UW Photographers?

[jvoets]

I'm curious if anyone of you is taking pictures when freediving?
If so what kind of camera do you use? Normal SLR in an UW housing? or the more compact nikonos / sea & sea stuff?

The reason I'm asking this is that I'm considering buying an UW housing for my digital camera, mainly for scuba, but yesterday evening the question popped up if I should consider freediving with a camera too. The semi-pro stuff like the camera's in housings are pretty large. I don't know if these are suitable for freediving.

Any comments / experiences?

 

[fabrice]

Hi jvoets,

I'm trying to take pictures while freediving :t , but it's not that easy...
I'm using a sea&sea motormarine 2, with an external strobe and a wide angle lens. It's a very good camera for a freediver because of its relatively small size.
I'm in the process of setting up a web site to show some pictures I took with it while on a Maldives trip- stay tuned !

Fabrice

 

[andrsn]

tons of comments, tons of experiences...

try the freedive hunting section. we've got lots of dig-ys in here.

check out my www if you want to see some of my stuff.

happy searching,
andrsn

 

[jvoets]

What camera do you use andersn?
I own a Canon AS-1, that's a small waterproof point & shoot camrea that works until 15 meters, deeper than that the release button gets jammed.
It's pretty nice for freediving I think considering its size, but the quality of the photo's rapidly decreases with the depth since there is only a small builtin flash.

An ikelite housing for my Cybershot 707 is me wet dream at the moment, with a DS125 substrobe. Don't know however if this setup is still manageable for a freediver. That's why I'm asking around for who's using what.

 

[Jon]

I use a motor marine II with a 16 mm lens. I don't usually bother with the strobes if I am freediving with it.

A friend let me use his housed F-4 with dual strobes in an Aquatica housing once. He wanted to know how "well" I could freedive with it. I just about drowned myself trying to drag it up and down to depth:duh
After that experience I decided to stay with the motor marine.
If I had the cash I would like to get a Nikonos V with one of those Sea+sea 12mm lenses. Those things look pretty cool.

You can check out the NITROXPLUS.COM website to see some of my wreck and ice photos.
I have a bunch of warm water photos that I haven't posted anywhere, but look great hanging up in my home.

Jon

 

[joey]

my first camera was a nikonos, it was a GREAT camera. It was stolen though,.. Now i have a digital camera, the olympus C-4040-Z, with the underwaterhousing PT-010. I find this also a great camera both in handling it underwater as well as the quality of the photoos . I dont know what camera you have though, but the usual underwater housing for the digitals dont seem too big to me,...Well, you can visit my website to see my pictures, http://members.ams.chello.nl/h.walravens
i also would like o see your pictures some day. catch ya later.

 

[Cliff Etzel]

I have been a photographer for close to 25 years now (!), and until last October, I always felt I needed to shoot film in order to get good images. After discussing several times with a good friend of mine who is a commercial shooter (who happens to shoot nothing but digital), I made the jump and am grateful I did.

I use a couple of Olympus C200Z's and the PT housing as well with the Inon 100 degree w/a lens.

FYI - Nikon has officially discontinued the Nikonos V - I think they see the writing on the wall regarding this sysem. There are several housing's available now that will take the advanced digital cameras as well as the top of the line Nikons and Canons.

Some may feel that Digital just isn't quite the same as film, but then that was what was said about photography by the painters of that time when it first became available.

I am deciding whether to go with the Olympus E-20 and the new Titan Housing from Light & Motion or the Tetra Housing as another alternative since it will hold the 2000, 3000, and 4000 series digital cameras from Olympus. They are also making a Tetra Housing for the Nikon Coolpix 5000. Yes they are expensive, but the images from these camera's are good enough to go to print publication. Get yourself an image editing program and you are off...

I plan to be writing a series of articles for Deeperblue on u/w photography with an emphasis on the digital realm.

Let me know any thoughts you may have or questions. I am also going to be teaching u/w imaging classes thru my company's website at http://freedivers.com

 

[Stephan Whelan]

Rod Klein

In addition to Cliff, we have a Resident Expert Staff Writer in the Scuba section of the main site.

Rod Klein (Profile Part I | Part II) has written three articles for us.

• Introduction to Shooting U/W Digital Stills
• Digital Photography - Tips & Tricks
• What I User

Check it out!

 

[andrsn]

jvoets,

i use an olympus c3000z(thanks cliff ) with an ikelite housing. i'd love to get the ds-125 strobe, too. a little out of my pocket book right now. i'll be waiting on a promotion for that, i guess.

i think the ikelite housing is worth the extra $ over the pt housing. knobs and levers are alot more sturdy/durable.

feel free to email me, if you want.

later,
andrsn