good, cheap camera?

[balance]

For $100 you are really limited.

There are good "reusable" film cameras with u/w cases that are rated down to 100 feet. They produce good pictures but not great. Given your budget and the limited amount of diving that you plan on doing I would recomend this route... using one of your existing digitals for the land based portion of your trip.

I recently got a Reefmaster CL for under $80 (ScubaToys has them for $73 + S&H, I think). It looks like a reasonable 'learning' camera. Not the fanciest, certainly, but for the moment I'm content with something I can stash in a BC pocket.

Of course, I haven't used it yet beyond a leak-test in the kitchen sink...

 

[WOODMAN]

I recently got a Reefmaster CL for under $80 (ScubaToys has them for $73 + S&H, I think). It looks like a reasonable 'learning' camera.

I started with one of these too, but the 'learning curve' on these film cameras is painfully slow. You have to wait untill your film is developed to see what you did right or wrong, and then try to remember exactly what was going on when you took the shot. Very discouraging. When you upgrade to a digital, you can see exactly what you did, right when you did it, and the learning goes up really fast. You can also immediately get rid of those annoying "mistake" shots, like when the fish moved and all you got was part of his tail. Also, you have available all the magic of photo editing programs to help polish your pictures. A basic digital camera is more money than what you are talking about, and of course, there will be all the 'other stuff' that you will eventually want, such as external strobes, add-on lenses, batteries and chargers, etc, etc. The more you learn and experience, the more you will want this stuff, trust me. It is really a slippery slope. I have a complete Sea Life digital camera set with dual strobes, close-up lenses, batteries and such, and more, with a fitted aluminum carry case that is carry-on legal, that I could let you have for about $600, which would take you quite aways into the underwater photography world. It is a lot more than you wanted to spend, I know, but it is about the bottom for a decent rig. I left it behind when I went up to my C5050, but the case alone for this camera is about what I am talking for the entire Sea Life rig, so you can see what I am talking about. If you look, there are a lot of older rigs available out there from others also, but please, consider a digital rig for your first camera. You will never regret it. PM me if I can help. Woody

 

[RonFrank]

Ifor about $600,...... but the case alone for this camera is about what I am talking for the entire Sea Life rig, so you can see what I am talking about.

$600 for a new case? Please post a link to that!

For $600 he would be better off with digital, in fact he could even swing a low end strobe like the Sunpak G model.

But he does not have $600, he has $100, so it's a bit pointless.

You may be overvaluinig your film equipment. If you have not spent time on ebay checking this stuff out, you may be surprised.

You can pick up a high end film camera with a housing for a few hundred $$$. Flashes like the Ikelite SS200 which some stores still have in stock new at $1000 are selling for between $200~$300 JUST because they don't do TTL with current digital offerings.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

How could I find out if an Ikelite housing would fit my Pentax SLR?

 

[Damselfish]

try looking it up here.

 

[ChrisA]

I guess I might be looking for a tutorial on choosing a good first camera....... I'm just having trouble finding a good place to get a housing, especially for the Kodak C533.

The only low priced housing are those made by the camera manufactures. canon, olynpuis, sony and the like make them for most (not all) of their small point and shot cameras. All of the third party housing, while much more robust are very expensive (typically double the price of the camera inside) the manufacture's housing are priced between about $140 and $190 depending on model

Whne shpping you need to check if a housing is even available before you deside on a camera
Expect to pay at least $500 for a new digital camera and housing. High end SLR equipmet can run 10X this amont or more

There are two low cost options.....

(1) Rent. You may find that you can rent an UW camera setup from a local dive shop for maybe $100 or so. If you are not going to take UW photos near your "normal" site site at home and only need a camera for a once a year vaction then be all means rent the camera just for the trip. but do try it out locally before you go.

(2) Buy a used 35mm film camera.

Go to the clasified section of scubaboard and place a WTB ad for "any UW film camera" and state your maximum price. Film camera are dirt cheap on the used market right now. In fact they are darn hard to sell. You can get a basic setup for about $25. No kidding. Film camera are selling for abut 1/5th of thieir new prices, so low that people don't bother trying to sell them but a WTB ad might motivate someone to sell it because you have made it easy for them.

But you realy, really want to get the camera BEFORE your trip and dive with it a few times. It is not so easy as you might think Those vacation dives cost like $50 a minute if you add everything up better to educate yourself at home where it is just the cost of an airfilll and gas money. getting the exposure and focus and so on will take a couple rols of film at least. So if the goal is good pictures you need some minimal experiance first. No one does well with their first hundred or so exposures. Get that overwith at home.

 

[RonFrank]

There are two low cost options.....

(1) Rent. You may find that you can rent an UW camera setup from a local dive shop for maybe $100 or so. If you are not going to take UW photos near your "normal" site site at home and only need a camera for a once a year vaction then be all means rent the camera just for the trip. but do try it out locally before you go.

One may be able to rent an UW digital camera for $100, but doubtful expecially for an entire trip, and definately NOT a DSLR. I looked at the option of renting DSLR housings and strobes, and the costs started at $350 a day just for the housing. Very few places rent period, and then there are some other issues like what do you do to get the images home? Maybe IF one can find a place that rents digital, they would burn a DVD or something. I know there is at least one place in Coz where one can rent a Digital PnS with housing and strobe. I have no idea of the cost.

One issue with renting a complete outfit is that one is renting something they are completely unfamiliar with. Maybe with an idiot proof camera this *might* be OK, but UW program modes are not always that useful especially if using a non-TTL flash.

 

[MarkH]

How could I find out if an Ikelite housing would fit my Pentax SLR?

I don't think they make film housings anymore so I'm assuming you mean used. If it's an older SLR with the winder and shutter release on the top right side, then pretty much any older Ikelite SLR housing will fit it. You might have to slightly bend some of the control rods to line up properly with the controls. There might be some controls that you won't be able to operate such as on/off (for electronic shutters), since these can vary quite a bit between different SLRs. I've mentioned before that I've used Pentax, Fujica, Minolta, Konica, etc.. cameras in the same housing with minor control rod adjustment.

 

[alcina]

Contact Ike directly - he'll be able to answer you and give you any options there might be.