A Beginner's Guide/New to UW Photography - suggestions

[manganui222]

Although I have previously done a little UW photography (MMII which gave lots of bad results but some awesome shots) I currently have no UW Camera setup. On land I use a Nik F65.

So what do people suggest I opt for to get be back into UW photography. I don't have tonnes and tonnes of money (if I could I'd prob go for D100 housed). So would u suggest housing my F65 - how much could it be done second hand?? Or should I go digital if so, what do u suggest (I don't currently have a digital at all)?? With digital what about shutter lag etc???

???????

[Tim Ingmire]

OK how much money have you got? What do you want to take piccies of?

Up to £500 will get you a decent compact digicam and housing but you will suffer from shutter-lag - some of the newer models are getting better but AIUI, still don't match the responsiveness of an SLR.

Up to £2000 CAN get you a housed DSLR - don't bother with the D100 unless you get your hands on a decent 2nd hand job. In many ways the D70 is a better camera and can be got for not a lot of money. Put it in an Ikelite housing and you really can be sorted for less than the £2k figure if you know where to shop. No shutter lag BUT, less flexible once your rigged and in the water. With a DSLR you choose the lens and housing based on the type of photo you want to take on that dive eg a macro lens and flat port for photos of small creatures etc will be of no use if a basking shark just happens to swim by. With a compact digicam you can easily bolt on extra lens underwater.

£2000++++++++++ What you need to think about spending if you want to get serious with lenses, ports, strobes, spares, cables etc etc. Some of this stuff is seriously expensive eg a decent wide-angle zoom such as the Nikon 12-24mm will cost £700+, Strobe cables approx £70 each, high speed / high capacity memory cards, portable storage devices / laptops etc etc etc, Storage cases for travel (excess baggage charges).

TBH I wouldn't bother to house the F65 unless you are already adept at UW film photography. You are going to go through a learning curve once you get your kit and having the immediate feedback that Digital gives you (as well as being able to take almost unlimited nos of pictures cf film) will make that curve a lot less steep. AND, as you go through that learning phase (where you will dump most of your pictures) you could end up wasting lots of money on film and D&P. Keep it as a back-up for topside use.

No matter what you go with, take time to fully understand how your camera works on land cos once you put it in a housing and take it underwater you will think that you own a totally different beast.



So, after all that, I'd say find a decent 2nd hand digicam set-up and learn to use it then think about upgrading to the DSLR if you think that the digicam set-up is restricting you.

Of course I say all this but if you go into a shop and see all that shiny DSLR stuff and a set-up just waiting to be sold and you have the money......Well, you'd have to be a stronger man than I to be able to resist abusing the credit card.

Any other questions then throw them up.

[Pigpen]

I'm still a fan of the MM11. Takes a bit of learning, but it does give some excellent results.

You can pick up a 2nd hand kit on Ebay for £250 or so.

[JohnK]

Tims right - go second hand digital first. Then if you like it you can then spend serious dosh !!!

[manganui222]

Originally Posted by kirky

Tims right - go second hand digital first. Then if you like it you can then spend serious dosh !!!

Thanks for the advice - think that from advice that digital would be good idea. But start off on something second hand to keep the costs down.

So what would u recommend second-hand????

[Tim Ingmire]

For full-on flexibility you'll find it hard to do better than the Olympus c5050.

Take a look at www.uwpmag.com and download issue 14 where you can find a review of the camera in an Olympus housing. Then also goto www.wetpixel.com and www.digitaldiver.net and browse through the digicam sections of these for more info and for photos / links to others people websites for example of what the 5050 can do. Keep an eye out also on the classified sections of the sites as complete systems often come up at good prices. ebay is also worth checking out regularly - one complete system in an Ikelite housing with Ike strobe recently went for about £700 which was good value. Don't pay more than £250 for a second hand 5050 camera (and at that price should include extras also).

Also do a search on here for 5050 as loads of us own them and have posted stuff all over the place. If you go to www.ingmire.net and look at the red sea stuff you can see some photos I took in '03 - I've some better ones from '04 but not posted them yet. These were taken without an external strobe.

[Tim Ingmire]

2nd Hand Ike housing at $400 here:

http://www.digitaldiver.net/wantads.php?adID=178

almost brand new - will give TTL control of an Ikelite strobe.

And here's a camera on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...5252 815&rd=1

Just use www.bidmate.co.uk to place the bid at the max price you are willing to pay and let it do the rest. That way you wont keep going back and re-bidding and potentially paying more than you would have.

[JohnK]

Tim`s right again !!!!! C5050 0r 5060

[Tim Ingmire]

Although for max flexibility I'd steer towards the 5050 over the 5060 - the front lens element on the 5060 moves backwards and forwards as you zoom and so is not ideal for bolting on wt lenses. The 5050 also has a brighter lens at 1.8 at its widest point - important if you like ambient light stuff - which you will do if you don't have an external strobe or if you want to do Wide Angle scenics.

Having said that it will still allow to take stunning piccies so if you do get a good deal on the 5060 then by all means go for it. Be aware tho that there have been some real concerns over the quality of the Olympus housing for the 5060.

In my view there's no match for the 5050 for UW use without spending more money than you need to and then you're into low end DSLR pricing territory.

[manganui222]

Originally Posted by Tim Ingmire

Although for max flexibility I'd steer towards the 5050 over the 5060 - the front lens element on the 5060 moves backwards and forwards as you zoom and so is not ideal for bolting on wt lenses. The 5050 also has a brighter lens at 1.8 at its widest point - important if you like ambient light stuff - which you will do if you don't have an external strobe or if you want to do Wide Angle scenics.

Having said that it will still allow to take stunning piccies so if you do get a good deal on the 5060 then by all means go for it. Be aware tho that there have been some real concerns over the quality of the Olympus housing for the 5060.

In my view there's no match for the 5050 for UW use without spending more money than you need to and then you're into low end DSLR pricing territory.

So how much should a second-hand 5050 go for??