One of my favorite photographers is Howard Schatz. I love his underwater work, and hope to one day be able to pull off something respectable along those lines. Thing is, I’m just starting off fiddling with the art of photography, so I know very little. On a whim, I just did a search on ebay for underwater cameras, and I was just curious…what kind of things should I look for? Do all cameras need a casing, or are there ones that are completely sealed as is? What’s a good name? Any brands/styles one should just avoid outright? Again, I’m just starting, so something simple and cheap for right now is ideal to give me the opportunity to learn, but I’m looking for something better than a simple point and shoot. Thanks.
Well Elvis - I’m not a pro underwater “Photographer” but I do enjoy taking under water photo’s. I have the DIGITAL Sony VX PC300. Check it out here . Scroll around the site, it’s got all the info you need.
Basically, you want to look for ease of use. Large sight and quick snap. Your not going to get that huge trigger fish photo if you have to fumble around…And make sure the camera is tethered to your body…I dropped mine at 90 feet and it fell fast. I was in 200 ft waters…It sucked, I ended up swimming an extra 20 feet down, and ended up spending a half hour ten feet below my boat to avoid Nitrogen Narcosis. My wife had to bring me an extra tank…Never went for a swim with the camera without a tether after that…Any more Q’s let me know.
There are some dedicate underwater cameras by some specialty companies but the most widely used, the Nikonos, is being dropped by Nikon.
IMO your best bet is a compact digital with an underwater housing. I’ve used a Canon housing with my Powershot A10 which allows access to all the camera controls down to 90m. The big advantage to a digicam is the LCD viewfinder which you can see through a dive mask. The Canon housings are around $200 and a big advantage is that they float with the camera inside. Still a tether is wise. If it floods it will sink. Your camera is probably shot but why lose a housing as well?
One of the big problems is you don’t have much light once you get more than a few feet deep. Using the camera’s built in flash is possible but doesn’t work well as it illuminated particles directly in front of the lens causing glare. That’s why most divers use an off camera flash. Ikelite makes one that has a special slave cell that is places over the camera’s built in flash. It works as part of a feedback look, mimicking the flash duration of the camera’s pre-flash and exposure flash to provide automated exposure without a physical connection to the camera. If you’re snorkling in very clear, shallow water you can get spectacular results without a flash but expeect to need one to get good color underwater.
I just started my re-certification on Monday. (Another class tonight, and it will be around midnight before I get home!) So I haven’t taken u/w photos yet; but I’m getting ready to.
Nikon made the Nikonos line, which did not need a separate housing. They discontinued the past model, the Nikonos V, a year or two ago. I picked up a Nikonos V and a Nikonos IV-A on eBay, and am anxious to use them. Sea & Sea has ads for u/w cameras without separate housings, and I’ve noticed the cameras in the dive shop; but I haven’t looked at them closely because I have the Nikonos. I know Sea & Sea offers digital cameras, and I presume they also offer film cameras.
I started a thread about a month ago about building an underwater camera housing. (I think it was titles “Copyright question”, or something like that.) I was going to publish how to build your own UNDERWATER camera housing on the web; but as it turned out, I obtained original copies of the 1970 revised edition that I’m starting to sell on eBay. I’m hoping to get $10 each for them since this is the last of them and they’re somewhat rare, but we’ll see how the bidding goes. I also obtained a small stock of control glands, latches, lens gears, and studs. I haven’t decided what those parts are worth yet. I need to decide how many control glands I need for myself before I sell them. (A control gland is a 1"-long cylindrical piece of plexiglass with a ¼" hole through the middle and an O-ring groove machined into it.)
Anyway, if you want to use a specific camera you can always build your own housing out of plexiglass.
Minolta also makes an dedicated underwater camera, the Vectis Weathermaticalthough they say it is submersible to only 33 feet.
Thanks for the suggestions. I guess I should specify, this is for taking underwater portraits in pools/tanks, not ocean work or anything like that. I don’t know if that really matters much. I’m looking for something similar to a basic 35 mm that can be taken underwater.
I’ve found two fairly cheap ones: a Motormarine 35 by Sea and Sea, and a Sealife Reefmaster RC (I like this one because it comes with an extra macro lens). Anyone know anything about these?
I like the Nikonos cameras, but I’m a little concerned with the fact they’ve been discontinued. Just makes me feel it would be hard to find attatchments and such for it. of course, if I get any good, I’d probably end up buying a better camera anyway, but seeing as how I’m currently inexperienced and poor…
Thanks for the advice, again. If you have any other suggestions, please let me know.
Cameras made specifically for underwater photography are going to be a little pricey. My suggestion is to pick up this 375 dollar Canon Powershot G3 (mine is on its 8,000 photo and going strong) and one of these handy $600 dollar underwater cases.
I only suggest the Powershot because its been faithful to me. I think most of the digital point and shoots have underwater cases available in the same price range.
There aren’t that many attachments. There are five lenses: 15mm, 20mm, 28mm, 35mm, and 80mm. A 35mm u/w lens is equivalent to a 50mm lens in air. Refraction causes things to look about 25% larger and closer underwater.
Helix and (I think) Sea & Sea make flash units. O-rings are available from Nikon, and Nikon still services the Nikonos V. Close-up kits (lens extensions and frames) are sold by a variety of vendors. And, of course, there’s eBay.
But there really aren’t a lot of “extras”, unlike non-aquatic 35mm SLRs.