You have all successfully convinced me to go for something more modern than the Canin 7D, but I don't know yet what that something should be... so here are some criteria, and ask any questions because I'm coming from 35mm film days and camera specs were a lot simpler/different then! Something smaller than a large DSLR rig would sure be nice as I'm already carrying so much stuff when CCR diving that a large camera system just gets in the way.

Having looked at the Nauticam port charts, a Micro four thirds system that uses the N85 ports seems like the way to go as there are a reasonable number of ports and lens combinations for Nauticam and other housings such as AOI in that size range. Someone mentioned in the other thread about the Canon R50, there doesn't seem to be a wide range of ports available for that one though.

So I think that limits manufacturers to Sony, Panasonic or Olympus/OM - I've never used any of them so know absolutely nothing about them at all - in fact I have never used a digital camera apart from a phone one.

So here goes... in no particular order

- camera/housing must be able to use an external HDMI monitor
- must be compatible with fibre optic strobe triggering - but I don't need TTL
- I'm happy to buy secondhand
- must have good low light autofocus
- must have a good range of OEM and aftermarket lenses suitable for underwater photography

- must have controls/ranges that would be familiar to an 35mm SLR user - e.g F2.8 to F22 or greater, shutter speed controls etc
- must have really good battery life

- must be able to produce a good quality image - not sure how many megapixels that requires?

I've no idea what else are required as far as speccing a camera these days?

Hi CCRphoto

I've just gone down a similar path myself and the criteria you outline are pretty common ones. A good number of members - especially we, errr, more aging ones, are looking to "downsize" and have less gear to carry.

I gave up on FF camera bodies (Nikon D800) in 2017 as having to lug a 230mm domeport - or some sort of big glass wetlens - was becoming a pain. I settled on the D500 APS-C system which, generally, allowed for slightly smaller bits of gear. I lost all that recently so had to rebuild from scratch.

I'm not at all persuaded by the marketing charms of needing FF and high megapixel camera bodies for underwater. I sell lots of images and no-one has ever grumbled that they are not produced by a FF camera. I reckon 20MB is plenty unless you want massive prints or are shooting purely commercial imagery. Topside is different (no ports!!).

Listening to folks here, I came to the conclusion that the OM System plus Nauticam was the way to go. The OM System is compact and light-weight but still has 20+MB sensor. Nauticam has become, perhaps, the system most used by people who want aluminium housings, providing good support and innovative products which are continually developed.

I've now acquired a housing, 45-degree viewfinder, arms and clamps, N85 WA and macro ports, an OM-1ii camera body, and Panasonic 8mm FE and Olympus 60mm macro lenses. The housing is smaller, slightly, than the (Subal) D500 housing, the camera and lenses significantly smaller than FF or APS-C (almost like back to the OM-1 and OM-2 days of the 1970s). But put the whole package together, add two Retra strobes, and weight and volume wise, they are not that much different to my APS-C system. But then maybe I just need to give up trying to pack everything into a heavy Pelican 1510 case!

Fibre optic initiation: yep, a definite must. I don't use TTL either but do want HSS. That rules out the Nauticam trigger. But both Turtle and UWT have compact triggers which do the trick nicely. Both are quality products with very good support. I can recommend either.

Familiarity of controls: well if you've never stepped into digital, there is a big difference in the ability to customise controls. Effectively the camera body is a mini computer which you can customise to your heart's content. I doubt I scrape 10% of what they can truly do. I set mine to Manual exposure, AF in one form or another, shoot RAW, Auto WB and very rarely, burst shots (without strobes for, eg dolphins). The OM will let you set up a number of, effectively, customised setting folders so you a switch easily between one setup and another. Think one set of settings for macro, one for WA controlled by the flick of a switch. But there is sure a learning curve - even switching from Nikon to OM! But the basic "photo references" remain, eg, ISO, Shutter speed, Aperture etc. And, the most important thing, composition - which is what it is truly all about - is not digital! That hasn't changed at all.

Hope this helps a bit! Good luck with it. They are not easy decisions for sure.