Rick, Matt and any other photo folks....

[Port Tack]

I want to start taking some pictures as I dive and wondered about the best gear to start. Definitely want Digital. Any helpful hints appreciated. Do you think the specialty courses that are offered for photography are worthwhile? Thanks for any direction.

Mike

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Are you at all knowledgable in photography on land? What would you like the pictures for? Actual quality shots or just snapshots to preserve the memory? Got any idea on how much you are willing to spend?

They offer three levels of UW photography at UWW to suit different photographic needs. Its one way of learning what you need...

The other, is just getting out there and doing it, improving(hopefully) with every dive. I went this direction and learned camera functions and settings online.

If you'd like to try out my little rig, I'll letcha have at it.

 

[Rick Murchison]

What the courses are designed to do - and the good ones like Tom Smedley's do get done - is to shorten the track from beginner to good underwater photographer. What took most of us years (and *countless* rolls of film; *stacks* of sorry photos) to learn can largely be covered in a weekend by someone who really knows the tricks and tips and things to avoid and things to strive for.
So, I recommend a course, but there's no reason to keep you from just getting out there and firing away, either.
The new digitals from Sea Life and Sea & Sea are just a couple of excellent offerings that meet not only the needs of the beginner but can capture excellent images in the hands of a dedicated underwater photographer.
(I happen to know that Tom Smedley has a housed C4040 he may be willing to part with if you talk to him real sweet)
Go for it!
Rick

 

[Port Tack]

Hello Matt: I do have some photography experience and do not really have big plans for the underwater photography right now. I mainly want to take decent pictures to show my friends the things I see. What kind of rig do you use? I appreciate your offer and would definitely like to see what you use. Maybe I can look at it the next time we do the Whiskey. Thanks for your reply.

Mike

 

[Port Tack]

Thanks Rick: I will try to get in touch with Tom. That camera is one of the ones I was interested in. The course idea sounds good to me. At least with the digital cameras I will not be wasting film at the beginning. Thanks for the encouragement.

Mike

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I use an Olympus C5060 in the Olympus PT020 housing. When ya wanna dive?

I would like to use the Olympus E330 housed , but can't afford it

I have a bit of experience with the SeaLife DC310, great camera for snapshots, but offers no manual controls for further creativity. Maybe the newer SeaLife DC500 has more flexibility?

Regardless, many people seem to have great luck with Olympus, Canon, and Fuji prosumer point-n-shoots. They offer fully manual modes as well as varies degrees of automated modes including 'full auto' point and shoot.

Search the Underwater photography forum for Gilligan's posts, he uses an Olympus C4040 I believe, comes back with some impressive shots too!

 

[alcina]

Hello Matt: I do have some photography experience and do not really have big plans for the underwater photography right now. I mainly want to take decent pictures to show my friends the things I see.

Mike

You might want to look at the Fuji 11, too. No manual controls, but a pretty nifty little unit! The UW Photo area here on SB has several recent threads on cameras to get started with so check out the first three or so pages - tons of information and images there.

 

[Tom Smedley]

This shot was done on the Black Bart in Panama City with an Olympus 4040 four megapixel camera in an Ikelite housing using a DS-125 strobe and remote TTL sensor. The shot was also backlit with a Dive Rite HID light.

This one was taken by Rick Murchison with a cardboard camera in a housing.

Unless you have the disposable budget to go right into an expensive rig start small and work up. The hardest thing that new U/W photogs to get right is distance and the three rules for magazine covers. Get low, get close, and shoot up.

Good luck on your venture. Those who develop a hobby within a hobby are far more apt to be active divers. Photography is an ideal hobby to adjunct your Scuba. But I warn you - It is addictive and it is expensive.

 

[Port Tack]

Thanks everyone. The little digital camera I play with now is a Fuji, so it would be nice to use something underwater that would accept the same XD film storage media. I think Fuji and Olympus use the XD. I will check out the Fuji 11. My little camera is the Finepix A210. It is a basic little digital camera and I do not think there is a housing for it. Everyone enjoy your weekend. It will be work for me.

Mike

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

You will definately be limited to Olympus and Fuji, you are correct that they are the only two companies using this media.

Most of the newer Olympus cameras only take XD(SP350, SP500, ect). Some of the now defunct C-series cameras took both XD and FC(C5060, C7070, C8080, ect). I haven't followed up much on Fuji cameras, but there are some people in the UW Photog forum that have shared great pics from Fujis. The SP350 seems to be the new favorite Olympus PnS model for UW photography - for what its worth. I'm fairly certain you could pick up the 350 + housing(Oly), new for less than $500.