Thought it would be interesting to know what everyone use's for their underwater photos and any comments on it from what you've experienced

i use a Olympus c50-50zoom
It's really old but allows full aperture and shutter control like an Slr and has never leaked(touch wood) so i put up with it

G9, Canon housing with lump of bashed lead attached to the tripod mount, and a piece of bungee holding the flash diffuser in place.

Up Side -> Great for close-up work, and now I've been told about the auto hi-iso setting, it's pretty good in poor light conditions.

Down Side -> It's a bit of a lump to carry around on a dive (my old ixy 600 was far easier to use underwater, and you hardly noticed it during the dive). Also the flash is crap as the housing creates a huge shadow,,, and the diffuser only makes it a little less crap.

Sea & Sea DX-1G camera (same as a Ricoh GX-100 but with different software) with Sea&Sea YS-110 DS-TTL strobe.

I'm still pretty new to it so havent really played around much with the manual settings on it yet, but it does have a lot of settings to fiddle with (although not quite an DSLR). Plus it shoots in Raw so once I get round to getting photoshop will be able to play with the pics a lot more.

At the moment I'm mostly using the "sea & sea" automatic mode, but have fiddled with the Macro a bit.

The best photos I have taken so far have been Macro shots, and I find that this is probably the best point of the camera. You can have the lens pretty much touching the little nudi's and it will still focus

Once I get time to sit down and start fiddling with the manual settings hopefully might get some better shots

Canon G10 and waiting for a Canon housing. From there I will add a base, flexi arms and 2 LED based lights.

I did have a Ixus 400 for many years and it took reasonable pics, but im looking forward to the better lens and manual controls of the G10.

I have a IXUS 85SI with a canon housing and... that PH will build me

Still haven't used it underwater yet though

Canon 400D and Ikelite Housing and heaps of lenses that are usually wrong for the occasion.

Just got my hands on a Fuji finepix F31fd and housing, last night! cheap as chips off TM. I will have a dive with it tonight and hopefully have a pic or two to add tomorrow/monday.
I would also like to see your best photos with whatever you are using.
cheers

Canon G7, Canon housing, I will install the hack on the memory card to allow shooting in RAW and ...

From there I will add a base, flexi arms and 2 LED based lights.
that PH will build for me and tazbub ....

my personal belief is it's more about the photographer than about what set up you use, alot of practice with the camera and most importantly knowing what makes a good photo good will improve the photos more than having an SLR with twin strobes,shooting in raw etc etc......

but hey im only average at best so don't take it from me

I agree. But you can soon run into the limitations of your camera.
EG lack of strobe.

... that's why tazbub & I will be much better off when you build us a strobe

Yeah, but your wallet may not be!
Estimated cost is about $700. Plus labour, plus tax plus parts...lol

One of my first photos with the Fuji F31fd, as promised.

Agreed. I've just started trying to learn about photography and how to use a camera properly ie actually learning and practising using the manual settings rather than simply point and shoot which is what I have mainly doing to date. And I think that learning about all those things will make far more of a difference to the quality of your photos than having some super camera..

However in saying that, it does help if you have a camera with a certain level of features - ie actually have the ability to control the manual settings, and a strobe so you can get better lighting.

But at the end of the day the time you invest in learning about photography and how to use your camera well will be better than investing in a really expensive camera

Isn't that always the way?


I've got a Nikon D200, Nikon lenses(too many when carrying my kit about) Manfrotto tripod(I prefer Gitzo) and i currently have a Lowepro bag which is crap compared to Tamrac bags(IMO). I use Sandisk Extreme II & III cards, shoot in RAW and process in Photoshop CS2.

I have never been interested in taking my DSLR underwater. As Alan pointed out, the lens you put on will be the wrong one for the shot you want the most. I used to dive with a cam all the time and found that the only things i saw were through the lens.

I like setting up a shot and waiting for the light. Photography is more about being in the right place at the right time to capture a great image. The actual photography bit is easy. Getting up an hour before dusk, setting up my equipment by torchlight and then sitting about with a smoke and a flask of coffee is the hard(est) part. Or missing dinner cos you want to be at a location at sunset, then tramping back to the car in the dark is hardish compared to the fraction of a second it takes to fire off a frame.