Underwater Digital Camera

Thinking of buying my first digital camera and wonder which have good
underwater casings?

Any recommendations appreciated.

Stephen wrote:

> Thinking of buying my first digital camera and wonder which have good
> underwater casings?

A year or more ago, when I was looking, I went for the Olympus
range as they did a bunch of cases. I suspect my mju400 is out
of date now but the case was relatively inexpensive for a 40m
unit and has never leaked.

Look at places like http://www.camerasunderwater.co.uk/ who
seem to do lots of different makes and when I was buying were
within a few quid of the cheapest internet bucket-shop prices.

Budget for an off board strobe or you get lots of brilliantly
lit wildly out of focus blobs from just infront of the lens
in anything but gin-clear water.

nigelH

"Stephen" <NO SPAMsm.vincent@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:cp1v9q$ou8$1@titan.btinternet.com...
> Thinking of buying my first digital camera and wonder which have good
> underwater casings?
>
> Any recommendations appreciated.
>
>
>

i went for the oly5060 with pt020 housing as i could then re-use the ys60
strobe i had with the film camera. i would seriously recommend looking at
the expansion of the system, preferably with a TTL strobe, at the outset
rather than post purchase. as nigel has said, the on-board flash will not do
any photos you take any justice.
i've had one image from the 5060 blown up to a 40x30" print and is quite
acceptable. obviously, any close inspection won't be too good, but from
normal viewing distances it does the job.
i've had issues with the pt020 housing, but nothing that can't be overcome.
if you're even vaguely interested, check out
http://www.devilgas.com/oly5060/index.php for the setup i have. as yet
there's no u/w photos on there as i've been way too lazy to add stuff to the
diving section.

one advantage the prosumer / compacts have over DSLR's is that you can use
the LCD to frame the shot and also shoot video.
hth

Stephen wrote:
> Thinking of buying my first digital camera and wonder which have good
> underwater casings?
>
> Any recommendations appreciated.
>
>
Another satisfied olympus user here, 5050z this time with whatever oly
housing it is, I forget the number. Case has a double seal, that gives
me more confidence.
I'm still dithering over the strobe. Great idea, but which one & how
much are my issues.
Some U/W pics I've taken using the onboard flash and/or natural light
can be found in Tripreports, lundy2004 and st abbs 2004 of
http://www.marlinsac.org.uk
Cheers
Graham

On Mon, 6 Dec 2004 Stephen <> wrote:
> Thinking of buying my first digital camera and wonder which have good
> underwater casings?
>
> Any recommendations appreciated.

I bought a Canon A70 with an underwater case about a year and half
ago and never looked back.

Fantastic little camera with great underwater exposure.
Case has never leaked and is a solid build (I've dropped it a few times
when the water gets choppy)

There's a new 5 megapixel version afaik.
--

"I hear ma train a comin'
.... hear freedom comin"

"Stimp" <ren@spumco.com> wrote in message
news:slrncr9cd6.44t.ren@carbon.redbrick.dcu.ie...
> On Mon, 6 Dec 2004 Stephen <> wrote:
>> Thinking of buying my first digital camera and wonder which have good
>> underwater casings?
>>
>> Any recommendations appreciated.
>
> I bought a Canon A70 with an underwater case about a year and half
> ago and never looked back.
>
> Fantastic little camera with great underwater exposure.
> Case has never leaked and is a solid build (I've dropped it a few times
> when the water gets choppy)
>
> There's a new 5 megapixel version afaik.
> --
>
> "I hear ma train a comin'
> ... hear freedom comin"

This was just posted on another newsgroup.

http://splashdowndivers.com/photo_ga...phy/index.html

Lots of information...

> Another satisfied olympus user here, 5050z this time with whatever oly
> housing it is, I forget the number. Case has a double seal, that gives me
> more confidence.

It's the PT015 housing made for Olympus by UN in japan. Rated to 40m. I've
had one for a few years and have a lot of good results.

> I'm still dithering over the strobe. Great idea, but which one & how much
> are my issues.

I have the Sea&Sea YS90Duo with the fibre optic slave connection., a good
flash, however I've also heard good things about the new ones from Inon as
well, with two or more flash tubes they provide wider spread of light.


> Some U/W pics I've taken using the onboard flash and/or natural light can
> be found in Tripreports, lundy2004 and st abbs 2004 of
> http://www.marlinsac.org.uk
> Cheers
> Graham

a suggestion for your first underwater digital camera.

a good housing is a secure one, look at the construction, is it firm and
robust!
a good camera to start with is a cheap one (say around $300au)

you should be able to buy a new under water housing and camera for around
$500au or less

for example a canon a75 with housing

don't be fooled into buying an expensive camera and housing to start with!

regards
kaz

Tony Howard <tony@samesamediving.com> wrote:

> t's the PT015 housing made for Olympus by UN in japan. Rated to 40m. I've
> had one for a few years and have a lot of good results.

Me too

>
> > I'm still dithering over the strobe. Great idea, but which one & how much
> > are my issues.
>
> I have the Sea&Sea YS90Duo with the fibre optic slave connection., a good
> flash, however I've also heard good things about the new ones from Inon as
> well, with two or more flash tubes they provide wider spread of light.

I have a Sea and Sea YS90DX and an Inon D-180 both are good but the Inon
has a focus/aiming light and that is realy useful.

--
>replace spamblock with my family name to e-mail me

> Based on those (and some land based ones I found on the net) I went and
> bought the F700 too.
>
> I haven't got the housing yet (skint!) but should get it in the new year.
>
> Anway, I'm really happy with the F700's "dryside" capability. Nice bit of
> kit.
>
> CAS
>

Ha! Another convert! A couple of people that were on the boat with me when
those were shot went and bought one too.

I've played around quite a bit with it on land and it delivers a pretty high
quality across the board. It would be nice if it had a histogram feature,
but aside from that I can't really complain - great value for the price. I
think they've just updated it to the F710 though (grr).