Next Camera after GoPro w/Video Lights Setup

[El_Flamingo]

I'm looking to upgrade from my current GoPro setup (my first UW camera) that I've been using for about a year and a half.

Current setup:

GoPro Hero 7 Black
2 x Sola 2500 Video Lights
Macromate Mini Underwater Lens
Backscatter Tray

I am not an experienced photographer topside but I've done a decent amount of shooting with this setup and feel like I want to upgrade to either an advanced compact or a mirrorless camera. My dive buddy just got a TG-6 and strobe and I'm impressed with the quality but I feel like since I already used the GoPro I'm ready to jump to something with some more room to grow. I'd like to get something that I can use and expand my abilities with (new lenses/techniques) as I get more experienced - my goal is to invest in something I want to use for the next 4 years or so and not want to upgrade from in 1-2 years (which is where I'm at now).

Budget: Everything (camera, housing, strobes, accessories, bag) under $5k (Ideally way less than this but I'm willing to invest in something I can grow with and use for the next 3-4 years).

So any suggestions on what camera/setup I should look into?

Bonus Question: Will the video lights I currently have carry over to a new system or am I looking to get more powerful ones?

 

[Germie]

I went from an action cam to the Olympus OMD EM5 mk2 with Isotta housing. First with 2 Videolights, later I bought strobes.
I was under 5000 without strobes. But I bought extra lenses, another port, wet diopter, snoot, and such stuff also. The arms I bought from China also the videolights.

 

[Lewis88]

Are you only looking to do video, or photos as well? Photos need strobes, not video lights.

I'd go Sony A6100, kit lens and 10-18 wide angle. Seafrogs housing with the 6inch dome, tray and arms, and a pair of strobes.

 

[El_Flamingo]

@Germie I'm assuming you mean you were under 5000 without strobes but with the other lenses and accessories you mentioned?

@Lewis88 Yes to clarify I'm primarily interested in shooting photos and I'm assuming I will need to buy strobes. I was asking if my video lights (2x Sola 2500) would be good enough to carry over to a more robust camera for when I want to shoot video. How does the Sony A6100 do with macro? Would I need to get a separate macro lens or does it shoot well enough without one - I live in the pacific northwest so my diving for the foreseeable future is here, not the tropics. There's tons of cool macro stuff that seems like a great option to shoot when vis is poor.

Also is it possible to mount the go pro to a larger camera rig as a dedicated video camera - seeing as I already have the camera and housing for it?

 

[Lewis88]

@Lewis88 Yes to clarify I'm primarily interested in shooting photos and I'm assuming I will need to buy strobes. I was asking if my video lights (2x Sola 2500) would be good enough to carry over to a more robust camera for when I want to shoot video. How does the Sony A6100 do with macro? Would I need to get a separate macro lens or does it shoot well enough without one - I live in the pacific northwest so my diving for the foreseeable future is here, not the tropics. There's tons of cool macro stuff that seems like a great option to shoot when vis is poor.

Also is it possible to mount the go pro to a larger camera rig as a dedicated video camera - seeing as I already have the camera and housing for it?

Absolutely your video lights will be great for use with a bigger system. The A6xxx series is a interchangable lens camera, so you can add a different port and lens, and even add wet lenses to get maximum performance depending on your shooting plan. I plan on diving mine with the short macro port and the 16-50 kit lens with a +7 diopter before I go full dedicated macro lens. I will also dive a Tokina canon mount 10-17 on a Sigma MC-11 adapter in the 6inch dry dome for wide angle.

It's also very easy to add your gopro, as most housings have a cold shoe on the top, so you can use a cold shoe to gopro adapter and put it on. I've used my wife's gopro knockoff on my cold shoe many times, even though I still sometimes shoot video with my main camera.

 

[El_Flamingo]

Absolutely your video lights will be great for use with a bigger system. The A6xxx series is a interchangable lens camera, so you can add a different port and lens, and even add wet lenses to get maximum performance depending on your shooting plan. I plan on diving mine with the short macro port and the 16-50 kit lens with a +7 diopter before I go full dedicated macro lens. I will also dive a Tokina canon mount 10-17 on a Sigma MC-11 adapter in the 6inch dry dome for wide angle.

It's also very easy to add your gopro, as most housings have a cold shoe on the top, so you can use a cold shoe to gopro adapter and put it on. I've used my wife's gopro knockoff on my cold shoe many times, even though I still sometimes shoot video with my main camera.

Do you have a rough estimate on how much this setup would run? (excluding gopro/adapter stuff)

 

[Lewis88]

Do you have a rough estimate on how much this setup would run? (excluding gopro/adapter stuff)

Depending on the used market and any sales, it's about ~$2k. PM me and I can give you a breakdown on what I've paid.

 

[Germie]

Here some pictures I took with my camera WITHOUT strobes, but WITH 2 videolights (Ali express, I calculated around 5000 lumen each).

No light used, just natural light:

Natural light:

Here another videolight is used as 'slave'.

Prices:
1040 euro for the camera and the 12-50 kitlens
1200 euro housing
390 euro macro port
80 euro ring to use the zoom for the kitlens
500 euro for the dome port
600 euro for the 8mm fisheye lens
120 euro for the tray.
60 euro for 3 8mm ball mounts
250 euro for butterfly clips, arms, floats, China video light as pilot light
2 times 40 euro for the 2 videolights from Ali Express
450 for a 60mm macro lens
600 for the 45mm macro lens
200 for a +10 wet diopter
169 euro for a 30mm macrolens
360 for a +15 wet diopter

And when I got this stuff and used it for 18 months, I decided it was time for strobes:
250 for 2 used strobes, 1 already died
2400 euro for 2 Inon Z-330, cables and 2 slave triggers for the used strobes
160 euro for 2 cables for the used strobes
400 euro for a replacement slave strobe, Inon S2000
18 for the Ys mount for the Inon S2000 strobe
80 for a new Inon cable. China cables will work with the camera, but won't work with the slave trigger.

 

[outofofficebrb]

Hi, @El_Flamingo.

I was in your fins a few years ago. I was shooting with a GoPro with x2 2,500 lumen video lights. I am comfortable using manual mode on cameras on land so I made the jump to a Sony RX100IV. All in, with a housing, future-proof strobes (strong ones with manual settings as well as TTL), wide angle lenses + dome, macro adapters + macro lens, floats, ball clamps, arms/mounts, and all the accessories etc....I came in at about $5K including the ThinkTank International 3.0 bag I purchased to lug it all around.

The TG series is a great camera. It has excellent microscope mode without the use of a separate macro lens. The Olympus housing can take fiberoptic strobes as well as many wide angle lenses with domes. The primary limitation is that it doesn't have a full manual mode which will make it less "future proof" than something with full manual, as you already thought of. I would look into a Sony RX100 series or Canon G7X series, or something similar.

Video lights will work in some cases, but strobes are ideal. Buy as much strobe as you can afford (higher guide numbers). Buy something with manual mode to future proof it.

 

[El_Flamingo]

Those natural light photos look amazing - hard to get that kind of lighting here in the Puget Sound, too dark and so much stuff floating in the water.