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First UW Digi camera

1K views 10 replies 4 participants last post by  Rick Huggins 
#1 ·
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At present I have a fuji 4700 zoom, which I'm sure no UW cases are available for. I also have a reefmaster 35mm, which Im having little joy with. I intend to get shot of these both and buy a digi still cam that can be used on land as well as UW.

Can any of you point me in the right direction on which model to go for. I intend printing some of my shots out onto A4 so I reckon a 3m camera should do, but which one. I also don't wanna spend millions, but around £500 max.

Any help appreciated

Ta
 
#3 ·
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<font color='#0000FF'>Look around for Olympus C4000 (4meg) bought mine for 280 ish and housed in a Olympus PT010 case for about 220 (only downside is this housing only has a 30 meter rating) Thing the housing for the C4040 is a 40m

Works very well IMHO
Paul
 
#4 ·
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Ok chaps, I've got rid of my fuji and bought the Olympus c5050z with a PT015 housing. What sort of settings should I be using?

I am completley new to photography more so UW photography, can you recommend any books that will help me get started.

Oh, do I need a strobe at this stage, if so what do you recommend?

Thanks in advance
 
#5 ·
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Goto here for a start.  Then get over to www.digitaldiver.net where you will find stacks of info (many of the contributors own the same set-up).  If you have any more questions then come back and we will try and help more.

Oh, and congrats on purchasing a great set-up - you will not regret it!
 
#7 ·
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Hi Frogman,

Try looking here http://www.dpreview.com/ for a good place to compare different digital cameras.

I personally bought a Sony DSC 5 which is getting old now but take very good clear pictures. The down side to my model is the focus time. It takes a second or so focus and set up when you depress the shutter button. I don't know if the newer models have been improved but my camera is not that good for fast action/instantanious shots.

Dave C
 
#10 ·
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Regards, the leaking - as far as I can make out, lots of 015's have been sold and a few people have made posts saying they leak - I've had no probs so far.  Answer is maintain the housing, cleaning the O-rings and checking the housing without the camera after long journeys.  Above all, insure the whole set-up with proper insurance (which should also include flooding - daft, I know, but I have heard of some insurance not covering this - go figure.).  Remember this tho - as John Bantin says, it is not a case of if your set-up floods but when.

As for settings, the photos I took in the Red Sea were as follows:

1. Scenic / non-macro with available light (ie no flash) - use auto-settings.  This will generally decide the best settings for the picture, certainly until you are happy using manual.

2. For close up, (inc. night or low light conditions), I use manual - set the aperture to give the depth of filed I want and the lowest shutter speed I can get away with for the subject.  I then use forced flash (ie always triggers).

I have yet to get really good use of the camera in UK waters but the same as above should apply.

I keep WB and ISO on auto.

For best quality I use RAW or SHQ but make sure that you have a big enough memory card - I have never used TIFF - mainly because I not heard positive things about it.  Also, because I have 2300mAh rechargable batteries I also use full time auto-focus; this reduces the shutter lag problem.  Use only if you have good batteries tho because this can really suck up the power.

HTH for a start.
 
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