Hi there ! I’m Shaina! I’ve had a camera in my hand and some form of a photography career for 20 years, in all sorts of niches but never underwater.

Ocean life photography has been my dream for years and I’m finally moving to Oahu with my family this November and making that dream come true!

Before I get there I’d like to deepen and sharpen my “on land” skill and prepare myself for what’s to come.

I currently shoot with a Sony a6000 that is being held together basically by prayer st this point lol

Any tips on what camera to upgrade to that would benefit me most on land and ocean? And of course first water housing ?

Any tips and tricks greatly appreciated!

Hi Shaina!

A welcome to Waterpixels and underwater photography. The fastest way to empty a bank account! UW photography that is. We’re just here to help.

Great to have you with us.

Best wishes

Welcome Shaina, hope you find the forums helpful. Post a topic in Photo gear to ask your question. It's always good to have a budget in mind as this type of photography can get very expensive very fast. With this in mind also think about what you will do with your images, my view is most people don't need full frame unless they have a specific use in mind and this is important as in general it's much more expensive to get full frame UW, there are exceptions of course and the size and weight can become a big factor.

Hi there

I am very much a novice but my experience to date for what it is worth

I'm using A6000s - initially because I was concerned about flooding and loosing an expensive camera and the A6000 is available cheaply second hand. I'm considering getting a 6400 because the autofocus is much better but it still fits the same housing

I bought a cheap salted line housing which is OK but not great. Some of the controls don't work at depth. I am also considering upgrading to a nicer housing (eg Isotta) at some stage, especially if I am going to go to the galapagos in the future

I launched a thread about full frame vs apsc or 4/3 last month and I think most agree that there is little advantage to ff. A great thing about APCS is that the housing and domes are smaller for travel purposes.

I'm getting the feeling that the favourite small set up on here is the Olympus one. I'm going to stick with Sony as I have lots of lenses etc but if I was going to wipe the slate clean I would probably go Olympus and a decent housing.