Cozumel divers - what camera are you using these days?

[Skittl1321]

When you really want me to turn on the enabling function that comes with speaking to me, let me know and I will sell you on it. I can also send you wide angle photos...hahaha.

The issue isn't so much the camera as the housings. He's got cameras and lenses aplenty. Please don't convince him on another point and shoot

 

[AdivingBel]

I am a novice at best, but here is my little GoPro rig.

LOLOL...novice huh, I saw your vid in the other thread. Very nice...actually, I think you're my kind of underwater photog. I exercised an important option on my rig...I handed it to my wife. It's truly amazing how much easier underwater photography is now and I get much better pics. I'll show you when we get to GC...

 

[ChrisM]

Olympus OMD Em-5 in an Oly housing. Compact mirrorless lensed system, shoot with 14-42, 9-18 and 60 mm underwater, Inon strobes.

Quality as good or better than my old Canon DSLR. Everything (except ULCS arms) fit in small backpack carryon, could fit all in a rolling bag

Works well topside too

 

[cicopo]

Looking at the specs & pricing for the Olympus they are considering the Canon option is roughly 50% more. I'm presuming they have a strobe that would work with either but Olympus has a hot shoe mounted flash ($500) that's rather compact & makes the entire package very portable. The Olympus also close focuses down to 1 Cm from the lens.

 

[robint]

Thanks for all the suggestions. We want to keep it under $1000, and he does still have strobes and a focus light he might be able to do with the camera.
I was just looking to see what everyone is using. I will give Ron the names of the cameras you are all suggesting and let him look at them. He isn't as into photography as he used to be, so he doesn't want to get anything with too much of a learning curve, that's why he's looking at the Oly TG-5... he had a Oly 5050z before he went Dslr nuts.

As far as my health, my health is pretty good. I just don't like to over-tire myself. I am very active here at home, a mountain hiking leader with a group at least once a week, plus gym etc getting in at least 30+ miles per week. My vision is great topside, its once I get down 60' deep, I don't feel like I have any depth perception and that makes me uncomfortable. I have over 500 dives all over the world, been there done that, and don't feel any reason to do crazy stuff anymore. I see a doctor regularly, once a month, as I have lupus which is the reason I get more tired now. It is controlled with my meds and my doc approves of my diving completely. She's more concerned I might fall off a cliff in my hiking than have a dive accident. But thanks for your concern.

 

[robint]

Also....I guess I should have explained to you this..... we call it the Death Star.

He wants to downsize!

 

[MMM]

I was wondering where you had gone. Thanks for the update on what's up with you! Best wishes for your future health and diving! I think that my camera accepts some of the DSLR lenses. But I could be wrong.

that's why he's looking at the Oly TG-5... he had a Oly 5050z before he went Dslr nuts.

As far as my health, my health is pretty good. I just don't like to over-tire myself. I am very active here at home, a mountain hiking leader with a group at least once a week, plus gym etc getting in at least 30+ miles per week. My vision is great topside, its once I get down 60' deep, I don't feel like I have any depth perception and that makes me uncomfortable. I have over 500 dives all over the world, been there done that, and don't feel any reason to do crazy stuff anymore. I see a doctor regularly, once a month, as I have lupus which is the reason I get more tired now. It is controlled with my meds and my doc approves of my diving completely. She's more concerned I might fall off a cliff in my hiking than have a dive accident. But thanks for your concern.

 

[ChrisM]

Yeah, don't know if you remember me from the old boards, but I went 5050 (actually 4040) to DSLR for a few years, just too freaking big to take anywhere. Got a pretty good deal at bluewater photo for camera, housing, kit lens for about 1200 (that was two years ago). Had to buy lenses but all strobes, and arms etc still worked.

 

[deepsea21]

Olympus TG-3 owner here with the Olympus dive housing. A great camera with an absolutely fantastic UW Macro mode (for the price of course). By itself it is a great and virtually indestructible pocket travel camera. With the dive housing it becomes a full blown economical dive camera in a small package. If it get's stolen, lost or sinks to the bottom so be it - no "2nd mortgage on the house" set-up is lost. You can build and add to the basic setup as you see fit. I say good and even great cameras are pretty cheap, it's what you care to add in terms of housings and lights/strobes that really ups the ante.

Also, our TG-3 was a replacement for our Oly 5050 that was stolen. That old 5050 was a FANTASTIC camera with its Zeis lens but the focus/shutter lag stank on it compared to the newer cameras. Personally, I think that 5050 took better pics than the TG-3 but that lag meant we missed lots of pics we can capture with the TG-3.

 

[cicopo]

My first Digital camera was an Olympus C3030 & I made far more money with it than it cost (doing auto appraisals). When I got a bit more serious about my underwater photography I tried to find a used C8080 & housing but there weren't many available (they had been off the market for a while already) so after doing some homework went with the Canon G 9. All of my land based gear is Canon but I have also tried some Nikon gear but sold it off when Canon brought out the 7D mark 2 which I added to my bag. I have often thought about getting a housing for a DSLR but the physical size of a proper rig is more than I'm willing to dive with on vacations. If I lived much closer to the ocean it would be a very different story.