intrested but dont wanna go over board

[Kitten]

I am instrested in taking up underwater photography as a nice hobbie nothing serious...yet. My question is I want to know the best digital camera to get started with, but not blow alot of money seeing as I want this for hobbie only. I do so love macro shots and I want at least decent quality pics. Any suggestion would be great.

 

[IslandHopper]

The Reefmaster SeaLife camera has pleased me so far. It's Cheap (+/- $250) included the camera and housing... there is now a 3 megapixel model which is a little more and that new housing gives you access to more functions through the housing.

I'm a little dissapointed that the best resolution still gives a 4:1 jpeg compression, but for my amateur pictures it works out OK.

I'm now going to spend another $200 for the strobe and macro lenses... should be considered a necessity, i think.

.... Of course, for $2200 you can get a new Cannon Digital Rebel and an Ikelite housing ..... how do I justify THAT to the wifey

 

[Kitten]

[/QUOTE]how do I justify THAT to the wifey

Heh thanks. Hype it up as much as humanly possible. That works on me.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I am instrested in taking up underwater photography as a nice hobbie nothing serious...yet. My question is I want to know the best digital camera to get started with, but not blow alot of money seeing as I want this for hobbie only. I do so love macro shots and I want at least decent quality pics. Any suggestion would be great.

I recently switched to a digital and went with an Olympus C-4000 at a good price and a Olympus PT-010 housing for a total cost of about $500. That is about the cost of an Ikelite housing alone.

Now, if I had waited a few months,I would have had a C-5050 instead and would have had the option of using my Nikonos III's SB-105 strobe. But I am still happy as the C-4000/PT-010 housing is still a very good camera/housing for the money.

 

[Scubakevdm]

Hey! You're the nice girl cleaning up the lake aren't you? That's very good of you to do. Cleaning lakes and taking pictures, I think you'll turn out just fine. I'll go along with the gentleman that recommended the Sealife package because its not very complicated, and it does alow you to expand a bit if you decide you like it.

 

[Gilligan]

You may want to consider an Olympus or Canon camera and housing. I can't speak for the Canon but the Olympus 5050 camera and PT-015 housing will cost you around $700. The Olympus camera has a powerful internal strobe and a built in flash diffuser on the housing. You will be able to take macro shots without additional lenses. You will be able to take photos w/o an external strobe. You will get great photos as it is a 5 megapixel camera.
Take your time and go through a lot of the posts on this board about the different cameras. It is time consuming but it is worth it.

I used an Olympus C2040Z (2 megapixel) for about one year in an Olympus housing with only the internal strobe then upgraded to the Oly C4000Z (4 megapixel) as it fit in the same housing. I only recently added an external strobe.

You may want to also consider buying a factory refurbished camera to save money. Both of mine are. Refurfished does not necessarily mean rebuilt. They have 90 day warranties. I favor refurbs so as to lessen the $$ loss should the housing flood as there is no saving the camera. There is always insurance but the cost may not be worth it in comparison to that of a refurb camera. Just something else to consider.

 

[alcina]

I'll put in a vote for the Canon cameras/housings. I have been using my A20 2MP for almost two years and love it - point and shoot mode underwater works a treat. Have recently borrowed a friend's A70 and am learning to love it. Housings are easy to access functions and to maintain. I like that they are see through so you can check out the oring seal etc. Great cameras for throwing in your backpack for land stuff too. Have heard very happy comments on A40's too.

 

[Kitten]

Thank you for all the advice I guess I'll look around for a few months and research. I'll let everyone know what I end up with. Thanks again.