PatW
Contributor
What camera you need depends on your goals and skills both as a diver and a photographer.
Underwater photography is challenging. Your max range is about 5'. That means wide angle lenses and macro photography. The visual spectrum is degraded the deeper you go as is the light intensity. That means strobes.
To get good photos, you need to be able to move precisely and to hover. You need top notch buoyancy skills. Also, there is that problem of task loading. Diving whilst taking photos is far more complex than just diving. If you are not very comfortable with both, you can get into trouble easily.
I shoot with a Nikon D7000 with a Nauticam housing. A DSLR gives precise and fast focus that can not be matched. Of course, it is big, heavy and costs enough to break a small country.
A step down from the DSLR are the mmirror less cameras. These have the advantages of interchangeable lenses and large sensors. They are also considerably more compact than the DSLR and cheaper too.
A good advanced point and shoot can also be a decent option and is far more affordable, if such an expression can be used in underwater photography. There are a number of retail stores with web sites that explain the different systems available. Two of them are Backscatter and Reef Photo and Video. If you can, visit the store and actually look at the gear.
Underwater photography is challenging. Your max range is about 5'. That means wide angle lenses and macro photography. The visual spectrum is degraded the deeper you go as is the light intensity. That means strobes.
To get good photos, you need to be able to move precisely and to hover. You need top notch buoyancy skills. Also, there is that problem of task loading. Diving whilst taking photos is far more complex than just diving. If you are not very comfortable with both, you can get into trouble easily.
I shoot with a Nikon D7000 with a Nauticam housing. A DSLR gives precise and fast focus that can not be matched. Of course, it is big, heavy and costs enough to break a small country.
A step down from the DSLR are the mmirror less cameras. These have the advantages of interchangeable lenses and large sensors. They are also considerably more compact than the DSLR and cheaper too.
A good advanced point and shoot can also be a decent option and is far more affordable, if such an expression can be used in underwater photography. There are a number of retail stores with web sites that explain the different systems available. Two of them are Backscatter and Reef Photo and Video. If you can, visit the store and actually look at the gear.
