The advantage of cellphones is that they apply a lot of post-processing onto images they take automatically, whereas regular cameras leave that up to the user, and most users don't have neither the skill, nor the time to invest into this level of editing. You see this in above-water photography as well - many new owners of a fancy expensive camera are wondering, why do their cellphone point-and-click pictures look better than what's coming out of their multi-thousand dollar DSLR/MILC.
Sealife 3.0?
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IDEngineer
Registered
Been reading a lot about the TG-6 today. I really appreciate everyone's comments.
A couple more questions:
* TG-6 battery life? The Micro has seemingly infinite battery life. I took it on a one hour dive, and two lengthy snorkel sessions, and the battery indicator never came off 100%. The GoPro, on the other hand, was 60 minutes per battery, period, end of story. Yes, that's about a tank's worth and I could swap the battery during the surface intervals, but I have to say it was nice not worrying about battery life with the Micro. Of course this presumes the indicator is accurate... maybe it just crashes to 0% suddenly at the end.
* What sort of attachment points are on the deepwater enclosure, for lanyards and such? At least one review complained about the attachment point(s) but I couldn't tell if that was on the camera itself or the case. I suppose I could always run an eye screw into the 1/4in screw mount on the bottom.
* Any limit on the size of the MicroSD card in the TG-6? The GoPro I was using had some sort of max size, which meant I had to also swap the memory card every time I changed the battery (which meant every surface interval).
The reason for asking about battery life and memory capacity is that I'd prefer to set up the TG-6 before the first dive and never open the case while on/near the water or dive boat. If the battery and memory can handle a multi-tank day, it insures the camera will remain dry because its access doors never have to opened while sloshing around wet people and wet gear.
Thanks!
A couple more questions:
* TG-6 battery life? The Micro has seemingly infinite battery life. I took it on a one hour dive, and two lengthy snorkel sessions, and the battery indicator never came off 100%. The GoPro, on the other hand, was 60 minutes per battery, period, end of story. Yes, that's about a tank's worth and I could swap the battery during the surface intervals, but I have to say it was nice not worrying about battery life with the Micro. Of course this presumes the indicator is accurate... maybe it just crashes to 0% suddenly at the end.
* What sort of attachment points are on the deepwater enclosure, for lanyards and such? At least one review complained about the attachment point(s) but I couldn't tell if that was on the camera itself or the case. I suppose I could always run an eye screw into the 1/4in screw mount on the bottom.
* Any limit on the size of the MicroSD card in the TG-6? The GoPro I was using had some sort of max size, which meant I had to also swap the memory card every time I changed the battery (which meant every surface interval).
The reason for asking about battery life and memory capacity is that I'd prefer to set up the TG-6 before the first dive and never open the case while on/near the water or dive boat. If the battery and memory can handle a multi-tank day, it insures the camera will remain dry because its access doors never have to opened while sloshing around wet people and wet gear.
Thanks!
Can't speak about battery life, but the Olympus PT-059 housing has a couple of little lanyard loops on the bottom left corner. SeaFrogs housing has a big plastic loop on each of the four corners. Regardless, normally the housing is mounted on a tray and the lanyard attaches to the tray, not the housing.
As for cards, the manual says it can use all SD, SDHC and SDXC cards - SDXC standard supports cards up to 2TB in size, and AFAIK the largest currently available card is 1TB, so it stands to reason that it can use anything that's currently on the market. How large a card do you need anyway? I find that with a 64GB card, shooting RAW with a 24MP camera, I don't quite fill it up on a week-long liveaboard trip, diving four times a day.
As for cards, the manual says it can use all SD, SDHC and SDXC cards - SDXC standard supports cards up to 2TB in size, and AFAIK the largest currently available card is 1TB, so it stands to reason that it can use anything that's currently on the market. How large a card do you need anyway? I find that with a 64GB card, shooting RAW with a 24MP camera, I don't quite fill it up on a week-long liveaboard trip, diving four times a day.
This is really what it boils down to in one simple sentence. My wife has both the Micro and the TG. I shoot on a GoPro with a tray, lights, etc. If your intention is to shoot "simple" photos and video, and to have a small sized setup you can clip to a BC, either camera is awesome. You will probably need a housing for the TG, so consider that (size and cost). As you already know, the Micro is one encased unit that is very easy to use and switch between photo and video modes, but you will never be able to upgrade to a strobe setup with it if you end up getting more serious. My wife uses a 3000 lumen Sea Dragon video light with hers. She has a strobe for her TG. Having said that, the Micro is extremely durable and has great battery life. We lost her Micro in Curacao getting back on a RIB (long story, totally our fault). We came back to the same area three days later to look for it, actually found it in 35 feet of water, and 5 minutes later during the dive I look over and notice my wife has the light on and is taking photos with it!
Battery life on both is great. Not sure how you're running your GoPro, but I have never run out of battery on a two tank trip with my GoPro. If you're shooting short clips of subjects or landscapes, you should have battery to spare. Not an issue with the cameras you're considering.
I'm no help on attachment point info. Sorry. We use trays....
They both take ample sized SD cards. Again, not sure why you're burning through cards/battery on your GoPro unless you're just letting the camera run continuously or are shooting long 4k files. I put 22 dives on a liveaboard trip on one 256GB card and had just started in on a second card the last day shooting in 1080p 60fps. But most of the clips I shoot are under a minute or two, unless it's something really cool doing something really cool. LOL
You should be able to setup either camera for a two-tank trip and be good to go on memory and battery.
Good luck and happy diving/shooting!
IDEngineer
Registered
Thanks again to everyone who replied on this thread!
I spent last night experimenting with the Micro some more. Bottom line for me: It's great at what it does - but what it does well is not why I bought it. Its field of view is just too wide for my style of underwater photography, and the terribly misnamed "macro" lens doesn't improve the field of view (though it does shorten the focal length as advertised).
Another downside is that if you want to shoot close you have to mount the lens, and if you want to shoot far (beyond a couple of feet) you have to remove the lens. That's just a lot more fiddling around with loose pieces and parts than I want to hassle with right now. For me, photography is a secondary reason for diving. If it comes to dominate my diving in the future, maybe lots of loose components won't bother me. But right now having it all in a single "package" is important to me.
So... I've set up the return of the Micro and its "macro" lens. And just finished ordering the TG-6 and its case. Also nabbed a pack of LCD protectors as multiple reviews mentioned the screen is easily scratched (since it's not a touch screen there's no reduction in performance). Finally, since unlike the Micro but like the GoPro it has a removable battery, I picked up an external charger and extra OEM battery as that has proven useful on earlier trips (otherwise you can only charge the battery inside the camera and I have no idea how fast/slow charging works in the TG-6).
Looking forward to learning this new camera and learning its notorious "difficult" menus. I suspect that's just a matter of familiarity, so I'll invest the time with it off-trip.
I spent last night experimenting with the Micro some more. Bottom line for me: It's great at what it does - but what it does well is not why I bought it. Its field of view is just too wide for my style of underwater photography, and the terribly misnamed "macro" lens doesn't improve the field of view (though it does shorten the focal length as advertised).
Another downside is that if you want to shoot close you have to mount the lens, and if you want to shoot far (beyond a couple of feet) you have to remove the lens. That's just a lot more fiddling around with loose pieces and parts than I want to hassle with right now. For me, photography is a secondary reason for diving. If it comes to dominate my diving in the future, maybe lots of loose components won't bother me. But right now having it all in a single "package" is important to me.
So... I've set up the return of the Micro and its "macro" lens. And just finished ordering the TG-6 and its case. Also nabbed a pack of LCD protectors as multiple reviews mentioned the screen is easily scratched (since it's not a touch screen there's no reduction in performance). Finally, since unlike the Micro but like the GoPro it has a removable battery, I picked up an external charger and extra OEM battery as that has proven useful on earlier trips (otherwise you can only charge the battery inside the camera and I have no idea how fast/slow charging works in the TG-6).
Looking forward to learning this new camera and learning its notorious "difficult" menus. I suspect that's just a matter of familiarity, so I'll invest the time with it off-trip.
Glad you worked it out. They're both great cameras, but as you found out, have different capabilities and dynamics. I think you'll love the TG once you get used to it! Happy diving....and shooting!
IDEngineer
Registered
I thought I'd worked it out when I asked for the Micro. So with the TG-6 I'm hopeful but keeping an open mind.
Sometimes you have to get your hands on stuff and use it see how it REALLY works.
Pipehorse
Contributor
I have been using the Sealife Sportdiver with an iphone for the last seven months. The zoom function was from 1.0 to 10.0 (digital zoom), so once past about 4.5 zoom there was a loss of detail in images. But for purpose of documentation of a particular critter or fish the loss of detail is not an issue. And at the moment I am more interested in documentation, rather than taking beautiful images. Considering the $300 price tag, and the ability to take decent images with no external light I was more than content with image quality.
Sometime in December Sealife decided to pull an Apple (where they make a decision for customers because they know better what customers want then customers) and limited the zoom to 2.5 to keep it an optical zoom (with exception of telephoto lens that will zoom from 1.0 to 7.0). Imagine my surprise and disappointment when one day I had 10.0 zoom and the next day I had 2.5 zoom. When I contacted them, their answer was optical zoom is better than digital zoom, regardless of the fact that when they sold it the specifications were for 10.0 zoom. I am very disappointed with Sealife, and I don't trust the company anymore. This is a coding issue, they could have easily coded in a choice, instead they chose to ram the optical zoom down my throat. Until now I would have recommended it, but I can't do so in good faith any longer.
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