1st time with underwater photograpy

SHaller · Mar 9, 2011

I am looking to purchase my first underwater set up and i have quite a few questions. But before I fire away, I wanted to make sure there were some people on here that are familiar with underwater photography. I didn't want to be asking questions to no one since i am aware that not a large group of people are acquainted with that field.

dxqcanada · Mar 9, 2011

There are some in the forum that do underwater photography.

GRBenji, swimswithtrout, tom r, wildafri, SteveD, alcina... and some others.

Erikah672 · Mar 10, 2011

Love doing UW photography......

Studio7Four · Mar 10, 2011

I do some as well. Not guaranteeing I'll be able to answer your questions, but feel free to ask.

The Whole Whirled · Mar 10, 2011

You don't need any extra gear for underwater...just go swimming with your camera, noob.

SHaller · Mar 10, 2011

Firstly, I need some recommendations on a set up. Quite frankly, My budget is only around $1000 and i don't mind buying used. I was planing on going compact, because the housing alone for my t1i costs more than a complete compact rig. I also am in need for a smaller camera so a compact would come in handy. I have heard good things about the s95 and thats something i will be considering. I also was considering an epl1/2 rig, even though it is a little out of budget. I would love to hear some feedback and recommendations . P.s, I'm not all that familiar with strobes so I would also like some input on good used strobes and cheaper new ones.

Studio7Four · Mar 11, 2011

There are a few ways you can go for ~$1000. One is the way I went, which is to get a complete rig such as SeaLife Cameras - Underwater Digital Camera - DC1000 Elite (mine is an older version of this). It consists of a very little point and shoot (not necessarily the highest quality on its own, but nice and small if you're looking for something you can also throw in a pocket for sightseeing on vacation), the underwater housing, a bracket, a strobe, and a wide angle lens. What's nice is that, as a complete rig, you know that everything is going to work. For instance, you know that the flash cable mounts correctly to trigger the strobe via the camera's flash. I've enjoyed my setup, though now that I've advanced in my photography skills I do want to move to a camera with more control (and higher quality image capability). But I hear you, getting a housing for my DSLR isn't cheap!

The other way to go is to assemble a rig component wise. The one bit of advice I can give here is to make sure that the underwater housing is readily available for the camera you choose. My mother-in-law has had a G9 for a few years and finally decided to get an underwater housing for it for snorkeling. It was quite a search to find the right housing.

What kind of underwater photography are you looking to do? That might guide some of the recommendations (I don't know your photography or your underwater resume, so forgive me if I sound condescending). Among the factors are: if you're looking to primarily use it during snorkeling you might want something that is positively buoyant, but if you're primarily going to use it scuba diving you might want negative buoyancy (so that if you let go of it it doesn't go far from where you are, be that top or bottom). Or perhaps you're looking to take it into pools to shoot models, which might impact the strobe recommendations. Are you going to be using it in colder water, so operating controls while wearing gloves is a factor? The more info you can provide the more useful advice you'll receive.

SHaller · Mar 11, 2011

Studio7Four said:
What kind of underwater photography are you looking to do? That might guide some of the recommendations (I don't know your photography or your underwater resume, so forgive me if I sound condescending). Among the factors are: if you're looking to primarily use it during snorkeling you might want something that is positively buoyant, but if you're primarily going to use it scuba diving you might want negative buoyancy (so that if you let go of it it doesn't go far from where you are, be that top or bottom). Or perhaps you're looking to take it into pools to shoot models, which might impact the strobe recommendations. Are you going to be using it in colder water, so operating controls while wearing gloves is a factor? The more info you can provide the more useful advice you'll receive.

Primarily, this is going to be used in warm water for both snorkeling and diving, so i wont need to be wearing gloves. I also didn't take a look into this buoyancy issue. Is it that big of a problem and are there ways of changing the buoyancy?

Studio7Four · Mar 11, 2011

Buoyancy is not a big problem, just something to take into consideration. My rig has a strap which I either wear around my wrist or attached to my BCD, so I don't worry too much about it. Since you're likely to use it both snorkeling and diving, I'd suggest (all other things aside) getting a setup which is naturally slightly positively buoyant. Since you'll have a bracket to mount your strobe(s) anyway it's pretty straightforward to mount some weights to give the rig a slightly negative buoyancy when you dive.

mikehaugen · Mar 11, 2011

The Whole Whirled said:
You don't need any extra gear for underwater...just go swimming with your camera, noob.

In which way do we quantify being a noob? I thought it was post counts, in which case the op has more than you. Was this supposed to be some sort of ironic humor that I missed?