Digital Photograpy

[jormax]

I have been using a MMII for several years, but want to step up to a housed digital camera. I have looked at both the Light and Motion and Sea & Sea housings. The Nikon coolpix 5000 is one camera for those housings, but Nikon discontinued it. I would like to lean more towards the upper end, but not WAY upper end. I dive PNW, so heavy gloves and limited vis are always present. Macro and shots from 1-3 feet common. We go tropical every couple of years, so obviously good wide angle features are important too. I have S&S lenses that I would like to keep if compatible with the housing. Any suggestions on what is working well and some ball park prices would be helpful. Links to good UW digital information (like wetpixel.com) would be good too. Thanks.

 

[doctormike]

I use an Olympus 4040z with a Light and Motion Tetra aluminum housing and a Sea and Sea strobe, and the setup is fantastic...! Also, the 4040 is a GREAT topside camera with a quick, intuitive interface, as well with a sharp, fast f 1.8 lens (very hard to beat in the world of digital cameras). This camera is terrific for travel, nightime photography, special effects, etc... in fact, I use it more than my Canon EOS 10d digital SLR. The 5050 is probably a lot better, but you can now get the 4040 fairly cheaply. The Tetra housing is a tank, takes a real beating both in terms of impact and pressure, and gives you complete control of all of your camera's buttons.

This setup, however, will cost you almost $2k, so it might not be the best thing to START with. However, I think that using a low end digital camera without an external strobe might be somwhat frustrating, and instead of saving a bunch of money, you might end up not using it that much and wasting the money that you do spend on it..!

Here are some sample photos:
http://homepage.mac.com/therothschilds/scuba/PhotoAlbum161.html

 

[large_diver]

I am just starting to venture into the digital photo world myself, so no experience to offer.....but in researching this topic I found these sites to be very helpful:

Digital Diver.net -- the forums are great for researching topics and asking questions --
http://www.digitaldiver.net/

In depth reviews of digital cameras. Great glossary section --
http://www.dpreview.com/

Site for checking on the available UW housings for a particular model --
http://digideep.com/

Basic article from Consumer Reports on Digital Photography -- includes useful comments for newbies on what features to look for, memory, printers, etc.:
http://www.consumerreports.org/main...ASSORTMENT<>ast_id=333133&bmUID=1065549117204

Hope this helps

-Chris

 

[Dee]

doctormike once bubbled...
This setup, however, will cost you almost $2k, so it might not be the best thing to START with.

Don't forget to mention that the L&M Tetra housing alone cost $1500 of that total!!! But in those consitions it's the very best to have. The Ikelite housing is pretty touch, you might get by with that.

I loved my C-4040 and if you can find one, snap it up! Unfortunately Olympus has discontinued it so you may have to look for refurbished units.

 

[doctormike]

Dee once bubbled...


Don't forget to mention that the L&M Tetra housing alone cost $1500 of that total!!!

Nah... I got it for under $1000... and the 4040 was very popular, not hard to find on eBay/Amazon, etc...

 

[jormax]

Thank you all for your replys. You have been very helpful. Does the Olympus pt-015 housing for the 5050z have the features that one would want if they were shooting the 5050, (ie strobe connections and camera control access). or should I continue to look at the L&M and Sea&Sea varieties?

 

[Dee]

With the PT-015 you have full access to all camera functions. Your strobe connection will be via fiber optic cable. That's my preference but others disagree.