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!