Camera

[mattbigblue]

Hello

Maybe it`s wrong place to ask, but I have a go with this question.
What cameras are You freedivers using?
I mean something not so expensive as scuba divers use.
Any experience??

I hope to hear some tips from you mates, cause I`m tired of looking for it all over the internet and foto-forums, where nobody know what freediving is

 

[mortenkv]

I have good results using Canon G9 with a Canon House - quite cheap. And it is a really good manouevreable camera (small). I cost 900$ with the House.

Maybe check my pics/videos
Picasa Webalbum - Morten Villadsen

and a few messy videos...

Morten Villadsen on Vimeo

BUT!

My girlfriend just bought G10 and I can say that Im very Jealous. It is such a good camera! Cheap and handy for Freedive purposes...

G10 would be my buy... (if I hadnt already bought G9...)

My 2 cents,
Morten

 

[mattbigblue]

Thank You for your concern mate, how about photos on -20m?(I mean colors etc., are there acceptable?)

Any other reviews?

Best Regards

 

[mortenkv]

Yes - good colours in depth ( if enough light is available) but ofcourse you will have to adjust the White Balance

But G9 and G10 both have Manual setting possiblities for WB, Shutter, Aperture and even RAW is possible - so you can adjust colours in post-processing.

Morten

 

[Jonny250]

Another vote for the G9 (or G10 now)! great camera and if u use RAW mode to take the pictures then you can correct colour/exposure later.
depends on what you're photoing but if you can afford an ikelite housing + a strobe, then the pictures could be superb.
check out wetpixel.com for some more info, G9 is well popular there.

 

[mortenkv]

The REAL adavntage with G10 is that is has 28mm lens and aperture of f/2.8 (compared to the 3.5 adn 35mm of G9). THis allows photos to be taken with much less light available.

The Noise of high ISO (+200) is still as annoying as with all other Compact Camera.

Its the best choice as I see it - if you ar e not going to buy a DSLR.

MOrten

 

[Leffem]

I use the G9 whith a canon house, works fine for me.

 

[mattbigblue]

Seems G9 is very popular among freedivers:t
I will have a close look on it

 

[mattbigblue]

I miss 2 things in G10: lack of "time lapse" function and 1024x728 recording resoluction.

I will definitely choose between G9 and G10...

 

[Tony Babowicz]

Matt,
I just got an Olympus stylus 1030SW with an olympus housing and I love it. Its good up to 40metrs and total cost was about $650. USD. It has lots of underwater features such as red filter for underwater video and three different settings for underwater pictures. without the housing, it is waterproof to 10metrs. I have tried it in the pool only to 3m but it worked fine.

Do widzenia
Tony Babowicz

 

[whucash]

I'm using Olympus too but a different model..its an ultrazoom..
Olympus SP560UZ and i use Olympus housing for it..up to 40m
I did'n have any problems so far, i've started using it in october..everywhere..lake swiming pool..
Now i'm cutting my first video to place it on you tube and the quality is very good.

 

[Jon]

I'm using a Panasonic DMC-TZ5. It has a 28mm (Leica) lens and shoot HD video. I was looking at the G9 and the Nikon P5100 when I kept running into camera reviewers that mentioned the Panasonic along with the other two in their reviews. In the end I decided I wanted the upgraded video.

If I were going new today, instead of 6 months ago, I would take a good long look at the new Nikon P6000. If I wanted to try something cheaper I would look at the new GoPro 5mp camera with 170 degree wide angle lens- for less than $200.

Jon

 

[sunfish]

I use Fuji Finepix f31d with fuji housing. I think the whole lot was around 400 euros. The sensor is a lot more sensitive than that in most compacts, so although it's a cheap camera it can shoot at higher ISO with less "noise" than many more expensive cameras.

 

[mattbigblue]

John, this Panasonic camera is very nice, wide angle, 460k colours on lcd, nice zoom, amazing HD video mode, but i miss one thing a lot - RAW format.

 

[Jon]

I had RAW format on one of my previous compacts and was not impressed with how long it took to write to the card.

If you want RAW I would go with a DSLR.

Just my $0.02

Jon

 

[mortenkv]

RAW is good with G9 and G10 (I noticed no difference in writing to the card. I guess that area (speed) has also developed quite a lot in recent years. Also RAW is the only really good option for postprocessing. (Colours, Shadows, White Balance details and so...)

Red filters and UW funcions doesnt quite do the trick...

But I must say, Jon, that after reading your review - I did consider buying Panasonic with the 28mm Leica lense. But after Canon (with G10) also has a 28mm f/2.8 lense Im not in doubt anymore

Morten

 

[Jon]

If it's RAW your after I would really take a look at the new Nikon P6000. It also has GPS tagging and, I think, 14 MP.

Jon