Newbie Rigs: What camera system did you buy?

The Ikelite would be my chioce between the two. Why not an INON Z-240 and a UCLS arm.

Wow these are great picutres!

Great Pictures!

DX1G, and still haven't had a chance to take it into the water.

With dive trip coming up, I purchased G10 camera and Fisheye FIX housing with Fisheye Wide angle conversion port from Backscatter. I already own Inon Z240 strobe. I paid 96 dollars FedEx Priority Overning shipping charges to make sure the gear arrives on time. Well, the manual for the housing was missing as well as the Optical D Connector, so I left on three day dive trip without my new toy... Not a happy camper..

I needed an inexpensive housing for my Sony FX7 and I made the mistake of buying an Epic housing. What a waste of money & it nearly destroyed my camera too - The flexible end collapses under the slightest bit of water pressure & crushes the camera between the controls and the lens end of the housing. When I called the company to complain they told me that there is a sucker born every day & I was that sucker. Guess I could use it as a goldfish bowl but its not much use for anything else.

Greetings,

I've been doing some u/w with a Sea & Sea setup, a DX860G with a YS-27 strobe. I get some decent pictures, good enough to impress family and friends but nothing spectacular. Going to move into the DSLR realm so I can have exposure and depth of field control. I'll post in the beginner section a couple of questions.

Cheers, Dan

Hi guys

Just bought a aquatica housing for a canon 5d mrk2,I have been a pro land photographer for a while could do with a little advice on strobes will be using a 14mm l utra wide lens.

Any advice on strobes most appreciated.probably looking at a single ys250 to start may add another at a later date.

Just bought a aquatica housing for a canon 5d mrk2,I have been a pro land photographer for a while could do with a little advice on strobes will be using a 14mm l utra wide lens.

Any advice on strobes most appreciated.probably looking at a single ys250 to start may add another at a later date.

Congratulations on your new housing for your Canon 5d mrk2!

If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask. Another place to go for questions on strobes would be the Lights, Strobes, and Lighting Technique forum.

Generally speaking, I will say that one problem with using strobes underwater is that they can cause backscatter in your images. This happens when the strobe lights up particles in the water. Taking images underwater using strobes is quite different from using speedlights in land (topside) photography. There are definitely ways to mimimize and/or eliminate backscatter. If you're not already familiar with them, you might want to become familiar with them before using your strobe underwater.

If you're shooting with an ultra widelens, you probably will want to add a second strobe as soon as possible.

Again, feel free to fire away with your questions as you enter the wonderful world of underwater photograpy.

Ellen

Just want to introduce myself. My name is Richard Shelton I go by kokopedal (long story). I have been diving since 1977, Mostly in warm waters. I just moved to San Diego ca after living several years in Hawaii. I came over early to find a place to live, meanwhile all my gear is still on a slow boat. I use a Nikon D-300 with an ikelite housing and 125 strobes. It will take some adjusting for me here the locals tell me on a good day the viz is 15 feet shore dives and 30 or so for boat dives. Oh well nothing like a new challange. I hope to contribute to this forum in some way.

Later

kokopedal

Hi All,

I am a newly qualified diver and would like to capture my UW memories. My compact Canon IXUS recently broke, but I still have my old faithful D350 dSLR. What would be the best way to start? Get a housing for my old D350, or buy a compact cam and UW housing? I want to take pictures around 60-100ft. I haven't been following new cams for at least the last 6 months, but it seems compacts still don't do too well in low light situations. I want to take mostly close-up to macro photos.

Any suggestions?

(I'm new to the forum, so apologies if a similar query has come up before :-)

Thanks!!

Hi folks,

 

I bought my first point and shoot underwater camera (Casio Z77) this year and was very surprised of the good quality of the photos.

 

Here are some examples:

 

US$230 Casio Z77 + EWC-11 (3m) is the camera I used

US$324 Casio Z80 + EWC-130 (40m) alternative for divers

 

I have created a website with tips for this particular camera (but should be similar for other casio models).

http://underwater-photography.webconrad.com/

 

Full-size photos and videos can be found here: http://underwater-photography.webconrad.co...otos-videos.php

 

Cheers

Clemens

Wow!!! Thanks for an awesome, helpful post!

hey denizens of wetpixel!

I am looking to get a set up for Nikon d70, most likely an ikelite housing. I currently have a nikor 18-70 ED lens and am going to work with this until I can afford to get into macro and wide angle. I need some help selecting strobes, initially I was thinking about a pair of ikelite DS 51’s. I will be doing all my shooting in the turbid waters of New England so might be able to sacrifice output, but want rugged and easy to use with thick gloves.

Any suggestions?

Also dealers or sellers in New England?

AB sea photo in LA seems like a value buy, anybody had any experience with them?

Also dealers or sellers in New England?

Backscatter East has a shop in Derry, New Hampshire. Here's the link:

Backscatter East

Ellen

thanks ellen

I bought the new Sea&Sea DX1200 HD a couple of months ago.

The usual specs like image quality, shutter lag, handling under water and so on are great, however the flash of the camera is way too weak and only illuminates the left part of the picture while the right side remains dark. Here's an example picture : http://bayimg.com/cAakhaaCn

That's why I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who just wants to take a quick picture. The camera's only useful in combination with a bigger flash system.

hi all, i'm using G10 with housing from canon.

I tested the camera without weights this was funny.

The previous camera was a sony dsc w7.

The most asked question by any newbie is one that many ask or do research on. So in the tradition of Mr Wetpixel himself, we will (try) to restart this quarterly thread to give newbies the most up to date new rigs from members who have made the plunge themselves.

So members who have recently bought new rigs, please feel free to add your opinions and feedback on your rigs so that others may benefit from your knowledge.

Thanks and happy shopping.

Got an Ikelite housing for 300D. So far it seems like I'll have to learn how to shoot all over again.

Newbee Neil here. I just got a housing for my Olympus C-5060. This camera has served me well on dry land for many years and I now have the UW case and wide conversion lens. Also a Sea Life strobe on adjustable arm. Now, how do I get decent results UW?? Are there specific settings, etc.. Anyone familiar with this camera please help! Thanks NR

Hi Neil,

I have been using a 5060 underwater since I got it new and love it. I mainly do macro,due to the conditions where I dive, so this is what I use and the settings I START with for Macro.

Two strobes, both slaved off the cameras flash(no optic fibres or sync cables). A focus light, this really helps to speed up autofocus.

Settings; Set camera to Super Macro; Set to Manual; Set the camera flash to fire in slave and then set that to the lowest setting (1 out of 10); Shutter 1/800 or higher, depends on the background or if there is white sand around. Apperture f8 or open it up if the subject if further from the camera or you want more background in the shot.

After my first shot I will then make fine adjustments to the exposure via shutter speed or apperture if required.

See my Flickr page below for examples, hope this gives you a starting point,

Brendan