I purchased a Bonica Multi Snapper a couple of years ago and am quite happy with it. They have upgraded the housing, so now it is easier to change you focal lenght under water. There are 3 settings, Ultra Macro (5" to 16"), Super Macro (16" to 4ft) and Normal (4ft to infinity): you can change under water, which gives you a lot of versastility! I use 200ASA slide film and have had some very good results!!!
Starter camera?
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TomC
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New MultiSnapper on ebay for $210
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?
ViewItem&item=3624848272&category=1300
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?
ViewItem&item=3624848272&category=1300
buttermanr
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Don't buy any camera unless it has an external strobe. The built-in strobes will not let you take decent pictures as they light up all suspended particles and create "snow" in your picture.
I also strongly recommend that you buy a camera that has the option to add a macro lens. Even if you don't want it now, you will in the future. Guaranteed.
Unfortunately I don't think you will find this for $100 and my recommendation is to save a little longer. The Ikelite Auto 35 and ReefMaster RC Pro are about $295 including external strobe and macro lens. You can also try to find a used Sea&Sea MX-10. New they are about $375 (inc. strobe) and perhaps you can find one on ebay for under $200...
RB
I also strongly recommend that you buy a camera that has the option to add a macro lens. Even if you don't want it now, you will in the future. Guaranteed.
Unfortunately I don't think you will find this for $100 and my recommendation is to save a little longer. The Ikelite Auto 35 and ReefMaster RC Pro are about $295 including external strobe and macro lens. You can also try to find a used Sea&Sea MX-10. New they are about $375 (inc. strobe) and perhaps you can find one on ebay for under $200...
RB
I recently purchased a point and shoot camera with an underwater case for around $120.
I am not happy with it and wish I had gone digital. The flash is on the camera and is not powerful enough for underwater work. I took it to the Galapagos and most of the pictures did not turn out well.
For the best pictures you must be within 2 to 4 feef from your subject.
The pictures are nice in very clear, shallow water with a lot of sunlight or on the surface.
You will outgrow this camera before the first pictures come back.
You are doing the right thing asking for feed back I wish I had.
I am not happy with it and wish I had gone digital. The flash is on the camera and is not powerful enough for underwater work. I took it to the Galapagos and most of the pictures did not turn out well.
For the best pictures you must be within 2 to 4 feef from your subject.
The pictures are nice in very clear, shallow water with a lot of sunlight or on the surface.
You will outgrow this camera before the first pictures come back.
You are doing the right thing asking for feed back I wish I had.
bgonderi
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I've got a Sea & Sea MX-5 which is a 35mm with a built-in flash. Buttermanr speaks the truth about the external strobe. If you get right up on something, the picture turns out OK (well, ok for an underwater newbie photographer like myself anyway, would probably get laughed off this board), but if you're any distance away, or the water is heavily silted, then you're just wasting film.
I got a real good deal on a Sea & Sea Seamaster Pro (which has external strobes), but haven't had a chance to use it (it cost me $500, so is out of the price range you mentioned).
Finally, I just purchased a C-5050Z digital camera. Don't have a housing yet, but I plan to get one at some point. The big benefit I see is that you don't have to pay for developing and printing of bad pictures. Currently, on a roll of 36 exp film, I wind up really only having one or two good pictures. With digital, this is no problem. This camera has two slots for memory - I've got a 512mb card in one slot, and the other can handle at least that much. With the 512mb card, I get somewhere between 200 and 300 pictures - way more than I could possibly take on a two-tank boat dive, and possibly more than on a whole dive trip. Of course, it was $529 for the camera, so also out of the range.
I guess my advice would be to buy the nicest camera (in terms of features, external strobes, etc.) that you can (even if you have to save up some more $$$ to get it), and try to get one that you can "add on" to. Even if you can't get the strobe right now, or the macro lens, get the camera, but be prepared for some disappointing pictures mixed in with the good ones. Then as time and $$$ permits, you can expand your system and get the performance you need. With the MX-5, there's really not anything you can add (other than a macro lens) - it doesn't support and external strobe. There's a newer version out that does, but I understand that the strobe is still fixed in place and direction, so you're still going to have the problems with silt. Don't remember what I paid for mine, but looks like the MX-5II is somewhere around $155 for the camera, and $160 for the strobe.
Here's a web page with pictures from the MX-5 (taken on one of our open water training dives, so no DIR comments, please!): http://www.employees.org/~bjg/Diving/Dives/10-01-Kauai/10-01-Kauai.htm
You can see what people are talking about with the silty photos quite easily (i.e. a good example of a bad photograph!), but there are also some decent ones. If you look at the pictures from Nassau, those were taken around 95-100 fsw.
Another option (for the interim) would be to see if any dive shops where you're going rent cameras (of course, those are usually pretty low-end ones, and you probably don't have a lot of time to get to learn how to use it), but might be an avenue to explore. If not, you could always try to buddy up with someone who has a camera, sweet-talk them about how nice it is, and how good of photographs you bet it takes, and then hit them up for copies of their pictures.
I got a real good deal on a Sea & Sea Seamaster Pro (which has external strobes), but haven't had a chance to use it (it cost me $500, so is out of the price range you mentioned).
Finally, I just purchased a C-5050Z digital camera. Don't have a housing yet, but I plan to get one at some point. The big benefit I see is that you don't have to pay for developing and printing of bad pictures. Currently, on a roll of 36 exp film, I wind up really only having one or two good pictures. With digital, this is no problem. This camera has two slots for memory - I've got a 512mb card in one slot, and the other can handle at least that much. With the 512mb card, I get somewhere between 200 and 300 pictures - way more than I could possibly take on a two-tank boat dive, and possibly more than on a whole dive trip. Of course, it was $529 for the camera, so also out of the range.
I guess my advice would be to buy the nicest camera (in terms of features, external strobes, etc.) that you can (even if you have to save up some more $$$ to get it), and try to get one that you can "add on" to. Even if you can't get the strobe right now, or the macro lens, get the camera, but be prepared for some disappointing pictures mixed in with the good ones. Then as time and $$$ permits, you can expand your system and get the performance you need. With the MX-5, there's really not anything you can add (other than a macro lens) - it doesn't support and external strobe. There's a newer version out that does, but I understand that the strobe is still fixed in place and direction, so you're still going to have the problems with silt. Don't remember what I paid for mine, but looks like the MX-5II is somewhere around $155 for the camera, and $160 for the strobe.
Here's a web page with pictures from the MX-5 (taken on one of our open water training dives, so no DIR comments, please!): http://www.employees.org/~bjg/Diving/Dives/10-01-Kauai/10-01-Kauai.htm
You can see what people are talking about with the silty photos quite easily (i.e. a good example of a bad photograph!), but there are also some decent ones. If you look at the pictures from Nassau, those were taken around 95-100 fsw.
Another option (for the interim) would be to see if any dive shops where you're going rent cameras (of course, those are usually pretty low-end ones, and you probably don't have a lot of time to get to learn how to use it), but might be an avenue to explore. If not, you could always try to buddy up with someone who has a camera, sweet-talk them about how nice it is, and how good of photographs you bet it takes, and then hit them up for copies of their pictures.
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