I am looking to upgrade my camera equipment. I wanted a recommendation on a good digital camera that will also shoot video.....and the best housing to go with it. Any input would be greatly appreciated
Digital stills/video..Is there a good one?
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firstdive2005
Contributor
Hi I think you need to add a bit more info to your question. One major one is money. The other is your skill level in photography.
I am not a photographer, I point and shoot. I am trying to learn more photo skills, but it is slow. Now for me I need instruments to make me look good. Money is something I dont want to waste. I bought the dc600 by Sealife, it made me look good. Not highly priced and incredibly user friendly. I now gone to the dc800, it makes me look brilliant. The video is awesome. The perfect camera for me. I have two strobes for it. The cheaper ones, I will be upgrading to the digital ones as soon as I get a little better with these. All this was under 1000$. Great battery strength also. Also the Sealife people have been great with my 'burn their brain out' questions on how to use it. They never once said, Take lessons. have fun shopping kev
I am not a photographer, I point and shoot. I am trying to learn more photo skills, but it is slow. Now for me I need instruments to make me look good. Money is something I dont want to waste. I bought the dc600 by Sealife, it made me look good. Not highly priced and incredibly user friendly. I now gone to the dc800, it makes me look brilliant. The video is awesome. The perfect camera for me. I have two strobes for it. The cheaper ones, I will be upgrading to the digital ones as soon as I get a little better with these. All this was under 1000$. Great battery strength also. Also the Sealife people have been great with my 'burn their brain out' questions on how to use it. They never once said, Take lessons.
have fun shopping kev
OP
I took a week long photography course with Tim Blanton. He was amazing. You should see my pictures after 1 week with him. He taught me to scale down and get rid of the all the stuff that makes you look cool.lol. I learned that one stobe is plenty and I rarely use one. You should see what he uses..a simple point and shoot. Money will not be an issue. If I find what I want, i will pay for it (within reason lol). I'm looking for something with both stills and video...and it needs to make it easy to get to the white balance. I have a sea life and the white balance is so deep in the menu, I have it for sale. Does that help?
Doubler
Contributor
Look at the Olympus Stylus SW series They take great pictures and okay video. Get the Olympus housing for that camera as it is more compact and operates smoothly with the camera and the price won't kill you. Should be able to get a good rig (without strobe) for $600 to $700. I suggest an Olympus because that is what I shoot. Canon and Sony make great products also. Shop around and get whet fits your budget.
If you are serious enough there are a few dSLRs that are just coming out that take great stills and high definition video. Though these will set you back a pretty penny. I'm thinking the Nikon D90 or Canon 5D mk II. I don't know much about the housings other than they are in development.
While a point and shoot may offer good images in the best situations (bright natural light) dSLRs will expand to offer much better photos in situations where it is too dark to get a clean noise-free picture out of a point and shoot. Also these two cameras, as far as I have seen, have video that is almost as good as pro broadcast video, where point and shoot video tends to be closer to you-tube quality.
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The Canon 5D MKII has been discussed as a serious alternative to buying a dedicated video camera over on wetpixel.com. A couple of links:
DSLR Video Resources - Wetpixel :: Underwater Photography Forums
Video from the Canon 5DMkII - Wetpixel :: Underwater Photography Forums
DSLR Video Resources - Wetpixel :: Underwater Photography Forums
Video from the Canon 5DMkII - Wetpixel :: Underwater Photography Forums
OP
I was looking at the Nikon D90. I dont think it has a housing yet. If it did, I wouldve bought it already.
Thanks for the info. I will start shopping around. My next dive trip is in April. I will find something by then.
Thanks for the info. I will start shopping around. My next dive trip is in April. I will find something by then.
There should be a housing available soon. It's listed at ikelite's site
Underwater Housing for Nikon D-90
The 5d mark II housing is also listed but my local dealer could not get a shipping date from Ikelite. I'm sure both will be available soon. Personally, I was about to buy a 5D mark II system, but since I have a trip coming up in a few weeks and they couldn't say if the housing would arrive before the trip or not, I went with a used 5D system.
Underwater Housing for Nikon D-90
The 5d mark II housing is also listed but my local dealer could not get a shipping date from Ikelite. I'm sure both will be available soon. Personally, I was about to buy a 5D mark II system, but since I have a trip coming up in a few weeks and they couldn't say if the housing would arrive before the trip or not, I went with a used 5D system.
OP
Thanks, I will compare the two systems. I just looked at the housing for the D90. Love the price lol. I'm dreading paying that bill, but it will be worth it.
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