Budget Cam

Hi everyone,

This is my first post here on Wetpixel…

My wife and I are new divers; we got certified on April 28th and have done 40 dives since. I have become very interested in underwater photography (to the point where I feel naked underwater without my camera). While, I’m not very good, I’m learning and having an absolute blast with it.

My wife has taken a shine to underwater videography, and that is where my question comes in…

She’s been using her point and shoot camera just taking stills, but I can tell her heart is really not into it - she wants to do video. So, for Christmas this year I was planning on getting her a Digital Camcorder (unfortunately I don’t have the funds for both a u/w cam and the housing, so she’ll have to get the housing on her own later). Unfortunately I’m on a pretty tight budget, so I can’t spend more than $1k. I was looking at the Sony HDR-SR5, but I read here that it doesn’t perform very well in low light conditions. As all but 4 of our 40 dives have been here in So Cal waters, I’d really like to get her something that does well with the murky viz we’ve got round here.

Given those constraints, is there anything out there that will fit under our tree this year? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Sean