Thinking about upgrading ... but still want simplicity

[Nemrod]

@Nemrod - I understand the need for the lights and strobes. I just want to cheat and get the image quality without the hassle or investment!! I'm looking at the minimalist TG-6 setup.

Cheating is not allowed. Just saying, if I cannot get my camera into a place without possibly damaging the reef or critter, then I pass on the shot. There are some awfully small video lights on the market now if video is your main interest. The Inon S2000 is the smallest full feature strobe.

I do feel your pain but am not especially sympathetic, lol:



Good luck. The 60 yo, congrats and many more for you and your husband, you are still just a baby.

N

 

[Kimela]

Cheating is not allowed. Just saying, if I cannot get my camera into a place without possibly damaging the reef or critter, then I pass on the shot. There are some awfully small video lights on the market now if video is your main interest. The Inon S2000 is the smallest full feature strobe.

I do feel your pain but am not especially sympathetic, lol:



Good luck. The 60 yo, congrats and many more for you and your husband, you are still just a baby.

N

Awww, thanks for saying I'm just a baby!!! I was eavesdropping on a group of folks at AKR last week and the youngest among them was 70 - I was SO happy to hear that!

The biggest I think I'd want to go (as of THIS moment) would be your rig to the far left. I know I'd have to sacrifice quality and getting some awesome shots. I just don't know if I can manage a rig that big and not get caught up in 'doing nothing but adjustments'. I suppose you manage to get used to it and still enjoy the dives. I'm conflicted. There's a part of me that feels like 'if I don't have a pic of it, it didn't happen' and then I hear someone wax eloquently about the 'zen' of a dive without a camera at all and think "well, I suck!" because it's not about the 'zen' for me - or maybe I get my 'zen' a different way.

I have plenty of time to take all of it into consideration and change my mind ... several times ...

 

[arcticat99]

Without a housing?

yes its good for 105 ft i had it down to 87 ft no problems .it takes great pics and videos.easy underwater filter setting 450 canadian regular price i paid 300 on a boxing day sale 2 yrs ago

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

yes its good for 105 ft i had it down to 87 ft no problems .it takes great pics and videos.easy underwater filter setting 450 canadian regular price i paid 300 on a boxing day sale 2 yrs ago

Amazon.com : Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (Blue) (OLD MODEL) : Point And Shoot Digital Cameras : Camera & Photo

That thing is rated to 105 ft? Seriously?

 

[scubadada]

Amazon.com : Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-Inch LCD (Blue) (OLD MODEL) : Point And Shoot Digital Cameras : Camera & Photo

That thing is rated to 105 ft? Seriously?

I believe it's this one Panasonic Lumix TS7 / FT7 review | TechRadar

 

[tursiops]

I have already flooded a JVC (just didn't close the case properly before descending)

Operator error, not caused by the camera!

I get frustrated because I forget to take the danged macro lens off when shooting a regular pic, or the string that connects it to my rig sometimes gets stuck in the picture

Operator error, not caused by the camera!

I totally botched a video of eagle rays that swam RIGHT AT ME because the camera flashes a blue dot followed by a red flashing dot when you turn on the video function; then the same sequence when you hit the shutter to record; then the same friggin' sequence when you turn off recording; and the entire time the counter is going so you really can't tell what is being recorded!

Crummy User Interface on that camera!

how much I can accomplish without having to put it on a huge rig with lights extending out a foot and a half of both sides?

You only need to do this for wide-angle shots.

I just want to cheat and get the image quality without the hassle or investment!!

Yeah, well, good luck!

I'm looking at the minimalist TG-6 setup.

Good choice especially if you want macro shots.

the macro shots I'd like to get

TG-6 works great for this, and you won't have string hanging in front of the lens!

I just don't know if I can manage a rig that big and not get caught up in 'doing nothing but adjustments'.

You can, it just take some practice. Pretty much ALL cameras (big and small) can be used in an auto mode, so no real adjustments, but this does not work all the time. The biggest thing you can do to improve your pictures is to take them yourself, don't let the camera do it for you. That is, shoot in manual, including the flash. It is really not hard, it just seems daunting. In fact, as good as the TG-6 is, you cannot shoot in manual with it, so you are limited in its applicability to all but macro and really mundate non-macro shots. That may be good enough, but you have been warned!

As to size: a TG-6 in a housing is really not much different than any other small-sensor, compact camera. Put on strobes and/or video lights and they all get the same amount bigger. By the time you have two strobes and two video lights and a tray, the size of the camera/housing is almost irrelevant!

 

[CanadaDan]

Deleted... realized my suggestion was outside of your parameters.

 

[doctormike]

I`ve found that it`s 99% operator and 1% camera for most photography. Keep working with what you have and see what happens. It`s amazing what you can do after you get used to your set up.

 

[Nemrod]

I like that pie diagram, very nice work. But I would relabel the Ambient and Strobe Lighting as just Lighting. Some photos are perfect with ambient only like some WA reef scenes, wrecks and B&W, some with flash only like most Macro where a black background is often desirable and the strobe is needed to expose the subject and some photos rely heavily on both ambient and strobe lighting for depth and dynamic range such as CFWA.

I usually try to have a plan (which goes to hades as soon as I get in the water) as to what I want to do, what I am trying to realize and what type of subject matter I want to emphasize. If I am going for Macro I will not enter the water with a WA lens on my port. Of course, that is when a Russian nuclear submarine drives by in formation with two whale sharks and a UFO in tow! So it goes .

N

 

[Jcp2]

Alert Diver | The Critical Instant

The technical quote:

I'm a minimalist and take most of my images with a Nikon D800 with a Micro-Nikkor 60mm lens inside a stripped-down Ikelite housing with a single Ikelite DS160 strobe centered above the lens port. I use manual focus, manual f-stop and low ISO settings, and I tend to keep the power output on my strobe dialed down for rapid-fire situations.