Camera Gurus - Help Needed!

[aeweems12]

Hi everyone!

I am a relatively new scuba diver (certified two years ago in Belize), but I have been snorkeling for much longer. I started out with an Olympus Stylus SW1030 and then moved to the Stylus Tough 8010. I have enjoyed my Olympus cameras, but I am ready to move to a much better system. I am hoping that you have some advice to share with me!

I am looking for something that will be relatively easy to use. I do have a SeaLife DC???? that I bought off eBay eons ago and while it worked well when I was diving, I want something better and more professional. Don't get me wrong, I am no Cathy Church, but I want to be able to take better quality underwater photos and really bring out all the colors. I am looking for something where I can attach different lenses, add a strobe, etc. in order to be able to really make my photos "pop." I am perfectly fine with buying a good quality camera and then adding a housing.

What would you recommend? I don't want to go all the way to professional grade cameras and equipment, but I do want something that you can't just walk into BestBuy and get off the shelf.

I appreciate your help in advance!

Ashley

 

[Mark Derail]

I'd stick with the same camera, but add a pair of strobes w/TTL.

Best bang for the buck - lighting.

 

[aeweems12]

I'm looking into the Nikon D7000. I really like that camera and all of its impressive features. Does anyone have any experience with it? Recommend or avoid? I know I am going to spend probably 3 times what I do on the camera for the housing, lens ports, strobe, etc.

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

forget the DSLR stuff, with housing and comparable strobe, you will be lugging something so big and un-hydrodynamic that it will affect scuba diving even when you are not taking pictures. Get one or two strobes and attach it to your sealife. You can get a sealife strobe if you don't plan on upgrading much, but if you want to use the strobes when you upgrade, you can get some of the TTL strobes from Sea & Sea or Inon and that will go along with you when you upgrade you camera to something more sophisticated.

As for lens attachments, you can get wet lens that allows you to shoot wider shots, and you can take the lens off underwater.

You can't expect to have a pro camera and expect it to take great pictures. At 0-24 dives, I assume all your pictures are passing by shots (you see something, you pick your camera up, press the shutter, and move on). Most of good pictures with great colors comes from composition, along with using wide angle lens and getting close to your subject. In order to do that, you have to have good buoyancy, be able to stay still with just your fins, etc.

 

[PatW]

I have the D7000 with a Nauticam housing. I have three lenses: nikon micro 60 mm afs, Tokina 10-17 fisheye, and a Sigma 17-70 macro. I also have appropriate ports for these. In addition, I have 2 strobes. The whole pile of apparatus weighs as much packed as my diving gear. So it is something to lug around. There are advantages to having a DSLR set up. I like it because I shoot with a DSLR on land.

First off, I would not recommend any DSLR set up for a diver unless they had excellent buoyancy skills and diving had become almost second nature to them. Control of buoyancy is critical for underwater photography because it allows you control in lining up your shot. Without good buoyancy control, you have to just shoot and hope which is not horribly effective. Also, you may think that you have good buoyancy control but trying to line up a shot at just the right spot and angle in some surge gives a whole new meaning to buoyancy.

If you have to think about your diving and think about a complex photographic system, you are at risk of task loading yourself which is an excellent way to put yourself at risk.

If you want something better than the system you have, an advanced point and shoot with a couple of small strobes and wet lenses for wide angle and macro would work better. These systems are quite flexible and are much more compact than the DSLRs. If you want a more advanced system, the mirrorless camera systems that are coming out would be another way to go.

Right now, I think just getting yourself a strobe would be a good idea. You may want to buy Martin Edge's book on underwater photography. It is the best one I have seen so far.