New to Photography and need some insight

[Maule]

OK, I have been enjoying diving and now want to take some pictures of my experiences. I
have never owned a "nice" camera and thought maybe buying a Nikon D-70s so that I could enjoy taking pictures on land and on sea. Then I looked at housings. OUCH. I'm basically seeing about 2k-3k for housing and strobe. Does that sound about right? Now Im back tracking and looking at maybe a Sea&Sea DX-8000G. Now that isn't cheap but it isn't 4k (with camera + lens etc) that the Nikon D-70s would be. Any suggestions about a cheaper alternative would be appreciated. I even thought about a used system from someone upgrading but where do I go to find these? Any helpful hints, suggestions or pointers would be greatly appreciated and I thank all of you in advance that offer such.

 

[Charlie99]

Think a bit about your land based photography and goals. Think about what you want with your underwater photography.

If you take "snapshots" on land as keepsakes/souvenirs/photos to share with friends and family then a small, compact point and shoot is probably a better choice than a larger SLR.

Same thing goes underwater. You can get a reasonable cost point and shoot (Canon, Sony, Olympus, etc.) and pop it into a housing. Good for fish ID. Good for sharing a bit of the underwater experience with family and friends. The lack of a good strobe is the main limiting factor on the quality of your photos.

If on the other hand, you are pursuing photograph (on land or underwater) as a goal in itself, then you might as well bite the bullet and spend the big bucks for the DSLR and external strobe.

Charlie Allen

 

[alcina]

Yup, let's hear more about your diving experience, your photographic experience, how much you dive, what kinds of shots you like to take etc.

Also, check out the sticky thread here about moving to DSLR. I am still not convinced this is the way to go for every diver - and all that money could be diving trips instead of gear in the closet

 

[Maule]

You know, maybe I need to rethink this. As far as my experience I take pictures now with a Coolpix P2 on land. I have never taken a picture diving. I dive approximately once a month, 4 or so dives over a weekend, and just wanted to start taking photos of my experiences. Maybe I fell in love with the idea of taking "nice" photos. Maybe I need to start off with like a Sea&Sea 750 package like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/Sea-Sea-DX-750G...6QQihZ006QQcategoryZ30019QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Will this type of camera take "decent" pictures in a click and shoot kind of way?

 

[OceanObsessed]

If you don't mind a film camera you may want to consider Nikonos. They are very high quality underwater cameras and you can pick them up for dirt cheap these days.

See my post in this thread...
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=148700

 

[Maule]

If you don't mind a film camera you may want to consider Nikonos. They are very high quality underwater cameras and you can pick them up for dirt cheap these days.

See my post in this thread...
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=148700

Thank you for your input. I am going to consider this option.

 

[alcina]

Or check out the recent threads here - there are several others looking to start into this, too.

I would say head to the Canon A series cameras and the Canon housings. Or the S series. Fuji also has a couple of nice cameras/housings along with Olympus.

Have a look and ask some questions. Film is lovely, but the learning curve is steep - and how often are you going to use a film camera like the Nik on land? They are a fabulous camera - I have three sitting on my shelf right now

Digital is great as the quality and price are right and the learning curve is dramatically reduced because you can make corrections right underwater!

Happy shopping!

 

[Peter Guy]

Just a quick note on digital vs. film. Since getting back into the water a year ago, I have not taken my Nikonos out of the house. And, for that matter, my beloved Canon AE1 hasn't seen the light of day since I got my first digital (Olympus C-2500) 6 or 7 years ago. Unless you really need what film can do, go digital. (And as a beginner, I doubt you need the fine edge that film may be able to provide.)

A friend of mine has been shooting film/Nikonos for years -- the kind of person who has a refrigerator JUST for his film. Well, a few months ago, after both diving at the same spot, I told him, You really need to see how great my new digital is -- then pulled out my laptop and we sat down and he looked at some pictures. THAT NIGHT he ordered his new digital camera and housing (OK, he'd been thinking hard about it, BUT looking at my pics pushed him over the edge).

Some three (?) months later I saw him at the shop and asked him how many times he'd taken his beloved Nikonos down -- answer, ZERO -- how many digital images in the three months? -- over 3000! (I saw him last week and he proudly announced he'd taken 36 shots with the Nikonos that morning -- but 50 with the dig -- and he wasn't going to get the slides back for 10 days.)

Moral of the story? Don't waste your money on a Nikonos -- which is a very fine camera.

BTW, I swung by CostCo last night and noticed the Olympus SP350 is being sold for $199 (same price online) and the Olympus housing is about $190. Now despite what NW Grateful Diver might have to say about Olympus, I think you'd find it very hard to get started with UW photographic gear that is better, or less expensive, than that! AND the SP350 should be a very nice camera for playing around above water.

And no, I do NOT have one -- after much thought, I opted for the Canon S80.

 

[Maule]

BTW, I swung by CostCo last night and noticed the Olympus SP350 is being sold for $199 (same price online) and the Olympus housing is about $190. Now despite what NW Grateful Diver might have to say about Olympus, I think you'd find it very hard to get started with UW photographic gear that is better, or less expensive, than that! AND the SP350 should be a very nice camera for playing around above water.

And no, I do NOT have one -- after much thought, I opted for the Canon S80.

Can a strobe be reasonable attached to this? My minimum requirements are being able to take pictures that I can see. I see a strobe enabled camera as a minimum. That's why I am currently leaning toward the sea & sea 750 sport package. If you, or anyone else for that matter, know of a reason I shouldn't be considering this please voice your opinion. Thanks again for all your responses. I do truly appreciate it.

 

[oly5050user]

Can a strobe be reasonable attached to this? My minimum requirements are being able to take pictures that I can see. I see a strobe enabled camera as a minimum. That's why I am currently leaning toward the sea & sea 750 sport package. If you, or anyone else for that matter, know of a reason I shouldn't be considering this please voice your opinion. Thanks again for all your responses. I do truly appreciate it.

get the oly 350 and an ikelite housing..the ike housing has a syc port to connect to the hot shoe on the camera and it gives you true oly ttl fot the ike strobe that you will use with it..much better housing that the oly one..