Looking for optimal bulky/rendering compact photo camera

[Barmaglot]

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

It's a modeling light, not a video light. It is very useful for aiming snoots, but that's about it. Perhaps you're thinking of the 5000lm light in Backscatter HF-1 - that's a completely different product.

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.

No, that is not what I'm suggesting. What I mean is, instead of attaching your arms to tray handles, connect both to the ball on top of cold shoe using a triple clamp. You still get twin strobe coverage and separation, but you skip the tray. I'll take a picture and post it once I get home.

 

[emoreira]

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.

I have a Sealife Micro 2.0.
A few weeks ago I took several pics al 25 meters depth in a wreck in greenish waters. I've colour corrected them with Dive+ app.
The dive guide was filming with a GoPro 13 (if I recall correctly) and shared the crude videos with us. The GoPro has a built-in colour correction SW that made the water look way better.
I don't have the ability to do a better colour correction than that provided by Dive+ app. Perhaps I could get a similar correction than that provided by the SW of the GoPro, but I have not the ability nor the tools.

 

[Nemrod]

It's a modeling light, not a video light. It is very useful for aiming snoots, but that's about it. Perhaps you're thinking of the 5000lm light in Backscatter HF-1 - that's a completely different product.


No, that is not what I'm suggesting. What I mean is, instead of attaching your arms to tray handles, connect both to the ball on top of cold shoe using a triple clamp. You still get twin strobe coverage and separation, but you skip the tray. I'll take a picture and post it once I get home.

Yes, I was not sure about the lighting on the mini-strobe. A couple of buddies have them and one thing they do well is talk to the TG RC control it seems. And they work well in sTTL. A buddy is using one as a master strobe to control two more strobes outboard mounted, and it seems to work well (with a TG).

Oh, yes, good idea on the strobe arms using a triple clamp. Or even a standard clamp and single arm as I have been doing with my S90. I might try that with double arms and triple clamp. My concern there is ripping the cold shoe from the housing. Some are more substantial than others I am sure.

A single handle tray, a single arm, two clamps and a Backscstter mini-strobe or Inon S220 would still be very compact and fold up nicely with the strobe centered over the camera. I shoot more CFWA and WA than macro so I need the arms but your idea is pretty neat, I like that concept, thank you. Might be perfect for the OP .

I am just not a TG fan but, they can be a good camera for limited uses and especially macro. Their inability to control f stop and shutter speed makes it difficult to get the dersireable black background in macro but on nthe other hand the tinsy, tiny, bitsy little sensor does produce a lot fo depth of field.

 

[Anish]

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:

I think the Tg7 is ideal for macro. You have microscope mode and no need for extra lens. The small sensor is not an issue when you are zoomed in so much and using a strobe. If you are shooting wide in low light, then yeah, its not the best option.

 

[Barmaglot]

Here is what I meant by using cold shoe to mount twin strobes:

It's my SeaFrogs a6700 kit with twin Retras but you get the idea. You can fold the arms in very tightly:

Although without the tray, you probably want longer arm segments - like, 30cm instead of 20cm - for optimal strobe separation. Maybe use Inon stick arms or even their telescoping arms.

 

[Nemrod]

That is a lot of mass hung on the cold shoe. Not sure the cold shoe on a TG OEM housing could support that without shearing off. I guess the idea is to keep the forces applied to the triple clamp and not the cold shoe when adjusting the arms/strobes not useing the camera housing as a holding point. Interesting idea. Thanks.

 

[Barmaglot]

That is a lot of mass hung on the cold shoe. Not sure the cold shoe on a TG OEM housing could support that without shearing off.

S220 with batteries weighs 463g in air, 50g in water. Inon stick arms M-T are 66g each, clamps are 60g for double, 70g for triple, cold shoe ball is 40g. Total 1.54kg. Doesn't look that excessive to me. If super-worried, use a metal housing from Nauticam or Isotta; that will further reduce the packing volume.

 

[bluepacific]

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.

Thanks all for the response.

Is the Sony RX series any good for underwater? I have a Sony RX100IV that I got for free but I never use it as I simply take images with my iPhone above water. It is really compact which is great. If so, any housing you'd recommend? Thank you.