Choosing a Micro 4/3 now, for future UW use, and decent budget

[Mark Derail]

What would you do with a 3,000$ budget? :uwphotographer:

Contenders seem to limited to two - Olympus E-PL3 and the Sony NEX-5. Unless we count a Sea & Sea Point & Shoot setup.

I just can't justify paying 2k$ for an Aquatica housing for my Nikon D90, plus paying for a good light, strobe, arms, etc.

[Edit: Ready-to-go kit for Sony NEX-5 is nearly 3k$ ]


I'd rather have another camera altogether.

So I'm thinking, getting the newer non SLR cameras that do decent 720p 60 frames, interchangeable lens, fast reaction times, great use on land. So that my girlfriend has a decent camera and lens choices for when she wants to takes pictures.
Also the weight factor, the D90 + 2 battery pack + Tokina 11-16.

So paying now 1k$ for a good kit and a couple of lenses, then spending in mid-late 2012 another 2k$ for UW photo gear.

Did I miss something? Are the choices that limited?

FWIW, I bought a used kit through this board, all-Olympus UW setup with the SP-350 and it's minuscule flash-in-a-housing-so-it's-now-a-strobe, and didn't know about the false Weak Battery problem. I still had fun using it, and now I'm hooked.
I'll be giving my old kit to my son, currently a DM, "en route" to become instructor.

Edit: the more I read up on the subject, the more I see that I may as well stick with dSLR than to go with cheaper cameras, and not-much-cheaper housings.

 

[Peter Guy]

Well, the Pen EPL-1 (same sensor as the 3 but the older lens) can be had new for $380 (Amazon). The Oly housing is $400-450 -- so total package, without strobes, tray or arms, $800. This combo also does a nice job on land. (Note, you can get the EPL-1 with the kit 14-42 mm lens AND the 40-150mm lens for $500 and then your GF will have a very nice land camera setup in addition to a very competent UW system -- EPL-1 Backscatter Review )

 

[bvanant]

There are a number of micro 4/3 options that might fit inside your budget. The cameras seem to be either Panasonic or Olympus and are about the same price ($650 or so). The lenses are the same ($500 to 600 each for macro or wide angle). Housings are largely different since you can get an olympus housing for $600 or so while the Panasonic housings are quite a bit more $. Then you need a strobe and some arms and a tray and a focus light. With a single lens/port you can get in for under $1900 but for a whole system your $3K is a bit light.

Bill

 

[DelrayDM]

Let me be a pessimist for a moment.

If you buy a new camera now, and plan on buying a housing for it 12 months from now, there is a chance that you would have a reduced choice of housings. (The lower priced the camera, the more likely this is true.)

So you might think about waiting until you can afford camera and housing at the same time.

If you can be satisfied with a camera that is not the most-recent-technology-on-the-market, you could save a lot of money buying a whole kit used from someone that just traded 'up'. If you are just learning underwater photography, the number of megapixels and iso speed range will not make as much difference to you as it will later in your underwater photography career/hobby/obsession.

 

[Mark Derail]

Being a dSLR lover...I'm torn. Lots of great advice.

Talking with my GF last night, the priority seems straightforward. An excellent land camera for her, point-and-shoot style with various lenses, to be able to do portraits, flowers, telephoto, etc. The newer 4/3 models is just to be able to have a camera with lens choices and a decent "manual" mode.

Then, I buy a case for my Nikon D90, dual strobes, since that's the tool I'm most comfortable with. Sometime in 2012...2013, perhaps I can get lucky, someone currently with the D90 might want to upgrade to the newer Nikon D700, for fancier HDR / bracketing.
I'd buy that.

Then in a 2-3 years, buy a housing for my GF's camera that I buy in the next month or so. That I know will have housings available. So far, Olympus seems the better company versus Sony, in so far as UW is concerned.

So, I will concentrate on myself first. Perhaps someone will sell a complete dSLR UW kit w/camera, like a Canon T2i, or something similar.

 

[Mark Derail]

Looked at a few physically at a store. Sony, Olympus, Panasonic.

I'm so far tempted with the Sony Nex5 - the newer N model that does 1080p 60fps and the 16MP sensor. Won't be needing a zillion lenses, the "pancake" seems fine for portraits & macro, and together is a tiny footprint.
For "purse" carrying.

The "upgrade" to UW photography is there, so far Aquatica and Nauticam have a decent lineup. The Sony can shot RAW, to me that's all that is important right now.

Now all I have left to design is a "purse-mounted" wireless flash, purse fabric is the diffuser of course, and she'll be able to take just-as-nice pics that I take.

 

[mjh]

You can find good used systems for sale here and try Wetpixel, many very close to your budget.

For new you could do:

Oly EPL 2 or 3, Oly housing (add a Zen dome) or maybe an Aquatica, 10Bar or Nauticam. Depending on housing you can probably get some decent S&S strobes also.

Sony Nex5N is going to push your budget but excellent choice, again several nice housing to choose from. Here you may need to pick up strobes used.

Regardless you will notice a difference between your DSLR and these cameras, both very good but.....

 

[Mark Derail]

The Sony Nex5N has the "sexiness" tech to it, that compared to my Nikon D90, looks like a hummer.

Apparently the video "clicking" is if you move around quickly. If you pan properly, no clicking. I will definitely test before I buy.

One thing of note, in the camera shops. Bring your own SD card !!! Like that you can test multiple cameras taking a pic of the same thing, take it home and zoom in.