Good day dear colleagues,
so far I have done many dives with my trusty old GoPro. However I disliked the image quality, and as I am going for another diving trip soon, I decided to upgrade my camera setup a bit. I read a lot of good stuff about Sony RX100, and for this reason I recently bought a new RX100 VA camera. It has the advantage that, without the underwater housing, I can use the camera also on land, which is a big plus.
Also the image quality of the RX100 VA seems to be very good. I purchased a Seafrogs housing, as I consider myself still a beginner and I dont want to spend more money for the housing than I did for the camera to start.
however I still have a couple questions.
a) is the Seafrogs a sensible choice for the start or should I have bought one of these really nice, but also very expensive Nauticam aluminium housings? do I need that as a beginner? My thinking was like so: I use the Seafrogs as a starter housing, see if it works out and I can get good pictures, and later, I can always buy a more professional housing. However I saw a couple threads from people who said that their Seafrogs housing flooded, but maybe this can happen to any housing? Also for lightning reasons I normally do not go much deeper than 20..25 m. The Seafrogs is rated to 60 m, but I would not trust this and never use it below, say, 40 m.
b) I have a tray for the camera housing with these ball joints and two grips. But I have not yet decided on the light. When I used my GoPro, I normally did not use any lights; sometimes, I used a normal torch but I think for this good camera it would make sense to have a good light too, but I have no clue what lights I need.
c) I also see that some people use additional flashers, that are connected with fibre optic cables to the camera housing. My Seafrogs housing also has the possibility to attach a fibre cable, and I wonder, do I need this? the RX100 VA has an internal flash, and the housing itself is transparent enough such that the flash shines through. It also has a diffusor that is detachable.
d) I also see that people have some very funky wide angle and macro lenses and stuff. Since I am a beginner, I have no idea which one of this I need; I see that my Seafrogs housing has the 67mm thread on the front window, so I could externally attach something, but I am not sure what particular lenses I would need. Is it okay to start without additional lenses, or is this a must?
e) I see that the Sony RX100 VA has a special underwater mode in the white balance settings. Is it worth to use this mode, or shall I just use better lights? I normally shoot RAW+JPEG, with the hope that, if the JPEG is bad, I have still the RAW to the rescue and can hopefully adjust the white balance and stuff.
I did not yet have the chance to go on a dive with my new RX100, but I really hope this camera will improve my ability to make good pictures.
For reference, I have attached a couple sample images from previous dives. I am really not super happy with the image quality, is much too much blueish and blurry, and the GoPro is sometimes really slow - i.e. you press the shutter button, and then it takes a couple seconds until it really takes a picture. The Sony is much much faster in this regard.
Basically, there are so many options and possibilities, that I struggle to find out where I shall start. Also it would be a bit sad when I go to my trip in February, and realise that my gear is useless. But I hope this is not the case, I am almost sure that the RX100 VA is a safe bet. Is it? I realise I can easily spend 10 times as much money for cases, trays, lights, flashes and stuff, than my camera cost. But I believe when I am only starting right now it makes not so much sense to buy the most professional stuff when I am still not yet experienced enough to properly use it...
so far I have done many dives with my trusty old GoPro. However I disliked the image quality, and as I am going for another diving trip soon, I decided to upgrade my camera setup a bit. I read a lot of good stuff about Sony RX100, and for this reason I recently bought a new RX100 VA camera. It has the advantage that, without the underwater housing, I can use the camera also on land, which is a big plus.
Also the image quality of the RX100 VA seems to be very good. I purchased a Seafrogs housing, as I consider myself still a beginner and I dont want to spend more money for the housing than I did for the camera to start.
however I still have a couple questions.
a) is the Seafrogs a sensible choice for the start or should I have bought one of these really nice, but also very expensive Nauticam aluminium housings? do I need that as a beginner? My thinking was like so: I use the Seafrogs as a starter housing, see if it works out and I can get good pictures, and later, I can always buy a more professional housing. However I saw a couple threads from people who said that their Seafrogs housing flooded, but maybe this can happen to any housing? Also for lightning reasons I normally do not go much deeper than 20..25 m. The Seafrogs is rated to 60 m, but I would not trust this and never use it below, say, 40 m.
b) I have a tray for the camera housing with these ball joints and two grips. But I have not yet decided on the light. When I used my GoPro, I normally did not use any lights; sometimes, I used a normal torch but I think for this good camera it would make sense to have a good light too, but I have no clue what lights I need.
c) I also see that some people use additional flashers, that are connected with fibre optic cables to the camera housing. My Seafrogs housing also has the possibility to attach a fibre cable, and I wonder, do I need this? the RX100 VA has an internal flash, and the housing itself is transparent enough such that the flash shines through. It also has a diffusor that is detachable.
d) I also see that people have some very funky wide angle and macro lenses and stuff. Since I am a beginner, I have no idea which one of this I need; I see that my Seafrogs housing has the 67mm thread on the front window, so I could externally attach something, but I am not sure what particular lenses I would need. Is it okay to start without additional lenses, or is this a must?
e) I see that the Sony RX100 VA has a special underwater mode in the white balance settings. Is it worth to use this mode, or shall I just use better lights? I normally shoot RAW+JPEG, with the hope that, if the JPEG is bad, I have still the RAW to the rescue and can hopefully adjust the white balance and stuff.
I did not yet have the chance to go on a dive with my new RX100, but I really hope this camera will improve my ability to make good pictures.
For reference, I have attached a couple sample images from previous dives. I am really not super happy with the image quality, is much too much blueish and blurry, and the GoPro is sometimes really slow - i.e. you press the shutter button, and then it takes a couple seconds until it really takes a picture. The Sony is much much faster in this regard.
Basically, there are so many options and possibilities, that I struggle to find out where I shall start. Also it would be a bit sad when I go to my trip in February, and realise that my gear is useless. But I hope this is not the case, I am almost sure that the RX100 VA is a safe bet. Is it? I realise I can easily spend 10 times as much money for cases, trays, lights, flashes and stuff, than my camera cost. But I believe when I am only starting right now it makes not so much sense to buy the most professional stuff when I am still not yet experienced enough to properly use it...
