Bunk PiX

[Surge]

My pictures come out horrible. You can't see hardly any colour except for a bluish haze everywhere. They look nothing like what I saw through my eyes. I don't have any to show you at the moment, but should soon. A few came out nice, but not many at all.

I used a disposeable underwater camera, but I still thought they would come out better then this. Do you HAVE to have a light with you to get the colour in underwater pix?

 

[Finesse]

Surge

Those "one time use" cameras are limited in there ability to produce sharp bright vibrant pictures......Light is a good idea especially when you start to go deeper ... as the light waves that reflect the reds disappear relatively quickly.... hence you see alot of blue hues the deeper you go . Shallow diving will allow for more color as the light that generates these desirable colors isn’t filtered out as easily at these depths.

Your limited by the camera that your using ..... lack of a good lens that is able to gather alot of natural light will effect the quality of the pictures ....so dont judge yourself on what a Throw away camera is producing .....

Lighting will help, but not always a necessity, and getting close to your subject is important....you'll get clearer shots when your really close. Photos that are taken from a distance are more challenging to get desirable results.

Hope this helps

 

[alcina]

As well as Fin's answer photo quality will depend on type of disposable - they are NOT all created the same.

I have had the best luck with Fuji and the newer Snap Sights (these are reloadable, have a flash and are rated to 85 feet). I tested 5 kinds of underwater disposables from 2m - 25m (and at least three cameras of each of the 5) just to see what would happen. None were able to give great colour as that is light light and more light.

Another point is - beware getting too close. It is essential in underwater photography to get as close as possible to your subject BUT these cameras cannot cope with closeness and your pictures will be anything from a bit fuzzy to total blur. Rule of thumb (or arm as the case may be) your subject needs to be just beyond your extended arm & fingers to have a chance of being in focus. things that are too far away will also be soft as in previous post (lens mostly).

Try shallow water with these cameras with subjects from 3.5 feet to 15 feet away. I have seen many many pictures from these cameras used to capture manta rays, dolphins, turtles and the huge whale sharks - some are perfectly fine for the point and shooter Good luck and I look forward to seeing any that you post!

 

[Finesse]

alcina once bubbled...
As well as Fin's answer photo quality will depend on type of disposable - they are NOT all created the same.

Another point is - beware getting too close. It is essential in underwater photography to get as close as possible to your subject BUT these cameras cannot cope with closeness and your pictures will be anything from a bit fuzzy to total blur. Rule of thumb (or arm as the case may be) your subject needs to be just beyond your extended arm & fingers to have a chance of being in focus. things that are too far away will also be soft as in previous post (lens mostly).

Didn’t even think about the fixed lens issue.....

I have seen these cameras with the extended depth ratings .... However the ones I saw were insanely expensive for what you got :wacko:

I don’t know how serious you are about U/W photography so its hard to give direction but here are some general thoughts.....

If you are limited by cost (and can't or don't want to go with a little bit better camera and housing) you might want to look at a housing that uses disposable cameras ..... then you can add an external strobe to help with lighting....I think Ikelite makes a system for a couple hundred dollars that houses the disposable camera and they have a small external strobe available ....

Then....

If you're more serious about U/W photography you might want to start looking for a decent digital and housing ...... as many cameras have an on-board flash that do really well at lighting the subject ......you can add an external strobe later....Look around the board here.....many of these photos were taken using only an on-board flash.......Notabob is a perfect example (I don’t think he's using a strobe)

While this is a more expensive option you can easily adjust the pictures on your home computer (making a shot that was not so great ....much better!!!) and avoid the cost of developing whole rolls of film that you dont know if the pictures are good or bad..until you've spent alot of money. I've been down that road ....it gets frustrating when out of 24 or 36 exposures you only get a few nice pictures yet have pay for the bad shots.

Bottom line.... its all a matter of how good you want the pictures
to come out......Oh yeah a little cash doesn’t hurt either

 

[GeekDiver]

I went the cheap rout and tried the desposables too and the only ones that ever turned out were very shallow then they still didn't have much color. I tried some of the ones that go deeper and I even found one that was supposed to be reloadable without much luck. I bought an MMII-EX w/strobe. I still have to learn how to use it ( I took a bunch that were out of focus) but even the simi-bad pics were better than the best ones I got with the cheap stuff. If your on a budget like me check into some of the entry level film cameras. There are several that are aval w/strobe in the $200-$400.


Geek