what camera to buy?

[shrek]

i don't know bugger all about camera's let alone underwater ones so for under $1000 dollars nz what can i get ?
does it have to be housed or are the waterproof ones like the olimpus waterproof ones ok or just a gimmik waiting to leak ?
also what depth can you take photos without big stobes ect as i'll have a speargun in the other hand

 

[vali]

this is my camera

this is his waterproof case

these are pictures taken with my camera:

the camera+case costed me 500 euros
now...1 euro=1,7 nz$
so 500x1.7=850 nz$
i have my cam from about 4 years, so today this cam + case is more cheaper....

only once i took my camera with my speargun
is difficult to take photos or movies at hunting, but not imposible
this case is 40m depth waterproof
is not so important the depth, but the water curents and yur stability

 

[whucash]

Standard cameras aren't so expensive as you might think.
Lets start from camera..don't buy thos waterproof Olympus crap..honestly they are waterproof up to 10m not more and are far more xpensive than a normal camera, what so more they aren't very good..
The better solution is to buy uw housing either ikelite (up to 60m) or the standard brand one (Olympus, Canos etc)
I bought an olympus ultrazoom and olympus uw housing and i paid about 600E (Olympus SP 560UZ and the PT-037 Housing)..
You can find my pictures in some threads in Freedive Photography section..
The best way for you is to go to the shop and find camera that fits you then find an UW housing its very easy and most of the cameras have UW housing!
I don't know the prizec back in NZ maybe you have any types than we could help you because the variety enormous..

 

[shrek]

thanks for that guys we have the usual range of cameras here so i'll just have to make sure i can get a housing at the same time. i currently have an olimpus point and shoot a couple of years old i don't know if finding a housing is practile so i'll probably buy new and sort it all out at once

 

[sanso]

Well, I am no fan of Olympus cameras in genera (other story) but the waterproof thing has one major advantage:
They might be only waterproof to -10m, but You can get a real housing for them that takes them deeper - and then, You can rest assured, that even if the housing leaks (a little) the camera will still be safe.
I have seen that canon now also makes a waterproof camera, that might be worth a look.

I am a huge fan of my Panasonic Lumix FX07. One thing that made me buy this one is the fact that they actually produced a whole line of cameras that fit into the same housing!
So when the camera is shafted one day, You might just not have to buy a new housing as well.
Apart from that, my Panasonic camera has excellent lenses built in (Carl Zeiss) and the pictures show. The software makes sense and e.g. white balance is a thing of a few button presses, very handy when taking pictures at depth.
Also, the FX07 and other models have a built in 28mm equvalent wide angle built in - and that is something that most other cameras don't have and that You certainly want - not only for underwater photography.

my 2p

Richard

P.S.: You can see some pictures taken with that camera in the articles on my website

 

[cww180]

I just bought a Panasonic FX35 because it has the wide angled lens!

 

[shrek]

the whole wide angle thing is new to me, the idea of a water proof camera in a housing seems good. what about video on these cameras? is there anything else in relation to photo quality i need to know as i can see changing cameras with the whole housing thing being annoying i hope to get this right first time

 

[vali]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOcGL1QqtFg]YouTube - napoleon fish[/ame]

video with my above camera...
this camera have also settings for underwater pictures

 

[mishu1984]

i dont know how much it goes for in ur neck of the woods, but i can wholeheartedly recommend Sony T-90. there is also a corresponding housing available and with a 16gb memory card you can have hours and hours of video and HD pics.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJm7dHM-bCM]YouTube - first u/w test sony t-90[/ame]

 

[renepotvin]

The one thing to look for is the capacity to shoot in raw format. With Lightroom I can now fix 700 pictures in minutes and I never have to affect the original pictures. Go see my Escoumins or Portorico pictures to see how it outputs html directly too... Spearfishing, Rene Potvin, peche en apnee

 

[speareasy]

I just came back from the Maldives and I would give a big thumbs up for the Canon G9. The only thing bad I can think of is that I like to shoot RAW and I found that with the Canon housing I had to play with too many buttons to take decent pictures as I moved down in depth. Doing that while fighting current and keeping track of fish and controlling your descent can be quite a task. I ended up taking most pictures on auto which color wise is disappointing. Also the built in flash can actually do more damage than help as it seems to highlight all sorts of stuff floating around. Also the ISO above 200 is disappointing for a Canon as Canon usually has fantastic high ISO capability. All these things seem to be available on the G11 which is 2 generations after my camera, so I would think that would be the one to get.

Having said all that it might be worthwhile to also take a look at the Panasonic LX3. My brother has it and loves it. I disregarded it at first but after reading some reviews on it I am impressed.

 

[speareasy]

One thing I learned with my first time out with the G9 is to turn off flash completely. All it will do is highlight stuff near the case and will ruin your picture. At the moment I would think the best camera out there would be the new Canon G11 which with the underwater housing is probably in your range of price. The G11 is supposed to give much better high ISO performance which is very useful in low light. The Canon G series cameras historically been the best P&S cameras in the world. I did not believe that until I tried my wife's G9 and I am truly amazed at what the little camera can do (not only underwater I mean). Another very nice camera which I would rate as almost as good as the G11 would be the Panasonic LX3, although a little older than the G11 it is a fantastic camera with very good high ISO performance.

If you want very good professional results, I think you really need to get a decent set of strobes with long arms. Most of the stuff that is interesting is in low light and to get results you need lots of light. A good set of strobes could end up costing more than the camera and case put together!

 

[renepotvin]

I'm looking more and more towards the compacts that have slr cmos sensors : olympus pen, panasonic G1 or GF1. Has anyone tried those?

 

[shrek]

i've been looking at intova camera pacages they do a 8 meg waterproof with 45 m housing also a 10 meg non waterproof with housing does anybody know how they perform?