Decision for snorkelling photography

Hi, I am pretty new at diving, but have been involved with land photography for some time.

I do not wish to take photos while diving, but I am about to go on a long trip that will have plenty of snorkelling opportunities. I have a DSLR that I am considering taking on the trip and notice that waterproof housings for them are quite expensive - except for the glorified carrier bags from Ewa-marine etc....

From reading stuff here I understand the limitations of these bags, i.e. difficulty in using controls etc but the consensus is that (if used properly) they don't tend to leak. An alternative would be to buy a digital compact and associated hard cased housing..but for me such a camera would not take as good a picture on the dry side.

...back to the snorkelling photography, would I get better pictures from my DSLR in a ewa-marine bag or a compact such as canon sd800is or fuji f30 with respective hard case housing? I need to know if the bag nobbles the picture quality of the DSLR in some way.

Thanks

Point-and-shoot digital cameras are fine for snorkelling, especially since you'll have plenty of light at or near the surface. I have a Canon A80 and the housing they made for it, and I've had a lot of fun taking pics while snorkeling and diving. You can probably get a similar camera and housing for less than $450 these days. The housings let you access all of the controls, and I never had any problems with leakage on 80 dives and lots of freedive/snorkel excusrions.

- danielandrewclem

Thanks for the reply....It would appear that PandS cameras would be good for the shallow phptography that I would be doing.....however, the "bag" for my existing DSLR would be cheaper....anyone used one of these? and would it give a better picture than the Pand S camera option

Cheers

probably not the best forum to ask. I think most people here will be into rigid housings designed for deeper work.

A guy on a dutch forum had placed his Minolta dslr in a bag, and produced some nice results (and from what i heard he didnt drown it) there is an attached flat port (so that means no or only very minor wide angle), and you have to check the housing maker what controls are reachable.

I wouldnt trus the housing below more then a few metres though. even if the ewa marine sites mentiones it can go to 50 metres..

I'm not sure I would trust my DSLR in a bag. Everything from a nip by a fish to a sharp rock or dead coral could slice it open. But there is a standing piece of advice here at Wetpixel. Don't take anything in the ocean you don't plan on getting wet. It would be a minor blow to lose a decent P&S but losing a DSLR would be heartbreaking.