Hello Tim,
thicks13 wrote:
Going to Hawaii in sept. Going to snorkel and snuba.
1. Looking for thoughts on a good camera for it. Have researched for hours on the internet..found the olympus tg6, sony 100, gopro, and a couple others mentioned. The one i have settled on is the canon g7x mk iii with housing. Any thoughts on this selection..pros, cons? Thoughts on a different one? Havent bought one yet.
It depends a little on what your plans are... If you mostly snorkel and only occasional scuba dive to shallow depth, I would suggest the TG6, since it is easy to carry and a good and cost efficient overall solution (don't even need an extra housing up to 15m depth). It is also good for proper scuba diving (with the extra housing) and has a nice set of accessories that make it very good, especially for macro photography. Apparently the 3rd party solutions from Meikon (Seafrogs) are even better that the original housing (see Backscatter website for their review). However, even the newest version (TG6) has some limitations in shooting manual, which is what you really want!
The Canon G7x III and the Sony RX100 series are very capable cameras and support fully manual shooting, and have larger sensors. The newest version of the RX100 has a slower lens, but a more more modern sensor. I personally would go for the Canon, since they have by far the best manual white balance for underwater in the market. It seems to me that there is no dedicated UW-housing from Canon anymore, but there are cost efficient solutions from Meikon (Seafrogs) and Fantasea, both appear to have a 67mm thread for wet lenses/filters, which is VERY important to have.
I personally would not bother with GoPro, but that depends a little on if you are video centric. They are quite capable for videos, but are in my opinion totally overpriced for what you are getting, with very limited still photography ability.
2. Regardless of which camera, does shooting thru a housing add stops as shooting thru a filter? Assuming it might, was one reason i selected the canon..fast lens.
No, since these are non-coloured glass panes, it is like having a protective polarizer on your land lense, it has no effect on the f stops.
However, since you are losing light when you are going deeper, a fast lens is of advantage! As you are also losing colour when you are going deeper, you will need to bring your own light in one form or another. Either make sure that the flash from the camera can be used underwater and is not obstructed by the lens port (which would create ugly shadows), or bring your own strobe/video light (e.g. https://www.backscatter.com/Backscatter-Mini-Flash-Underwater-Strobe). Unless you are shooting wide angle, ambient light with manual white balance, you will get better results with the TG6 and an additional light source than with the Canon without the source in deeper waters. So, if you have limited financial resources, you have to weigh what is more important to you. If price is not an issue, get the Canon and the light (as long as you don't mind the the bigger and heavier setup).
3. Using a housing, how difficult is it to see and change settings..i would probably use P mode, not auto, because ,i want to shoot RAW as well.
It depends on the camera and housing, but generally it is a little more difficult, especially when snorkeling or in shallow water if you are in the tropics, due to the bright sun shining on the display. Generally speaking, underwater photography is significantly more difficult than on-land-photography. So, be sure you know your camera and have an idea of what you are doing before you go underwater. Don't buy the camera a few days before your trip and allow for some practice on land.
Do NOT shoot in Auto or P Mode! I did this for some years, and it was a waste! The cameras are just not tuned for underwater photography, your results will not be very good. I would suggest to shoot as follows:
- RAW
- Manual mode (M), shutter speed at least 1/125 sec. or faster, if you try to get some fish
- Auto Focus, with one small focal point (you might have to lock focus and then rearrange the composition, which might take some practice, since half-pressing the shutter is difficult to achieve with some housings)
- "Floating" ISO (100-400 ISO), so you don't have to worry about it and noise is kept low, while not having to change setting all the time.
- manual white balance (use the sand on the bottom or your buddy's tank as reference), I would not use the Underwater Mode (White Balance) for anything lower than 10m.
This setting is a mix of auto and manual that allows you to focus on your subject and composition without losing control over your settings (you don't want the shutter speed to drop too low, but also need control over your depth of field, especially in macro situations) . Underwater the screen on the back of your camera is unfortunately not a good reference if your picture turned out well, so, take as many pictures a possible, that will increase you chance of a good one!!!
4. I read something about using color filters depending on blue water or green water..is this just for video or does it apply to photography as well? ..if so, then that is one more piece of glass...hmm
There are pink (for green water) and orange/red (for blue water) filters. I have not had good results with them, but I must admit that I think I have not used them proper. You still need to do manual white balance all the time and in shallow water they don't work, since the add too much red/pink. To keep it simpler for the beginning, I would suggest to skip them first, just make sure your camera housing has a 67mm thread to add them later if you want.
Yes, they darken the picture/lens a bit, which can be annoying if you have a slow lens.
If you are using and additional wet close up lens (e.g. http://www.inon.jp/products/lens/lineup.html), you will have to change between the filter and the macro lens all the time, which can be quite a nuisance. Same is true when you shoot with light or flash, that is the reason, why I decided against it. However, if you shoot mostly video (e.g. GoPro), then a filter is a very good addition.
5. Any other thoughts..i am sure I will have more questions as i go..thanks..tim
As said above, underwater photography is challenging and you need to spend some time afterwards in PP to tweak the results (especially white balance if you don't use an extra light source), so don't get frustrated if your first pictures don't turn out to be award winning.
I personally think that there is an inverse correlation between the size of your camera gear and the enjoyment of the dive. The bigger, the less fun! However, the more light your bring, the higher the chance of a nice picture (yes, I know that is not very helpful...). Please also keep in mind, that a large and heavy camera setup can become a hazard underwater in strong current, especially if you are not an experience diver.
Hope that helps a little,
Enjoy our trip and please share some of your results!
Lars
