New to serious photography need advice, esp. on underwater photography

wakephotographer · Jan 26, 2009

Im somewhat new to serious photography and I need some advice. Most of my subjects include my friends wakeboarding. After realizing that they were better as well as I had enough common sense to be scared when upside down on a wakeboard at 25 mph lol. I turned to photography. My main angles now are from the boat, however, I am looking to get a nice waterproof housing so that I can get into an inner tube and take pictures much closer with a super wide angle lens. Any Advice on the route to go when purchasing equipment like this? Or anybody have some used gear for this theyd be willing to part with? I also am going to be doing some diving during my study on cownose stingrays this summer for school and I would like to take my camera with me so the housing would need to double on that fron as well. So tall order ahead haha but anybody got any ideas?

I attatched a couple of my pictures from the winter break of Kody riding tell me what you guys think Remember straight stock D70 setup with a 18-70mm lens from 65 feet away. I was on the swim deck to get the max height out of the pictures.

This one was duck hunting in Poqouson VA one morning

So lets hear it how bad are they? Haha

chrisburke · Jan 26, 2009

i havent looked at waterproof housings in a long time.. but last time i did, they were around $4000.. so I hope your ready to drop some serious coin...

as for those pics.. there is dust on your sensor or lens (probably sensor) heres just one example, but its on all your pics

EDIT: just did a quick search.. they are still around 3000-4000 bucks
http://www.backscatter.com/HostedSt...d51a5fef21887634&s4op=cn&s4=Nikon D70&sop=AND

wakephotographer · Jan 26, 2009

yea I noticed that when i first took the pics im gettin ready to stip down the camera and clean everything up. I found one for around 1000 on backscatter but im tryin to see if I can come up with something a little lower if possible lol also anybody know of a good cheap editing program?

chrisburke · Jan 26, 2009

gimp is a good free editing program (its a lot like photoshop) as for the 1000 dollar housing.. remember, you get what you pay for.

wakephotographer · Jan 26, 2009

Very good point but i am a broke student hahah. Thanks ill check out that program

chrisburke said:
gimp is a good free editing program (its a lot like photoshop) as for the 1000 dollar housing.. remember, you get what you pay for.

chrisburke · Jan 26, 2009

i understand being a broke student, and normally i would say try the cheaper one.. however, it involves a camera, and water... if the cheap one ends up sucking, you will be out a camera...

wakephotographer · Jan 26, 2009

yea its guna take a lot of pondering and product research hopefully ill find a used one somewhere for cheaper

bluewaterjon · Jan 26, 2009

Hey, Jon here. I have been exactly in your boat- no pun intended. I started with a D70s and used an EWA housing. They are a fancy ziplock bag, but you can take good pics in them provided you take care of them. For ex, a pro who was traveling with me in Hawaii took a pic of me doing something with his Canon stuffed in an EWA and it ended up a double page spread in Field & Stream

, so they can be cool. Then I got into u/w photography, got one, and the EWA thing lasted me one trip to Hawaii before developing a leak. At that point I decided that I needed a real housing- EWAs cost 400-450 anyway. Well, if you want a hard housing, you got two types- dive housings and splash/surf housings. Dive housings are cool and you can control many things on the cam bu they are very heavy- like 7-10 pounds, a pain in the rear to hold for more than a bit-and in fact they are made to hold a seal underwater- noy meant for the splash zone. Trust me I did a lot of research on this- if you don't, go to some underwater photographer forums and check what I'm saying out. Anyway, the other option is a surf/splash housing. Cool- much lighter- like 2 pounds- but only go to 20 feet or so, and have less access to controls, depending on brand and model.
Now here's the trap. Of course they are way more expensive- although no, you don't need to blow 3000- but they are model specific. Now, ask yourself- do you feel like buying an out of production housing unit for an old camera? They don't even make models for D70's and more, and if they do ( if you get a custom maker) you will be stuck with the technology of years ago- your D70- in a housing that cost you maybe 1750-2000 or more.
What I did is I went and got a D300 and a housing. I got a lot of cool shots, some will be on mag covers in the coming months- they are fishing shots, marlin and dorado and so forth underwater or close to the surface.
Turns out due to my needs for mags, I may be looking to upgrade to a D700 for the full frame. If you want, contact me, I can sell you a D300, lens, and my housing for a good price, and if you have any questions re: the housing, I will put you in touch with the maker who lives 20 min from me and recently serviced it.
Jon
www.bluewaterjon.com