New to Underwater Cameras

Hey,

I've searched below and realized that this question has been asked before, however it was in 2003. Technology has changed, and I was curious if anyone had suggestions about my first underwater camera?! I was looking at the olympus SW1030 simple because it can go down 33 feet without the housing, and is versatile for every day use. I was also told that the canon G9 was an amazing camera, however I'm looking for something, if possible that i can bring down about 20 feet without having to use a housing system.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Tamara

I've have several friends who bought the olympus waterproof cameras, mainly to use for swimming and snorkelling. All but one said they leaked within a couple of metres of the surface.

If you are using one of these for diving, I'd be a bit wary.

There are several good cameras from the main manufacturers (Canon, Fuji, Panasonic, Olympus) which, combined with an underwater case, will provide pleasing results, but you are looking at a price around £350 for the pair. I've got a Canon IXUS 850 IS which is simple to use (important underwater), gives pretty good results underwater (with practice), and gives great results on land too.

The G9 is a very popular camera, especially as it can capture RAW, but there is a reasonably steep learning curve before you get the best results.

A good site for camera reviews is www.dpreview.com, there are also some good threads in the U/W Photo forum at www.divernet.com, and the Underwater Video & Photograph forum at www.yorkshire-divers.com/forums.

Happy hunting.

Bobdob covered it well.

I have had various OEM cases for various cameras and all but one worked great. One leaked first time out and the the mfg replaced both camera and casing. The OEM casings are small enough that its not like having much more than the camera in your hands and the cost is under $200. I will now test all casings in the pool without the camera before taking a trip... which I should have been doing anyway. I had gotten lazy and stopped since none had leaked in previous testing.

While $200 for the casing is not free, its cheap in the underwater photo world, as I continue learning.

If you really want something that will work "without a housing" and yet remain compact, then I'd say only the SeaLife cameras would really be fully trustworthy, since they actually are designed to work all the way down to scuba depths. They're not much bigger than standard Point-n-Shoot surface cameras, do have the ability to add wide-angle wet lenses and strobes etc so they're not going to completely limit you in terms of growth as you learn more either.

But if you're willing to go with a camera that needs a housing, I'd have to second some of the G9 recommendations. I haven't used one personally but did play with one in the store, and it's clearly a pretty nice camera with full RAW capability, etc. I've seen many nice pics posted from them. I have used a Canon OEM housing with no trouble, even on pretty deep (120fsw) dives in a bit of current. (In fact I "lost" the housing at depth once in Saba when the lanyard slipped my wrist, fortunately we had an awesome dive guide who spotted it bobbing on the surface before we took the boat back in, and retrieved it, and it was fine. That was before I'd added a tray and strobe to it which would've prevented the rocket to the surface. ) Still have the setup in fact, just don't use it anymore. Not worth trying to ebay a 4 MP camera these days....