Camera for diving and out-and-about

[Astraeus]

I've perused several threads on the matter which all seem to recommend that the best option for scuba dive-suitable camera is to get a decent P&S and fit it into a waterproof housing. However, none of the threads seems particularly up-to-date and I know that a couple of the posters who replied were very keen divers and thought I might be able to get their opinion on this.

I'm diving in Australia next year. I imagine I'll be doing about 8-10 days of diving including some on the Great Barrier Reef and SS Yongala as well as the possibility of some around Melbourne or Tasmania. None of these dives will take me deeper than 35-40m.

I don't want to spend a fortune - I already have a D40 and an old Casio Exilim P&S so was hoping to pick something up (with a housing) for under £400 and then probably sell it on when I got back from Australia.

What recommendations do people have? Thanks!

 

[Nawty]

My ideal would be a Canon S90 + housing. The ability to shoot RAW is really really useful for underwater shots for adjusting the WB and adjusting exposure (which can be a little iffy when UW) plus you get great IQ from the S90 and good low light performance (for a compact).

Kerso can get housings as well as cameras

 

[Aitchie]

I've got a Fuji F10 with casing and I've found it to be quite good for a point and shoot type camera in low light. It's been down to about 32m with me no problems, although some of my best shots are shallower because naturally there is more light.

 

[Nawty]

The key to underwater shooting is to take your own light, it is much better to get a decent point and shoot and a strobe or two than blowing your lot on a DSLR.

That said, the onboard flash on a PAS should be fine, you just need to get close. This was taken with a Powershot A620 down near 30m, I used the sun for the background and then lit up the foreground with the flash:

 

[Bardo]

First of all, what sort of subjects do you think you'll be shooting? If it's wrecks then you'll definitely need a wide angle lens as the 28/36mm lenses used by p&s cameras won't be up to the job by a long shot.

Many enclosures allow you to attach what's known as 'wet lenses' to the outside of the enclosure - I used to use an Inon UFL165AD fisheye lens attached to the front of a Canon IXUS 75 enclosure and got superb results! It's quite pricey - £500 for the lens and £75 for the Inon lens adaptor - but still considerably cheaper than a DSLR setup! Having recently upgraded to a full blown Nikon D300 DSLR setup for underwater photography, a P&S setup is definitely the way to go if you still want change from £6000!

I'd also recommend at least one strobe (flash gun) - colour is lost very quickly underwater so you'll want to bring the colour back out. I use two strobes for my underwater shoots as it gives more event coverage. You can still get some very (and colourful!) images from ambient light in blue shallow water conditions but for anything below 12m, a strobe is definitely recommended. I'd definitely recommend *not* using the flash built into the camera unless you're shooting macro stuff as they cause backscatter due to being far too close to the lens.

A good place to start would be these guys... http://www.camerasunderwater.co.uk/

Here's a selection of shots from my last trip to Egypt... all were shot on a Canon IXUS 75 with a fisheye lens and 2 x YS110 strobes

More of my underwater shots here...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbardo/

 

[cowasaki]

Another vote for a decent P&S that creates RAW files. You really do want something that you do not need to think about. You will need flash if you plan to go any deeper than about 6-8 metres. If you start taking lots of kit down then you risk your own safety unless you are a very competent diver and I would advise doing several practice dives before you go out there. A decent plastic housing would be enough.