I'm getting back into underwater photography after a 30 year break. Way back then I taught underwater photo on liveaboards in the Red Sea, on Aggressor Fleet boats in the Caribbean and for Jim & Cathy Church at Sunset House on Cayman. This will be my first time using digital cameras so it will be quite... different I expect.

Locally there is a Nauticam 7D setup with 230mm acrylic dome port, macro port, strobes, lenses etc at what I consider to be a reasonable price.

Are the latest cameras much much better than a 7D? If so in what areas?

Will I find a 7D limiting?

10 minutes ago, CCRphoto said:

I'm getting back into underwater photography after a 30 year break. Way back then I taught underwater photo on liveaboards in the Red Sea, on Aggressor Fleet boats in the Caribbean and for Jim & Cathy Church at Sunset House on Cayman. This will be my first time using digital cameras so it will be quite... different I expect.

Locally there is a Nauticam 7D setup with 230mm acrylic dome port, macro port, strobes, lenses etc at what I consider to be a reasonable price.

Are the latest cameras much much better than a 7D? If so in what areas?

Will I find a 7D limiting?

Cameras have gotten progressively better over time, the 7D is old old now coming out in 2009. I think these days the much more compact m43 cameras like the Olympus EM-1 MkII can beat it and the lenses and domes are much smaller. You could pick up a Nauticam EM-1 MkII housing for about $1200 these days add on a fisheye and macro lens and you have a versatile little package.

The other issue is the 230mm dome is a big beast to travel with and to push around in the water. Assume it's matched with either a 17-40 or a 18-55 lens or perhaps a 10-22mm? This gets into what you want to shoot with it is it macro? wide angle? a bit of everything? Do you need a rectilinear lens?

20 minutes ago, Chris Ross said:

Cameras have gotten progressively better over time, the 7D is old old now coming out in 2009. I think these days the much more compact m43 cameras like the Olympus EM-1 MkII can beat it and the lenses and domes are much smaller. You could pick up a Nauticam EM-1 MkII housing for about $1200 these days add on a fisheye and macro lens and you have a versatile little package.

The other issue is the 230mm dome is a big beast to travel with and to push around in the water. Assume it's matched with either a 17-40 or a 18-55 lens or perhaps a 10-22mm? This gets into what you want to shoot with it is it macro? wide angle? a bit of everything? Do you need a rectilinear lens?

Interesting!

The wide lens in the setup is the Canon 10-22 - no idea how useful this lens is but I guess at its widest it is roughly equivalent to a 15mm Nikonos?

I'm still learning how to read the Nauticam port charts but it looks like the 10-22 can be used with a 180mm dome which would be a little more travel friendly.

The macro lens in the setup is a 100mm + appropriate port.

What do I want to shoot? A bit of everything.

Do they still make lenses for the Canon mount that the 7D uses + its sensor size? And are new lenses still being developed for it? Seems to be a lot of new lenses coming out of China these days!

I used to shoot with a 7D 15 years ago, at the time it was a really good camera with fast AF (comparatively to what was available) and a good sensor . It's an APS-C cropped sensor, which is good for macro, even excellent for supermacro when coupled with the 100mm. I used a Canon EF100/2.8 USM lens (Canon EF100 IS/L woudl be better, watch out the Canon non USM 100mm is painfully slow) and the CAnon EFS60mm for macro. For wide angle my preferred choice was the Tokina 10-17 fisheye with a Zen 4" domeport (great for travels!). The Canon 10-22 lens didn't have a good reputation AFAIK, fisheye lenses with or without 1,4 Kenko multiplier had better results.

Problem is that for 100mm macro/supermacro it definitely needs an external viewfinder such as a cheap Inon45.

WHile it was a good choice this camera is outperformed by newer mirroless cameras (equivalent now would be the Canon R7 in the APSC sensor category) and its eletronic viewfinder which can give you a clearer view especially in low light as well as much faster AF. The sensor and image processor are also outdated, the 7D 24MP sensorused to wash out highlight/sunballs too easily, in the opposite range of lower light the noise at high ISOs has so much improved then. It was impossible to get clean images above 200 ISO, while now I don't see so much difference between a 100 and a 800 ISO pic with the R7's 35MP sensor.

You'll find plenty of 2nd hand EF lenses for the Canon 7D however the newer RF lenses for the mirrorless R series prove to be faster and better, such as the RF100L/IS which is one the sharpest macro lens ever allowing a 1,4 magnification ratio (40% more than the older EF100). Problem is that you cannot fit R lenses on EF systems while you can use EF lenses on the R system with an adaptor.

Agree with all the above.

I started with Canon FD series (F-1, T90, new F-1), then various iterations of the EOS series (EOS-1), DSLRs like the 6D/7D. The newer cameras, especially crop sensors, are smaller, lighter and faster. The lenses can be similar in size to the old EF lenses if you shoot full frame but can be very small if you opt for smaller sensors like those you find with micro-fourthirds. Autofocus and the ability to track subjects is a game changer. Amazing dynamic range is also a thing. Size and weight for travel is a thing.

You’ll be able to make nice photos with the old 7D but you’ll be missing out of seriously excellent tech.

I'm a huge fan of used shopping, I have gone through a variety of setups to find what I like (and in one case what I shouldn't have sold).

But I'd draw the line at nearly 20 year old systems, especially ones which aren't coming with exactly the lenses I wanted.

I am a Nauticam fan but, for reentry into a complex field and the fact that many (of us) have multiple systems this AOI Canon R50. Under $700 and get the camera from Canon refurb for a all total investment of only $1,000ish. Then spend the money on strobes (Retra Maxi) that you can grow with. And the WWL-1 is never a useless investment and show up used frequently as do the CMC macro lenses.

20 hours ago, CCRphoto said:

Interesting!

The wide lens in the setup is the Canon 10-22 - no idea how useful this lens is but I guess at its widest it is roughly equivalent to a 15mm Nikonos?

I'm still learning how to read the Nauticam port charts but it looks like the 10-22 can be used with a 180mm dome which would be a little more travel friendly.

The macro lens in the setup is a 100mm + appropriate port.

What do I want to shoot? A bit of everything.

Do they still make lenses for the Canon mount that the 7D uses + its sensor size? And are new lenses still being developed for it? Seems to be a lot of new lenses coming out of China these days!

The 10-22 is 16mm equivalent while the Nikonos 15mm I understand has the field of view of a 20mm lens. If you want small these days for WA a fisheye is hard to beat, the Canon 8-15 will work very well in a 140mm dome. You can use the m43 fisheye lenses in the tiny Zen 100mm dome. You can also use the Canon 8-15 in the little Zen dome at the cost of a little corner performance.

I use an Olympus OM-1 mated with an adapted Canon 8-15. Very flexible setup providing a full frame 180° diagonal fisheye with a 14-28 full frame equivalent zoom in one package. You can compare fields of view on a post I made using my setup here:

I previously used an EM-1 MkII in Nauticam, haven't sold the setup yet but thinking about it. It's still a very nice setup and being mirrorless you can see the review in the viewfinder without taking your eye from the viewfinder. Very useful with macro.

I think what I am going to do is forget the 7D idea, and instead come up with a list of minimum specs etc for buying a secondhand rig and see what you all suggest.

See https://waterpixels.net/forums/topic/3775-which-camera-housing/

Edited July 31Jul 31 by CCRphoto