Hi Guys,
I am new to underwater photography. Am looking to invest in a kit but quite confused on which way to go. My thoughts / concerns are as follows and have also attached a simple table to highlight what I have been looking at / thinking. Any advice will be appreciated.
I have been an avid photographer and have been shooting on full frame since the Nikon D4 (14-15 years).
I primarily earn money from Maternity / Boudoir / Family portraits but love to photograph wildlife in my spare time (a lot of Safari's).
My current primary camera is the Sony a7RV and my backup body is my older Sony a7RIII
As you will see in the table, I have considered the following options:
1. Using my a7RV or can even consider using the a7RIII
2. Investing in an a7CR (full frame but more compact body)
3. Investing in a a6700 (similar autofocus capability to the a7RV, compact body and possibly replacing my a7RIII which I use only on Safari's as a secondary body with the 1.4 teleconverter on a 70-200 f2.8 lens --> I figure just not use the teleconverter and use the 70-200 lens with the APS-C sensor will give me effectively the same focal range for my secondary body when the animal's are too close to use with my a7RV and a 400 or 600 mm Sony lenses)
4. Investing in the OM E-M10 IV camera and backscatter Octa kit... but this would become a one trick pony since I would never use the camera or lenses outside of underwater photography (I plan to do 2 week long dive trips each year)
I have around 30 dives under my belt and am not sure how much larger the Ikelite 200 DL or Isotta housing is compared to the smaller 200 DLM/A or 200 DLM/E housings.
1. I understand that the kit will be ideally neutrally buoyant underwater but there is still drag and bulk of the kit to dive with
2. I am not sure how much of a difference in overall size / drag / bulk the larger housing will make once all the arms, floats and lights are kitted together in the grand scheme of things
3. The dive school where I did my certification gave me a OM TG5 system for my certification dives... whilst I love the small form factor and built in macro capability, the laggy system, lack of full controls and the camera constantly going to sleep and when I tried to half press the shutter to wake it up - it would start recording some random video or take a random photo which would result in me having to wait for that lag to end before I could actually use it was quite frustrating! I dont know how much of this is rectified on the TG7
For lighting, I was considering 2 of the Backscatter Hybrid flashes since as a novice underwater photographer, it is quite confusing when people ask me if I plan to only take still images or video. Like most photographers I would like the option to do both in an ideal world! I only wish they had a snoot for this flash for me to be able to expand into macro over time.
I am veering towards either getting the a6700 kit (which lens out of the two would you suggest) or the housing for the a7rV (would you suggest the Ikelite or the Isotta). If I could only find a good housing for the a7RIII used I could totally consider that as an option.
Thanks!
Adi
I am new to underwater photography. Am looking to invest in a kit but quite confused on which way to go. My thoughts / concerns are as follows and have also attached a simple table to highlight what I have been looking at / thinking. Any advice will be appreciated.
I have been an avid photographer and have been shooting on full frame since the Nikon D4 (14-15 years).
I primarily earn money from Maternity / Boudoir / Family portraits but love to photograph wildlife in my spare time (a lot of Safari's).
My current primary camera is the Sony a7RV and my backup body is my older Sony a7RIII
As you will see in the table, I have considered the following options:
1. Using my a7RV or can even consider using the a7RIII
2. Investing in an a7CR (full frame but more compact body)
3. Investing in a a6700 (similar autofocus capability to the a7RV, compact body and possibly replacing my a7RIII which I use only on Safari's as a secondary body with the 1.4 teleconverter on a 70-200 f2.8 lens --> I figure just not use the teleconverter and use the 70-200 lens with the APS-C sensor will give me effectively the same focal range for my secondary body when the animal's are too close to use with my a7RV and a 400 or 600 mm Sony lenses)
4. Investing in the OM E-M10 IV camera and backscatter Octa kit... but this would become a one trick pony since I would never use the camera or lenses outside of underwater photography (I plan to do 2 week long dive trips each year)
I have around 30 dives under my belt and am not sure how much larger the Ikelite 200 DL or Isotta housing is compared to the smaller 200 DLM/A or 200 DLM/E housings.
1. I understand that the kit will be ideally neutrally buoyant underwater but there is still drag and bulk of the kit to dive with
2. I am not sure how much of a difference in overall size / drag / bulk the larger housing will make once all the arms, floats and lights are kitted together in the grand scheme of things
3. The dive school where I did my certification gave me a OM TG5 system for my certification dives... whilst I love the small form factor and built in macro capability, the laggy system, lack of full controls and the camera constantly going to sleep and when I tried to half press the shutter to wake it up - it would start recording some random video or take a random photo which would result in me having to wait for that lag to end before I could actually use it was quite frustrating! I dont know how much of this is rectified on the TG7
For lighting, I was considering 2 of the Backscatter Hybrid flashes since as a novice underwater photographer, it is quite confusing when people ask me if I plan to only take still images or video. Like most photographers I would like the option to do both in an ideal world! I only wish they had a snoot for this flash for me to be able to expand into macro over time.
I am veering towards either getting the a6700 kit (which lens out of the two would you suggest) or the housing for the a7rV (would you suggest the Ikelite or the Isotta). If I could only find a good housing for the a7RIII used I could totally consider that as an option.
Thanks!
Adi
