Looking for optimal bulky/rendering compact photo camera

[bluepacific]

My travel style is to go to places, enjoy nature on the mainland and also underwater. I used to have a Nikonos V with Ikelite strobes back in the days of film but It was a pain to carry on trips, especially island hopping on turboprop. I am looking for a new compact camera that would work both above and underwater. Most of my friends are using GoPro or DJI Osmo Action with sticks and the results are pretty good IMHO. They seem to be good bulkiness/rendering compromises.

I see people here talk about Olympus TG5/6/7 but adding strobes quickly escalate and you are back with a bulky set up which I am trying to avoid.

Questions: Are the TG 5/6/7 good without strobes? Are there any compact housing to take it down to 30m? Any compact strobe? Or other brands and minimalistic set up you would recommend?

 

[bvanant]

Well the same problem with the GoPro. If you are at 30 m there mostly won't be enough light so you will need video lights. For natural light photography the TG7 is fine and it has a built in strobe which is marginally useful.
Bill

 

[Allen-1]

Sealife Micro 3.0 w sea dragon light might be an option

 

[bvanant]

Yes, but the IQ is not good compared to the GoPro. Their software is quite magical
BVA

 

[Allen-1]

Yes, but the IQ is not good compared to the GoPro. Their software is quite magical
BVA

“IQ”?

 

[Nemrod]

“IQ”?

IQ = Image Quality. The fact is that below even 20 feet in clear water you will get only blue/green pictures or blue/green videos without strobes or video light as appropriate. If that is good enough, you can decide?

The TG has several housings that show up with a little Google. Nauticam, Kraken, AOI, Ikelite and OM Systems (Olympus) have housings for the TG.

Good luck.

 

[tursiops]

Those action cameras on the end of a stick give surprisingly good videos in shallow water where the ambient light is adequate. But their use for still phots is not good. Also they are not good for macro shots without adding fancy lenses.
The TG6/7 is the sweet spot for still photography on a budget. You can start with no housing and stay shallow and use ambient light. They are superb for macro. They can be used for videos -- not just stills -- but their batteries are inadequate for primary use as a video camera. Housings can be remarkably cheap...as little as $102 from Aliexpress.
At the depths where you need a housing, you also need a light. Video light are enticing because they are (barely) useful for stills as well as video, but a strobe is what you want at depth. You can get a used, small one for $200-300.

 

[Nemrod]

The Backscatter Mini-Strobe (GN16) and the Inon S220 (GN22) are the smallest useful strobes I know of off hand.

 

[Barmaglot]

Backscatter MF-1/MF-2 and AOI Q1 use a very similar (possibly identical) light head and electronics, unfortunately the power output is only sufficient for macro.

Inon S220 and Sea & Sea YS-01 are both very compact and deliver just enough power to shoot wide-angle with compact cameras as long as you stay reasonably close to the subject.

You can see a good strobe power comparison, including MF-1 and S220, here:

Strobe comparison table

Since I've gone thourgh all the work of gathering this data from various sources and personal tests over the past few months, I might as well share it here in case other find it helpful. Corrections and additions welcome. Update on 24/06: I've updated the spreadsheet with three new sheets, one sh...

waterpixels.net

If your concern is with packing weight, consider forgoing a tray - instead, use a triple clamp to mount your strobe arms to the housing cold shoe. I remember Alex Mustard posting a photo of such a setup on Wetpixel; it looked surprisingly handy. Don't use float arms either, they're bulky and heavy - instead either forgo floats altogether, or use foam blocks.

If your budget permits, maybe consider a Sony RX100VA in lieu of TG-7. Aside from the built-in macro capability of the TG series, it's a much more capable camera, both topside and under.

Metal housings (Nauticam and Isotta both make housings for TG and RX100 series) will be a bit more compact, but also much more expensive than plastic from AOI (they ODM housings for Olympus/OM systems as well as Fantasea), Ikelite, or SeaFrogs. Weefine/Kraken have a special housing for TG series that includes an extra battery to extend the camera battery life, but this adds considerable bulk - more than you'd expect from a single 18650 cell.

 

[Nemrod]

The TG has a 1/2.5 sensor and no manaul control. I do not dislike the TG series but it is a pretty much minimal camera in capability, dynamic range, IQ but compared to a phone in a case it can drive strobes.



The Backscatter strobe does have a built in video light whereas the Inon does not. I think it does anyways.

Since the OP once owned a Nikonos, and if money was not a huge constraint, I would and have been tempted greatly to get the Cann G7 in a Nauticam housing. The G series canon and the Sony RX series have one inch sensors which are comparatively huge and fully capable of producing great photography and huge blow ups ands have excellent dynamic range. And they have full manual control and actual F stops instead of a ND filter to simulate a f stop as does the fully automatic only TG.

As @Barmaglot suggests, a single strobe center mounted on the cold shoe could work for some shots and video with limited expectations. I mean, folks do not put strobes on arms just because it is fun, it is done for a myriad of reasons.

I have put my Canon S90/FIX rig back into rotation with my Sony Nauticam because it actually can do somethings more easily (not more better ) than my NA6400 and it is smaller when folded up and lighter. Not shown in the pics below, see that center ball in the cold shoe, yes, I can and do run a single strobe there and remove the double arms and in such case the FIXS90 is a tiny, little bitty thing, smaller than a Nikonos: