Canon A or Sealife

[CGonTheWay]

I read the beginners post and wanted to try to break it down a little more and not get buried in the thread. I seem to gather that the Canon A series is very popular affordable camera. I also saw several references to the Sea life dc 500 as being good but then a major knock to it without reasons listed. Does the Canon allow for addons like the sealife does? What would drive me to one over the other. Seems that the overall price (canon with housing versus dc500 already housed) is about the same. Another consideration. I plan on using this camera on land quite a bit for my home inspection business. I dont know if that would play into this decision. this is a little redundant to the other post but I think that it has a different spin on this thread. Thanks all

 

[alcina]

Canon A for my vote.

Yes, most of the Canon housings allow add-on lenses. The exception is for the 620- you will need the Ikelite housing for this model to allow add-ons. All housings will accept an external strobe.

There are several recent threads on the Sealife series that are worth reading. Some who have it really like it.

I personally feel that for your needs you will be disappointed.

 

[Gilligan]

I'll second alcina's vote.

 

[CGonTheWay]

that was my feeling as well. I just didnt want to get into the canon if there was no way to upgrade. Wouldnt want to dump money into a camera that I couldnt grow some with. I know that it isnt the worlds best but I dont think I will ever go professional. I am glad it has some fleixibilty. Though of course the one I was leaning towards is the 620.

 

[Jim Ernst]

Dido!!!!! Canon!!!!

 

[alcina]

Go ahead with the 620, just get the Ike case. It's not that much more in the scheme of things

 

[CGonTheWay]

I see the 540 canon case allows a strobe but I dont see that there is an option for addon lense options to the case. any insight?

 

[alcina]

If the port is round I'm pretty sure that you can add the lenses. You might want to talk to Ryan at www.reefphotovideo.com - > contact us. He'll be able to tell you which bits you need I just bought the 520 for use in our hire fleet, but haven't had a chance to use it myself yet!

 

[CGonTheWay]

I am a total camera novice. What is the purpose the the optional wide angle? would I really use it?

 

[alcina]

I would learn the basic camera first. Get familiar with the controls and your shooting style. Figure out what you like to take photos of. You don't really know that yet, even though you might think you do. The worst that can happen is that you are proven right

Figure out HOW to get the shots you want. Then as your skills increase, add lenses and/or strobes. If you can't take photos with the basics, you aren't, imho, really going to get the most out of any add-ons.

With wide angle you will need the strobe or you will only be able to shoot natural light as the lens blocks the internal flash.

Wide angle is great as you can get nice and close for a wide reef scene/wrecks or larger creatures. You can also do CFWA - close focus wide angle shots. In these you have a strong element that you are very close to (often almost touching the lens/port) that you light with your strobe and then also the scenic in the background (lit or not). Very interesting type of photo. But hard to get right.

Close in underwater photography is essential as you have less water to steal your light, soften your photos and give you backscatter.

I personally prefer shooting macro stuff so I added my Inon 165 macro lenses before the WA. And I shoot more macro than WA by a huge margin. I just like poking around in holes to see what's there Many others prefer the WA by a wide margin. Different strokes as they say.

It's essential that you figure out what suits YOU. We can give you our thoughts, but we can't decide for you (no matter that we feel you should simply do as we tell you! LOL). There is no wrong or right in this adventure - so have fun!

FWIW in order that I would buy stuff:
1 - camera
2 - housing
3 - external strobe
4 - macro lenses (two to stack!)
5 - WA lens
6 - second strobe