Compact underwater photography anyone?

antonroland

antonroland

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Hello all you wonderful people.

So I am about to get myself underwater again soon and quite naturally I want to take a camera with me.

The D-SLR housings with all the extra goodies will cost a hideous amount even if I win the lotto and so I had a look at Canon's G1X with the Canon housing...

Large sensor for a compact and very affordable all in all...anyone else out there in my situation?

My greatest reserve is that they say that the G1X has very sluggish AF...

Any G1X owners out there who can comment on that?

The IQ looks reasonable...obviously not 5D MkIII quality but workable for prints up to A3 I would imagine...

Any input appreciated.:thumbs:
 
Whats your budget going to be Anton?

As you say, traditionally canon's compacts struggle with lag which isn't helped with the reduced contrast underwater.

More popular cameras at the moment are the micro 4/3 system, particularly the omd-em5, although that can get a bit expensive. I used to own the olympus epl-1 which focussed better than all the compacts I've tried, and the newer models are supposed to be much better - good value in the Olympus housings as well.

A very popular camera at the moment is the sony RX100 which seems to be a good compromise, check the below for an underwater review

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=48738&hl=%2Bsony+%2Brx100

Remember to consider the additional costs such as strobes, or wet lenses it you mean to take it seriously

Mike
 
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Hello Mike and thanks for your response.

I am a bit of a hard core Canon fan...sometimes to my own detriment.

Thanks for that site though, will go and scratch a bit:thumbs:

The budget is around the 1000 GBP in ZAR equivalent...which, admittedly, is not much.

Going the Subal way is utterly unaffordable now and for a while to come.

I reckon the G1X with Canon housing is cheap enough to gamble with and maybe good enough...if only the AF works OK...

Cheers
 
I'm a Nikon fan as far as SLRs go but my snorkelling compact is a (now replaced in their range) Canon D10 (it's replacement is the originally named D20!).

I used to have an Olympus Mju 770 SW which ceased to be waterproof just out of warranty... (And the Canon takes far better photos both wet and dry!)

Of course, anything deeper than 10m and you'll need a "proper" housing but they ain't cheap! Some of the manufacturers offer a deeper max depth but for me, 10m is plenty.
 
Thanks again guys.

Those links make for jolly interesting reading!

Cheers! Will let you know which way I go...
 
I have possibly jumped the gun a bit but have posted a new thread asking the Mods to consider a dedicated underwater photography section...

Anyone think there would be enough folks interested? I believe it might be the case...
 
Hi Anton

I'm a pro U/W photog in the UK, and if you are really serious about underwater pictures (IE something better than a murky blue fish tale heading away from you) then you are going to need a strobe and some additional lenses. None of this is cheap, but there is a thriving second hand market out there and I wouldn't dismiss it.

Some people sell entire systems for what it will cost you to buy a canon compact and a housing - before you aqcuire all the bells and whistles you need to stick your head above the mediocre bar. If you are a good land photographer, you'll quickly become frustrated with using basic gear as the quality is not going to come no matter how good you are. But they say underwater photography is like land photography, but with an extra 0 on the end of the price tag. And it's true you will need to spend quite a bit more than you may think. But as I said, have a look at the secondhand market as that can offer up a great bargain. Wetpixel is a good site to look at as it uwpmag.

I hope that's been of some assistance.
 
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