is very different than above water/land photography. Trying to compose a shot, get the lighting right, get your buoyancy perfect, deal with a moving and/or shy critter, in current can be frustrating and disappointing Also as you progress you may become depressed comparing your images to someone using a rig costing 5-10 times as much and with the luxury of hundreds of dives mastering their tools

But just get what you can use it, enjoy it, learn from mistakes and get underwater as much as you can!

 

[bvanant]

The TG series are not terribly good at wide angle. If you want to document a site and creatures, I might go with an action camera (GoPro, Insta, DJI) and use screen caps from it to get you going for a few hundred euro. Then once you see what you like move forward.
Bill

 

[stiebs]

Id suggest finding a used TG-6. The 7 is a better camera, just not that much better

Take the money you saved and put it toward a housing. Id suggest Ikelite over the Olympus housing because it gives you the option of adding a flash in the future

Not entirely correct there. Olympus housing is perfectly capable of triggering a pair of strobes.

 

[stiebs]

@d^2b The primary use case would be for stills and using it to capture the main details of a specific dive site, so this would include macro's but also the environment. Is this a possibility?

I would say in terms of budget no more than 1k euros, not much experience and would rather point and shoot. Buoyancy isn't perfect (working on it) and currently diving in Indonesia where currents could be strong so an auto focus of some sorts might be helpful.

There are many, many ways to go about achieving this, and posting for advice here will likely get you as lot of good answers and a lot of poor ones too

Olympus TG6 and TG7 are a great option to get started. They are great at macro, and reasonable at what you might refer to as "normal" environment shots.

But if you want your photos as part of a portfolio of sorts, or photos on a website to advertise a business, quality shots, especially wide angle (which can give a real sense of immersion in the local environment), you'll need to invest in more than $1k.

A sub $1k camera and housing, even when paired with a cheap strobe or video light will only get you so far.

You can get great macro with a TG6 and a cheap strobe unit. But to get a wide angle shot that really "pops" you'll need a more flexible camera, housing for it, good wide angle lens, a port to suit, two powerful strobes, and accessories to hold it all together (eg, arms)

Each one of those components will set you back $1k.