Forum Members Poll: Your first underwater camera

My first underwater camera was a Casio EXILIM EX-Z1000 back in 2007.

It was a very last minute purchase at Curry’s at Healthrow Airport for a dive trip to Thailand. I think it was £320 or something with the dive case.

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Very interesting to see polycarbonate makes 50% of respondent and is something that is almost dead today except Meikon and of course Olympus

Surprise with tough cameras low rate and higher go pro

On 10/13/2019 at 5:25 AM, Interceptor121 said:

Very interesting to see polycarbonate makes 50% of respondent and is something that is almost dead today except Meikon and of course Olympus

Surprise with tough cameras low rate and higher go pro

I just came off a liveaboard in the Philippines. Between sixteen divers, mine was the only ILC (Sony A6300 in a SeaFrogs housing); two carried RX100s in Sony housings without lights (one had a GoPro on top), one had an RX100M1 in a RecSea housing with twin YS-01s and a separate Panasonic compact in a Polaroid housing on a stick for macro video, one had an S-series Canon with a single YS-01 STROBE, and another 4-5 had GoPros on small handles - no tray-mounted rigs with lights; just hand-held torches at most. This lines up pretty well with the poll results, if you account for people shooting GoPros in ambient light not even knowing about wetpixel, much less posting here. 

Regarding polycarbonate - Ikelite is still alive and kicking. Fantasea is quite popular too. 

1 hour ago, Barmaglot said:

I just came off a liveaboard in the Philippines. Between sixteen divers, mine was the only ILC (Sony A6300 in a SeaFrogs housing); two carried RX100s in Sony housings without lights (one had a GoPro on top), one had an RX100M1 in a RecSea housing with twin YS-01s and a separate Panasonic compact in a Polaroid housing on a stick for macro video, one had an S-series Canon with a single YS-01 STROBE, and another 4-5 had GoPros on small handles - no tray-mounted rigs with lights; just hand-held torches at most. This lines up pretty well with the poll results, if you account for people shooting GoPros in ambient light not even knowing about wetpixel, much less posting here. 

Regarding polycarbonate - Ikelite is still alive and kicking. Fantasea is quite popular too. 

Yes that is a good point. I think the polycarbonate entry level is what I was referring to. There are less and less cameras without a port system unlike Canon Powershot and ixus series. I think transition from gopro to still camera is hard if you don't have a compelling proposition

There are less and less compact cameras in general, phones have taken over that slice of the market - and incidentally, phone housings (Weefine Smart Housing et al) are becoming more common. The basic compact (Canon S-series) is dead completely, and premium compacts (RX100 series, G5X, G7X) are priced out of many people's reach.

Port systems for compacts are still quite rare though, it's only RX100 M6/M7 that needs one. IIRC Nauticam made a basic port system for G7X II some time ago, but that camera functions fine with a fixed port.

Canon G15 in polycarbonate Canon WP48 (I think) housing. Natural light. Eventually saved up for one 2nd hand Sea&Sea YS01 strobe.

Moved onto SonyA6000 in polycarbonate Meikon housing. It's done I reckon about 600 dives and is still going strong.

Currently saving hard to move to full frame and 'proper ' housing. I can think of 5 people I know who have worked professionally using polycarbonate housing. In every case it's just been a question of finance not to upgrade.

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Nikon F3 in an Ikelite housing, used it until 2009.

Sea & Sea motor marine II was my first

I guess we just write our reply as opposed to click on a survey choice somewhere?

PhxAZCraig

I guess we just write our reply as opposed to click on a survey choice somewhere?
PhxAZCraig

On 10/30/2019 at 6:20 PM, Interceptor121 said:

The survey is on the first post
 

Sorry, I can't see what to click on there either.

Sea&Sea Motormarine MX10

I am really surprised that there are so many people who went straight to a compact camera in a housing and did not have a GoPro first. It seems like everyone I know or meet has always had a GoPro before they bought a "real" camera of any kind (for u/w use).

Personally, I had a GoPro for years before I even started diving. Then, I did take my GoPro in the water a few times, and I did shoot a very few number of stills with it, in the water, before I bought my first "real" camera. So, I voted in the poll as GoPro. However, if the question were "what is the first camera you bought for the purpose of underwater use", then I would have voted ILC.

On 10/14/2019 at 5:03 AM, Interceptor121 said:

Yes that is a good point. I think the polycarbonate entry level is what I was referring to. There are less and less cameras without a port system unlike Canon Powershot and ixus series. I think transition from gopro to still camera is hard if you don't have a compelling proposition

Even Meikon offers polycarbonate with a port system now, in their Salted line for Sony crop sensors. Very inexpensive, too, compared to any other option I know of. My Meikon housing for my m43 camera is a fixed port setup, but it has been flawless over the last 4 years. I think they offer an amazing value.

And, for that reason, I think the transition from GoPro is not that hard. GoPro is SO limiting (for stills). A Sony a6xxx in a Salted housing can be put together for less than $1000, I think. And then you have options for using flashguns and for different lenses for WA and macro. If you're going to stick to recreational depths and don't need a full frame sensor, but you want good quality underwater photos, I think that setup is actually very compelling over a GoPro.

I started with the Meikon housing and their cheap wet wide angle lens for my E-M10. I upgraded a year or so ago to the Meikon housing with a Nauticam WWL-1. That gave me a quite noticeable improvement in image quality and I have gotten some pictures with that setup that I am VERY happy with.

2 hours ago, stuartv said:

I am really surprised that there are so many people who went straight to a compact camera in a housing and did not have a GoPro first. It seems like everyone I know or meet has always had a GoPro before they bought a "real" camera of any kind (for u/w use).

 

Personally, I had a GoPro for years before I even started diving. Then, I did take my GoPro in the water a few times, and I did shoot a very few number of stills with it, in the water, before I bought my first "real" camera. So, I voted in the poll as GoPro. However, if the question were "what is the first camera you bought for the purpose of underwater use", then I would have voted ILC.

 

 

Even Meikon offers polycarbonate with a port system now, in their Salted line for Sony crop sensors. Very inexpensive, too, compared to any other option I know of. My Meikon housing for my m43 camera is a fixed port setup, but it has been flawless over the last 4 years. I think they offer an amazing value.

 

And, for that reason, I think the transition from GoPro is not that hard. GoPro is SO limiting (for stills). A Sony a6xxx in a Salted housing can be put together for less than $1000, I think. And then you have options for using flashguns and for different lenses for WA and macro. If you're going to stick to recreational depths and don't need a full frame sensor, but you want good quality underwater photos, I think that setup is actually very compelling over a GoPro.

 

I started with the Meikon housing and their cheap wet wide angle lens for my E-M10. I upgraded a year or so ago to the Meikon housing with a Nauticam WWL-1. That gave me a quite noticeable improvement in image quality and I have gotten some pictures with that setup that I am VERY happy with.

It is not surprising this forum wetpixel is predominantly a photographer destination. So most people here already had a camera of some description and then housed it. With the death of compact cameras and phones people tend to buy gopro and shoot videos not stills so they never arrive here.

Meikon offers solutions of course but the entry point is much more expensive than it used to be and this puts people off so they stay with the gopro

17 minutes ago, Interceptor121 said:

It is not surprising this forum wetpixel is predominantly a photographer destination. So most people here already had a camera of some description and then housed it. With the death of compact cameras and phones people tend to buy gopro and shoot videos not stills so they never arrive here.

Meikon offers solutions of course but the entry point is much more expensive than it used to be and this puts people off so they stay with the gopro

I sort of get that. But, the divers I have talked to in person who are looking for something to use underwater are almost always people who were not photographers before, and they are looking to upgrade from a GoPro-style action camera. I guess that just means those people are often not so passionate about it that they find their way here. Personally, I have an old Nikon N70 film camera. No way I would have thought to house it. I think I'm not the norm. I was not an active photographer for many years before I got into u/w. I guess most people are one of two categories: They were already an active photographer on land, so they housed a real camera for the first u/w. Or, they were not a photographer at all and they ended up getting a GoPro.

Regarding your statement that the entry point is much more expensive that it used to be, I note that you can get a TG-5/6 in an Olympus housing for about $750 or so. And you can get a Sony a6xxx in a Meikon housing for under $1,000, I think. If that is much more expensive than it used to be, then how cheap DID it used to be?!? I can't imagine it being cheaper than that, say, 5 or 10 years ago. Am I wrong about that?

Disposable underwater film camera something like this one....

The plastic housing are staying flat but the camera at entry level no longer exist it is mostly a consequence of smartphones

Actually, now that I think about it, I have dived with people using an iPhone in a waterproof case who were taking pictures.

Does that count as a camera in a housing? Seems like it would. Maybe should be a separate poll option, though. It is certainly low cost of entry.

My first was a panasonic DVX 100 in an Equinox housing. 

The poll does not accept answers anymore but I think @stuartv has good point we need smartphones/tablet as a choice

can admin lock this thread and I create a new Poll please?