Photo 101 - Canon AE-1 Program - Land Use

[Warmwater Wank]

And if you do locate a housing you will certainly want that 28mm lens for $40 bucks (but even wider would be better for UW use). I'd agree, this is a solid camera. If you run into some ultra hot deal on a housing and can be using this camera uw for a couple hundred more bucks that could be a great intro. Getting serious money into it though (what ever that amount is for you) would not (~Opinion Alert~) be the best route to take for long term UW photography.

Learn all you can with the class and the camera before you decide any of this. I'd repeat Jeff's point about being able to learn more with a film camera. It can demystify so much about what has to happen to create a good photograph--and why it has to happen.

I still shoot b&w film topside and a big part of the appeal for me is the camera operation. I feel like I made the photograph when I am finished, I didn't just take the picture. I am not saying digital doesn't let you make the photograph or anything. Just that most people never bother to find out what the camera can and can't do, so they don't get as much as they could from using it.

Whatever you teach yourself about camera operation, composition and creativity with this class will let you enjoy any kind of photography. Assuming you don't get too distracted in the darkroom, that is. // ww

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

shooting with those cameras, you basically had to shoot in manual mode underwater. I had to remember the GN of the strobe, then estimate the distance to the subject, set focus to that distance (if not using a dome port), set aperture based on distance and look thru the viewfinder whose image is further demagnified by the adapter and shoot off, then wait a few weeks while I send it off to get it processed by kodak sea processing.

 

[diversteve]

Coincidentally - just saw this on eBay: Canon Marine Capsule A Underwater Housing For A-Series SLR Canon Cameras | eBay

 

[Warmwater Wank]

That is soooo seriously retro! Show up to class with that and your status will be set in perpetuity. (Take shots in the print washer and your prof will think you're a kindred spirit, give you an A.) Oh, you gotta bid on this PS! // ww

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

I don't know if it is that good an idea to come up with UW shots for the class, since to get pictures composed properly with the right subject placement, depth of field, etc...something worthy to present in a class, would require alot of scuba skills and buoyancy control. If you aren't skilled at handling large equipments underwater and have good maneuvering skills, you likely will end up with alot of underwater snapshots.

You would likely get better pictures by going to the aquarium and compose some good pictures from there.

 

[FuzzyNutz]

So here's the update, my grandfather had a BRAND NEW Pentax PZ-20 (well, like 20 years old, but I literally broke the seal on the box!) so I'm using that for the class and I got another student to buy the Canon from the "camera sensei". I kept a close eye on that Marine Capsule ebay auction, and in the last few moments I watched the price jump considerably (it ended at $330 + about another 200 for shipping)... I figured if I'm going to drop that kind of cash on equipment, it might as well be on more current technology, lol (and I'd really only get to use it during spring break anyway (at least for the class) or in a pool.

1st Assignment - a set on Flickr <-- Here are 20 photos from my first assignment, and for my first time using a manual camera, I think they came out pretty damn badass, lol! I definitely caught the photography bug!! The rest of the course will be in black and white.