Advice on Building My First Underwater Photography & Videography Setup (Fujifilm X-T3)

[Ezz]

Hi all,

Hope everyone is doing well.

I am Ezz and I am from Jordan and I need your advice and guidance. Recently, I started thinking about building my first setup for underwater photography and videography. Over the past year, I’ve improved my diving skills, and I feel ready to take this step.

Before investing a lot in an advanced setup, I thought it would be wiser to start with what I have, improve my skills, and then invest later.

I currently have a Fujifilm X-T3, and I want to build a budget-friendly but solid setup to start training with. My budget is around $1,000–$1,500. I’ve been researching online, but there are so many options, and since I’m not an expert in this field, I’d really appreciate your help.

I'm looking for:

 

- A reliable underwater housing for the Fujifilm X-T3

- A lens suitable for macro photography

- Good lighting options within my budget

 

I’d love to hear your recommendations based on your experience!

Thanks in advance for your advice!

[Dave_Hicks]

You should spec out an ideal system for you X-T3 and the prices you found. Perhaps there will be some ideas for substitutions or improvement.

 

[Chris Ross]

3 hours ago, Ezz said:

Hi all,

Hope everyone is doing well.

I am Ezz and I am from Jordan and I need your advice and guidance. Recently, I started thinking about building my first setup for underwater photography and videography. Over the past year, I’ve improved my diving skills, and I feel ready to take this step.

Before investing a lot in an advanced setup, I thought it would be wiser to start with what I have, improve my skills, and then invest later.

 

I currently have a Fujifilm X-T3, and I want to build a budget-friendly but solid setup to start training with. My budget is around $1,000–$1,500. I’ve been researching online, but there are so many options, and since I’m not an expert in this field, I’d really appreciate your help.

I'm looking for:

 

- A reliable underwater housing for the Fujifilm X-T3

- A lens suitable for macro photography

- Good lighting options within my budget

 

I’d love to hear your recommendations based on your experience!

Thanks in advance for your advice!

The issue you will find with Fujifilm camera is limited UW housing support.  The only housings are an Ikelite housing or perhaps a seafrogs housing. 

 

If you look at the ikelite housing, it's $USD2195 at Backscatter and you need to add a port and other components to that.  They only support the Fuji 80mm macro lens in the port charts.  You are limited to wired flash - no fibre optics.

 

Seafrogs are a lot cheaper but you get what you pay for, for example it notes the following controls can't be used in the housing:

• Front command dial
• Rear command dial
• Aperture control of the lens
• Focus stick (Focus lever)

It only supports the 60mm Fuji macro lens.  Don't buy the Sea Frogs vacuum system, it can only be used to test on land, can't dive with a vacuum pulled which defeats the purpose.  But you definitely want a vacuum system!

 

To this you would need to add clamps and arms for a strobe plus a strobe trigger, I would suggest the INON S220, a compact reliable little strobe at a good price point. quite OK for macro.

 

I would also seriously suggest considering other camera system options.  Fuji is not well supported underwater and housing availability is limited.  All you have now that you can use UW is the camera body.   Nauticam used to support them, but the XT-5 housing is discontinued.  It seems to me that it is a bit of a dead end for UW photography.  Sea Frogs while they will work are a bit kludgy and the wide angle ports are universal and not necessarily provided with the correct extensions for best performance.  There's only a handful of (admittedly very keen) users of Fulji on this site.

 

See is you can find a second hand micro43 system, maybe an EM-1 MkII?  the 60mm macro lens for this system is very compact.  The Nauticam housings for them are great as are the Isotta. People are very happy with the AOI housings for the OM-5 and OM-1.  Growing a system like this is a lot simpler as a great many lenses are supported with the proper extension provided.    If you are learning a TG-7 with a strobe is a great option for macro, very compact.  It of course has limitations withe small sensor and lack of full manual controls but a great many people are happy with them.

[wetdreams]

Hi Ezz,
My name is Philipp and I am one of those enthusiastic Fuji users that Chris talks about.
I'll expose you my experiences with Fujifilm underwater, just to try to help you take a decision. 
A few years ago I was in the same situation as you are, I wanted entering underwater photography and I didn't really know which way to go. 
I had in my hands a beautiful Fuji X-t3 and some lenses, and I thought the best option would be to go to use this camera, which I loved and knew perfectly, for my underwater photography journey.
I looked for the different options to house It, and found Nauticam, which had been making housings for some Fuji cameras, such as the Xt1 and Xt2, in addition to the GFX series..
I didn't think it twice and went for a Nauticam Na-Xt3. I added a Fujinón XF 80mm macro. Shortly after, I acquired a MWL-1 along with the XC 15-45 lens (not a very recommended setup in my opinion) and recently an XF 30mm macro.

So far I can't say that my experiences with this system have been bad, on the contrary I have really enjoyed this combo, especially the 80mm macro which is a magnificent lens.

I'll start with the advantages:

Knowing the camera very well and also using it above, has helped me when making quick decisions underwater. (You know, when we dive "tempus fugit")
The Xt-3 is a very configurable camera, so I've ended up setting it to my preferences, making all the important functions available with a single lever flick or button press.
Another advantage has been being able to use the Fujifilm EF-X8 flash to shoot via fiber optics, without the need to buy a flash trigger (the downside is you can't shoot flash bursts).
The Fujifilm are very well featured cameras and lenses, high quality at a very competitive price, what is a plus.
Another very positive and important factor is the flash sync speed, 1/250 (I have taken photos at 1/320 without any problem)
If your interest is macro, the Xf-80mm macro will not disappoint you. It IS sharp, fast and autfocus works quite well even in low light situations.
You also have the option of the newer Xf-30mm macro, although I haven't been able to get the most out of it yet.
There are more options, Fuji 60mm (slow and not 1:1), Zeiss 50mm (very expensive and dated) but I never tried one of those.
As for wide angle, practically all the Nauticam optics can be used, together with Fujifilm lenses, with good results (You can ask this gentleman in the forum, KevinLee, he has used practically all the Nauticam+Fujifilm optics availiable, and he has much more experience than me, I'm sure he will be happy to help you, as he is as enthusiastic as me with the Fuji system).
The Nauticam housing is built like a tank and is very easy to use underwater.  At this time it would be hard for me to switch to another brand. It is robust, all the controls are smartly located, and the vacuum+alarm system gives you peace of mind.
On the other hand, Nauticam has a wide range of wet and dry optics available which makes this brand very attractive for underwater photography.

 

As for disadvantages:

One of the most commented is the lack of a native Fujifilm fisheye lens (same as Sony, if I'm not wrong) which means you will have to use the Tokina 10-17 fisheye (Canon mount) plus an adapter (Fringer), which I personally have not tried.
Another downside, as you probably know, the Fuji X-t3 suffers low battery life (one or, at the most, two dives). I have solved this by using a small power bank attached to the camera, which makes me extend the range to four or five dives.
On the other hand, being a camera that is a few years old, the X-t3 autofocus is not on par with other more modern cameras, especially the latest generation of full frames (Sony-Canon-Nikon), although I don't have had big problems with that, my Fuji still performs with dignity in most situations.

Finally, for me, the biggest disadvantage, as Chris points out, is the poor diffusion that Fujis have for underwater photography.
In one hand, if you want a quality housing that allows you to get the most out of the camera (Nauticam) you will have to go to the second-hand market, and even then it will be difficult to find one, since there are not many available.
On the other hand, when you want to upgrade, you will have two problems, one certain (I have verified it myself) and another possible.
The certain problem is that you will find It really hard to sell your housing. Since it is not a very popular brand for photosub, you will have few people interested in, or you will have to sell It very, very cheap (I have been trying to sell my Na-Xt3 for several months, without success).

The "possible" problem will come if you want to continue with Fuji, and thus take advantage of optics, ports, domes, etc.
In one hand, as Chris points out, Nauticam has discontinued the Na-Xt5 (also other brand's housins), so you won't be able to buy it  brand new, and it's difficult to find it second-hand.
Or you will have to wait for Nauticam, or another brand, to decide to manufacture housings for future Fujifilm cameras, and that is not garanteed (although that, according to the words of my Nauticam area representative, will depend on the "hype" and demand that that future camera creates).

Perhaps the safest approach for you would be to look for one of the big three on the second-hand market, paired with a good housing.
Right now there are a lot of people selling DSLR equipment at good prices, as they are switching to mirrorless setups.
Another option, as Chris points out, is an MFT setup, there are many in the second hand market, they're comparable in quality to Fuji and perhaps, due to their portability, have better options than Fuji to survive in the underwater photography world.
Although I think, no one can take this for granteed.

Anyway, you can also opt for the (probably more risky) Fuji+Nauticam way. If things go wrong, in the future you will probably have to switch to a different camera or housing. If things go ok, you will be entering IMO in one of the best and more enjoyable aps-c camera+housing setups for uw photography.
In any case, if you have any questions regarding Fujifilm+Nauticam equipment, do not hesitate to ask me.
All the best.

Edited February 15 by wetdreams