Underwater camera setup

kelpdiver wrote:

SafariBob wrote:

My first and only trip to Galapagos was in 2013. My wife came in on the low end for experience (60 dives)

That's more than I have done in my life!

So with all respect, you don't want a big housed camera if your dive experience is low double digits and you're happy doing it as an occasional vacation activity. Expense aside, it will be frustrating and a bit dangerous for you and the reef. And if you do it only rarely, you relearn the wheel each time. Even I, with ~40 dives per year, expect the first day to be a loss.

I have snorkeled or dived in Koh Tao, Bali, Gili, Kauai, Big Island, Roatan, San Blas, Bocas, Galapagos and Great Barrier Reef and maybe the baggy gave the wrong impression, but I have used UW film cameras, compacts, GoPro and now the iPhone.

ok, I'm struggling a bit here, because you went from not having done 60 dives in your life to have "dived and snorkeled at a lot of places." Are you averaging 5 dives per each of these 10 locations?

i often don’t dive at all or if I do it may be 2-5 dives

This really matters in terms of good advice. For low single digit dives per trip, the gopro is the right answer. And as mentioned earlier, it is a bit dangerous for a lower count diver to be carrying 20lbs of mass that they aren't willing to drop in an emergency.

i understand that, hence the focus on snorkeling

Again, using a full sized rig requires a lot of currency. I have many dive trips where I did 30-51 dives with the camera. As for snorkeling, one person has posted here showing what a really good free diver is capable of. For me, and I dare say most, snorkel photography is just a lot of downward (unattractive) shots. It's difficult to get down deep enough, long enough to shoot up as composition usually requires.

to a certain extent I can imagine that to be the case, but I have decent footage from snorkeling.

But does it really make sense to spend 400 on a GoPro, instead of putting that money towards housing for a large sensor camera? Honestly I kind like the idea of something a bit more hefty for the stability

$400 doesn't even get me a macro port, nevermind the macro lens or the housing.

seafrogs?

Having your body only gets you 20% of the way. Do you have suitable lenses - Sony is not the best player for UW in this regard. Doesn't have a true fisheye, not that many topside shooters would have one, and same is true for that macro.

i have the 16-35 and I am ok with getting the 90mm. May swap the 16-35 for the 12-24 if I can find more use cases for wide angle.

Setting up a FF mirrorless with ports and lenses to do macro, wide angle, and rectalinear (sharks, shipwrecks) can run you 6-8k, if you already had strobes and strobe arms. It's very difficult to justify unless you're going to use it a lot.

sure. But it appears to me you can do a sea frogs setup for less than 2k if not 1k assuming you already have the camera and lens

Your ports may be reusable, but I have to counter that statement regarding Nauticam. For the same class of camera, yes, these will be reusable, potentially coupled with extenders (which can be 200-400$). But I have ports for the N120 size (SLRs, big mirrorless), the N85s (4/3rd mirrors) and N50 (compacts). You can resell them, but not for anything close to 100%. Figure half off.

where can I buy used?

We have plenty of lights already. Normally she carries two 2500 lumen solas. These days you can get video oriented lights between 2500 and 4000 lumens for a cheapish price (~200-400each). Strobes are much brighter, but have a much steeper learning curve.

Yes, I was thinking something around ~3k lumens.

People can do decent macro with these sort of lights. For subjects that are hiding in the coral crevices, it may be preferable as you know the little crab is in the light, while with the strobe you may make many attempts that all gets shadowed out.

Yes I am generally a fan of hot lights partially for wysiwyg considerations

Maybe. One reason I never rent camera gear is that the learning curve means you never get the familiarity required for great results.

but you don't appear to be diving enough to get that even with the one you would, at considerable expense. And you have to transport it.

could be, but I am willing to take the chance. I am fairly experienced photographer, so I think with enough snorkeling experience I might be able to handle it

My frustration is a little bit that, I mainly shoot wildlife, and if someone asked me what is a way to get decent wildlife photos for ~ 1K usd, I could point them towards that canon 100-400 I + a legacy body (such as original 6d), with maybe a couple of step up options to show.

And they would have that solution for not much more than 5lbs in weight. 7 if they want a second body with a normal zoom lens (ie, 15-85) for animals that come close to the jeep.

But I am a bit at a loss what is the equivalent UW setup. What gives you the potential for great shots, but maybe not with max hit rate.

As for paying for Nauticam vs Seafrog or Ikelite or OEM?

I have several Nauticams and a couple Aquaticas. These are high end, customed machined products. If you stay with a model for many years, the expense can be somewhat justified, and you might be able to find a used body for an older body like the 5dIII for a good price and share the ports.

If you're doing a lot of rough entries (shores) or are perhaps clumsy, aluminum is great. I tripped on the stone staircase at Anilao and the full rig took a good blow, but was just fine. With ABS plastic, I wouldn't be so confident.

yes, it makes sense to me that Alu is superior

But the pricing is...awful. Nauticam has gotten really aggressive with pricing, in the wrong way, and did a big inflation/covid/profit hike this September. My R5 housing is now $5159. I mulled over it for 3900 vs the Aquatica that was as low as 2760 this year, took it because it was a bit better thought out, but there's no chance I'd make that same decision now. Happily I'm set for a long while on this system...hopefully at least a decade.

exactly

Vacuum systems are now widely available, and a must when you have 3k worth of SLR and lens inside. Nauticam shows you dropping pressure very clearly, I think it's also beneficial in that you pump out a lot of the moisture when you're in the tropics, though I quickly learned to stop worrying about that on a trip to Palau 10 years back. Before, I'd do all the open/close actions in an A/C room.

Yes, you can’t make life too complicated

The plastic systems tend to be bulkier, using a generic form and then fitting to the model. Ikelites in particular. The AL models can be machined very precisely, and my R5 rig, despite being 20lbs on land, is only a few ounces negative in the water with the 8.5" dome port.

The OEMs from Olympus can be very attractive and well priced, but not certain that they can actually be serviced, and those ports are likely limited to the model.

Others here use the Seafrogs successfully. I think esp for infrequent shootings, the price makes it something to look at. You may have to accept some limitations.

Yes, my thinking exactly