Thinking about thinking about an underwater camera. I don't want to spend any more than $1000 Australian. Has anyone got one they love, hate or otherwise. Any feedback would be muchly appreciated.
Thanks
Maria
PS I think I have decided on the Lumix FT3, has anyone used this?
I have the old Olympus U795... not much of an above water camera but it is kinda easy under. I have also seen some good results from underwater housings. Maybe buy one of those for your existing camera?
There are Quite a few to choose from all the players,cannon,nikon,Olympus,Fuji,sea and sea,sony boast underwater housings for their point and shoot camera's...some are great some are Mediocre...They all work well in crystal clear conditions with no currents and suspension..Out here our conditions vary from 1 m viz-surgysurgy to 20 meters calm so we get lots of unhappy uw camera buyers.
Choose a camera that has a dedicated uw setting it corrects the white balance and colour loss automatically.
Try and speak to camera owners shooting uw shots in your area..
I use the Sony w170 I should have got the Sony W300 at the time they both work brilliantly Both models discontinued..but the model has now been super seeded by the W570 I have yet to get feed back.
I also have a Cannon Powershot which also worked great .
You can see some of my pics search Cape-diver on the 365 site.
I use stand alone camera and housing options but one of my students has one of these waterproof to 10 m cameras and they get fantastic results.
You can see some of my other pics At my Sharky 365 user page
search cape-diver(tabs) on the 365 site.
Not up to speed with under water stuff anymore (was my life BC) but I would add that an external strobe is a must for colour at depth and built in flashes quite often just show how bad the vis is or puts a haze across your shots and knowing Geraldton waters there are more low vis days than high unless you dive the Abrohlos. Good luck!
A few things to think about. Do you want a simple and small camera to grab some easy shots or do you want a something that can take amazing photos but is large with strobes hanging off it. I do alot of wreck diving and while I would often like the pics you can get from a large setup it's unrealistic for some of the diving I do. Trying to navigate inside a wreck isn't easy with a huge camera that wants to hang on everything.
I use a Nikon P&S in a ikelite housing. I can't say I'm really happy with it. Used to have a Canon P&S in a canon housing that was much better but depth limited to 130'
Another thing to think about is what are you shooting. Large things sharks, stingrays, turtles are fairly easy with most camera. When you get into macro shots a camera with a macro lens or the ability to shot macro shots is important. I found out my Nikon coolpix lacked a good macro ability last year in Indonesia. It just wouldn't focus on small thing close enough to get the shot.
I bought the Canon 10D when I went to Hawaii a few months ago. The picture quality underwater was okay and not that great above water. I had fun with it. HOWEVER.... It has since died! I used it underwater about 4 times on the trip. And a few times above water when I returned and then it just wouldn't turn on. Soooo, I would not recommend it for that reason. I followed all the directions as to maintenance, so it's not like I was careless.
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Choose a camera that has a dedicated uw setting it corrects the white balance and colour loss automatically.
Try and speak to camera owners shooting uw shots in your area..
I use the Sony w170 I should have got the Sony W300 at the time they both work brilliantly Both models discontinued..but the model has now been super seeded by the W570 I have yet to get feed back.
I also have a Cannon Powershot which also worked great .
You can see some of my pics search Cape-diver on the 365 site.
I use stand alone camera and housing options but one of my students has one of these waterproof to 10 m cameras and they get fantastic results.
You can see some of my other pics At my Sharky 365 user page
search cape-diver(tabs) on the 365 site.
I use a Nikon P&S in a ikelite housing. I can't say I'm really happy with it. Used to have a Canon P&S in a canon housing that was much better but depth limited to 130'
Another thing to think about is what are you shooting. Large things sharks, stingrays, turtles are fairly easy with most camera. When you get into macro shots a camera with a macro lens or the ability to shot macro shots is important. I found out my Nikon coolpix lacked a good macro ability last year in Indonesia. It just wouldn't focus on small thing close enough to get the shot.