What camera do you use?

[Larry C]

One thing I noticed about the two shots is that the second one has better DOF, which is common with P & S cameras due to smaller lens and sensor size. Maybe an artistic disadvantage, but easier to get a shot with the parts you want in focus. Regardless of dive and photo skills, my advice to any camera buyer for UW use would be.
1. Get a camera that will grow with you. That means fast focus, manual setting capability, availability of a quality housing and a strobe that is strong enough and compatible with the camera and housing.
2. Get a high quality strobe that will allow you to shoot manual or ttl, macro or wide angle.
3. Get a housing that will remain serviceable for a long time and has whatever ports, gears etc. readily available.
4. Be the best diver you can be and you'll be a better photographer.
If you want to house the D-7000, it's a great camera but you're going to spend at least $5K before you're done. A quality P & S at $1500-$2K complete will get you equal photos with lesser skills, but there are some pictures that you might have to compromise in artistic quality compared to the Nikon due to less available lens choices and choices of aperture.
Oops. Never mind the D7000 stuff. I mixed you up with Opie in the other new shooter thread. All the other advice still applies. Copy and paste to all new shooter, which camera threads. Or just go to the stickies at the top of the forum for similar advice and lots of detail on various choices.

 

[endurodog]

Hi, endurodog...!

I

Kozemani already said it - you shouldn't look for a gear solution to a skills problem.
You are an instructor, right? If you had an OW student who couldn't nail buoyancy, panicked at depth, made uncontrolled ascents and just didn't look comfortable in the .​

Mike I am an MSDT and one of the specilities I teach is dig photo. I also do lots of above water photo stuff and have a Facebook page for that photo stuff. I'm also not missing the point but I do believe you are.

I don't believe the OP has a photo problem he is trying to fix with equipment. I believe he was asking about equipment in the post and that is what many have been responding too. But if you want to get into your analogy if I had a student that had a bouyancy problem one of the many things I would do is make sure his gear was functioning. I would suggest that he buy the gear that works the best, not to fix the problem but I'm sure not going to recommend he spend money on gear that didn't function as well as it could. That is not a fix through gear and that is what the ones your arguing against here are saying. Get good gear. I always recommend people get good gear because, now wait for it, because having good gear will make your diving more enjoyable.

Now back to OP's orginal question about gear, and to re-enforce what I have all ready said. Get your gear based on what you will be shooting and the quality your wanting. If your going to shoot animals your going to want a camera with a faster focus for one example. If your eye is more decerning get a camera that will do RAW. If you think you may want to step things up in the future but your not sure buy a camera that can do RAW but shoot in JPEG and you can alway change it up, or not but you will have the option.

If your happy with Point and Shoot go for that. I did a point and shoot for years and got some really great pictures. Liked the size and ease of use.

We don't have enough info from the OP to give great advice on what he is shooting, what he wants to do with the photos, is he looking to grow into a system or what not.

​

 

[bvanant]

To get back to the original question, what camera do you use and what about the GoPro. I use a variety of cameras, Canon 7D/Nauticam-Subal, Olympus OMD/Nauticam, Sony Nex/Nauticam and they are all able pretty much to do the same things and all of them cost serious money. On the other hand, depending on what you want to do, the GoPro might give your non-diving friends a much more interesting look at what you actually see/observe while underwater. Photos and video are two very different ways to look at the world and many divers and most non divers that we know much prefer video. My wife shoots video and she has most of the artistic talent (OK all of it) in our family and her videos really document a dive/trip/type of critter much better than a photo or even series of photos. That being said, I have the occasional photo that you can hang on the wall and look at over and over and still be impressed with the beauty of an underwater creature.

There is lots of talk here about raw/JPEG, types of cameras etc. Two things I think need to be thought about. Do you want to do stills or video or both. If it is video only then a GoPro is a good and very inexpensive choice. If it is either stills only or stills + video then there is a wide array of products out there that will serve you well and only you know what your ultimate needs/budget/interest are. Two major points, you will need a strobe (or 2) for most things you want to shoot (yes you can shoot ambient only but that is far up the learning curve for most people) and you should be extremely comfortable with your camera system before you get it in the water. You will need to know what the buttons do and how to make them do it while underwater with limited time to get the mantis shrimp with eggs before she runs away.

The rest is all minor details. If you give us a budget number and an idea on how many dives you will likely be doing in the next year or two and your "seriousness" about photography (do you have a 300 page FLICKR account for example) then we can help more.

Bill

 

[wvdiver2]

If you are working on a budget, as many of us are. I like the Sealife 1200 with strobe. It is now a sealife 1400. It has an electronic red filter built in for taking video to restore color. It also comes with a strobe for taking still photos.

 

[supergaijin]

Phew, that escalated fast. I use a Canon S95 (compact). I recently bought a strobe (Inon S2000).

HALEYE97- If you are in the market for an underwater camera, it's easy to get bogged down in technical details if you don't know an ISO from an F-stop. SLR cameras are capable of taking better photos than compacts however compacts are still capable of taking awesome pictures.

If you're interested in getting started, go with a digital compact. Canon 'S' series are great performers and they're reasonably priced as they're coming out with new models every few years. My S95 came out in 2010. It is a great camera, capable of taking normal j-pegs and RAW.

RAW is important for post-editing. You really can do a lot to make fairly ordinary photos a lot crisper and more colourful. Manual White Balance is also important- I wouldn't get a camera without this feature. 'Underwater Mode' isn't very effective below 30'.

Strobes, wet-lenses etc. There's a time and a place. Unless you're getting an amazing deal, have fun with the basic setup before overloading yourself. It took me 100hrs to get my head around the basics.

Plenty of examples on my website
Laamu Dive and Surf | Affordable Scuba Diving and Watersports in the Maldives

 

[Divealpha]

I just sold my Lumix TZ-10(cost me aprx. USD 1000,-with housing) my wifes Intova IC-14(USD 400,-). We have been using these compacts for 3-4 years. Difficult to get good pictures with the Intova, but possible if you can get the WB right.
The Lumix was much better, have a lot of good pics, even if it doesn't shoot RAW.
But, I just tried my new Olympus PM1 (USD500,-w/housing) for the first time , and due to work, I haven't dived cold water for 12 months.
I'm impressed with the quality/value for money. Used it together with a Inon S-2000(slightly used, USD 400,- w/arms).
Yeah, PM1 is some years old, but I don't wanna a spend a fortune on equipment(ehhh, also got my wife the PM1 bundle+ I'm using a Hero3 on top of the PM1..... )
Can't wait to try the 60mm macro with this rig.......

Left : Lumix with Ambient light/(maybe internal flash), Asia
Right: PM1 with S2000, green water, Norway.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I use a Nikon D700. You can find them for a few hundred dollars, but if you want to take it under water...$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[alcina]

Haleye - So many great options for underwater imaging gear! What's right for you will depend on a few things, including:
- your budget
- your interest in expanding your kit and/or abilities in future
- your goals (happy snappies or super duper awesome quality)
- your time underwater
- your interest in a big rig vs a smaller rig
- your commitment to getting "the" shot and your desire to simply have fun

One little guy that I love is the Panasonic TS3 (I think there's a TS4, at least, now, but my TS3 does all I need it to do). I carry this along with me on almost every dive even though I also have my Big Girl Camera. IMHO this is an excellent option for when you just want to go and bring back some nice images to share.

 

[Tigerman]

That turtle in the bottomn there looks PISSED at the camera