Underwater Photography

[TLI]

Ok, I'm looking to go to Australia next spring for 4 months as part of a study abroad program and I would like to do some underwater photography. I dont want to drop a fortune on a housing, so I thought about one of those PVC bags but they're only rated to 15 feet (4.6m). I own a Nikon D50 and would like to know if 15' is a good depth and if the PVC bag is a good (cheap) substitute. Though I have found some that are rated for 66' they're about $350...(no thanks I'd rather buy a new lens or flash). Any comments advice or other ideas?

Also, ive also looked into renting...but again, not a cheap substitued, least not in what i found.

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[jsmharley]

I would not be skimpy on a housing for uw pics. I scuba dive and use a p&s sony with 1 of sony's uw housings. It is rated to 120 feet and has been to 65 with no problems so far. I make sure that b4 I get wet the O ring is lubed and clean as well as the groove it sits in. Are you just looking to snorkle and take pics of dive and take pics? That would be the deciding factor for me. Hope this helps some. Jeremy

[wesd]

IF you are decent at working with solid modeling on the computer, and some fabrication its possible to build a custom one that is more suited to your needs.
Wes

[ericande]

I wouldn't skimp either. If you don't make your own I think you are looking at at least $800 for a good housing. I have a pentax S5i and the Pentax case for it and I took it to 120ft no problems at all. I know two people who had the bags and their cameras didn't get wet but they hated the bags.

[lkavaney]

I had this dilema a few months back, I simply could not afford the UW housing for my SLR so insted I purchased a canon ixus 850 IS and the WP DC9 housing worked out about £500 all told and was well worth it! you can actually get some cracking shots from it! of course I'd of loved to take the SLR under but then that'd mean £1-2K housing plus filters plus strobes plus lens etc whereas the ixus 850 IS has a really smart UW function and the photos come out perfect without the blue/green tinge you can get sometimes. It was good enough for me but then I wasn't exactly shooting for the Nat Geo LOL