Buy housing for my GX85, GoPro or other camera + housing?

Hi,

I'm owner of this camera and because I started diving last year I'm thinking of buying housing for GX85. But I'm bit suprised that the housing costs between 1000-1800 $.

The camera costs around 450$.

I need an opion others what you think about it? It is worth buying it?

According to my calculation, it would be almost better to sell GX85 and buy e.g. XT-20 and housing for it e.g.

https://meikon.com.hk/products/fujifilm-x-t10-16-50-40m-130ft-meikon-underwater-camera-housing

I would have better camera + housing and it would be probably even cheaper than the housing for GX85. Or buy another camera?

Or buy gopro but I don't think it is best think for diving. I'm not fan of recording videos, maybe only during diving but not on the surface.

I think I will have around 15 dives/year. E.g. Last year I was diving with thresher sharks and I really regret I couldn't record it even though there is still somebody who records it.

Thanks guys

Hi Filip,

Buying housing is not enough. You need flash, lenses (Macro, Wideangle, Fisheye) and ports also. A good system based on GX85 will cost many thousands of Euro (or $)...

Price differences between different housing manufacturers reflect the difference in quality and comfort when using. You get what you pay for. In any case I recommend vaccum system: provides 99,99% insurance against flooding.

Maybe for beginning a TG-5 (or 6) is ideal for you. But you still need housing and flash...

Wolfgang

Here is my 2 cents, I do a lot of underwater video while scuba diving and I've used a GoPro for 5+ years, I've owned a GX85 and now use a Lumix LX10 / Nauticam housing underwater.

I wish I would have bought a housing for my GX85 before I sold it, it is an excellent camera and better than the LX10 in terms of image stabilization in 4k (which is my biggest gripe with the LX10).  The ability to white balance down to 50-70 feet with no filter is excellent (assuming you're going to bring colours back in post).

My suggestion would be to get the housing for your GX85, whether you do photo or video, or if you're focus is video, just get a GoPro, case, filter and be done with it.  For the price/size the GoPro, you will have to spend quite a bit more money to beat the video quality.

If you're not an experienced diver, I'd also suggest a GoPro, adding a "real" camera adds a lot of extra tasks that a new diver might not be ready for.

The two posters before me made very good points, especially the cost of strobes, since you say you're primarily interested in stills. And if you go for a strobe setup with TTL, it would be wise to choose a camera with popup flash and a case that has transparent ports for fiberoptic cables.  If you want to dive or snorkel in 10 ft of water, then you may, luckily, be able to get away with ambient light.

But if/when you're ready to consider a different camera, you could study the camera reviews at DPReview - they favor the a6300 (gold) over the XT-20 (silver), for example - then make a decision for the type of shooting you do above and in the water.

Then I would go to a site like Meikon (or their sister site at Seafrogs), review what housings support your camera, and importantly what kinds of ports, domes, zoom gears, and vacuum systems (for leak checking) are available for that particular housing. Check to make sure ports are available for the particular lenses you intend to use - macro and wide angle. You would find that the a6300 mentioned above is well supported.

I have 3 Meikon/Seafrogs housings. They're cost effective for me, because I don't mind making fixes. On the Seafrogs case for the a6500, the rubber bushing on the mode dial kept rotating off, so I had to epoxy it on. On the Meikon Second Generation case for the a7Rii, I had to modify the on/off lever to get it to work reliably. Otherwise, all the cases work well and no leaks after about 50 dives.

Welcome to the world of expensive choices.

Consider carefully what you want to do while diving, what you want to do with the resulting images, and if you want mostly video.

I'd suggest that a GoPro is the best starting point for a beginner concentrating on video.

For stills, the choices you list seem fine to me. But the suggestions that you will need more equipment are also correct. But there is no reason you can't start with ambient shooting (especially at less than 30 feet) and at least get used to shooting while diving and get used to the post-processing necessary for underwater work. (In that respect, make sure any camera you buy will shooting in RAW mode. You'll need it.)

TG5 is a nice choice too, based on the images I've seen. Myself, I've used a number of Canon point-n-shoots (no longer made) in matching Canon housings over the years. All cost about $400-500 new for both camera and housing. My s120 is the latest iteration.

I also shot a Sony RX100 II in a Nauticam housing for a year. NIcer output, but the menus and ergonomics are quite a bit worse than any of the Canons. And at least with that model, the autofocus was just as slow as the point-n-shoots. Ultimately too slow for me.

Suggestions for a new diver:

-Get a camera without external flash that can be dangled from a wrist strap on the right wrist. (Cameras are made for right-handed shooting, generally).

-Always put the wrist strap on as the first thing you do, either before going into the water, or as soon as you take it out of a pocket, have it handed to you from the boat, etc. I've seen a diver lose his new Sea & Sea $1000 rig as he got on the boat, thinking it was strapped to him. He didn't have a routine with it yet, after a few days on a liveaboard with it. He let go of the rig to get onto the boat and it floated away. Worse, he thought it would sink so the whole boat went on a search grip operation looking for it on the bottom while it (likely) floated away. He had checked bouyancy in a fresh water sink before the trip, where it sank instead of floating.

-Do not add external flash or a handle until you are familiar with both diving and the camera. Adding a handle tends to me you are gripping it the entire dive, No dangling from the wrist in times of stress. And hanging onto a camera by handles tends to change how you dive, makes you pay more attention to the camera. Adding external strobes makes it more unwieldy, adds significant drag besides the expense.

-Get a camera with the fastest autofocus system you can afford. It would be good if it had a spot autofocus feature and a joystick to move the focus point.

-Touch screens will be of no use to you underwater.

FInally, if you want to get started fairly cheaply, a universal smart phone housing might be just the ticket: https://www.housingcamera.com/id4850-itorch-krh02-housing-4-universal-smartphones.html

Filip Prochazka wrote:

I had 30 dives in last year. I don't know if it is enough or not. I know that a next element will make diving harder. I'm trying be really careful I know very well I'm still not well experienced in diving (who is after 30 dives) But I would prefer probably a camera than GoPro because I see that there is possibility to upgrade it in the future.

For now, I would like to spent no more than around 1300$ for everything so I could take pictures during diving.

For now, thanks for your posts It's really a lot of information, I will have to read it through and have to think about it.

One possibility:

Sony a6300 with 16-50 kit lens:  $700-$750 ebay used

Seafrogs housing with standard port: $300 new

Sea&Sea YS-03 strobe, tray, fo cable:  $320 new

30 dives is plenty to add a point-n-shoot.   Unless you are not confident in the water - taking pictures can result in problems if you are not decent on buoyancy  control.   My late wife ripped her ear several times taking pictures while drifting down unnoticed.  (She had ripped her ear years before and it was always weak.)

I can remember some of my dive incidents - not ear problems per se, but one dive I came back with a real mess.  I had turned on video mode accidentally, and I had a bunch of weird short clips as I thought I was taking a picture.  Instead I was turning video on or off.  Half of them were done with the camera dangling from a strap.

I DO have ear issues due to shooting underwater.  I tend to go up and down a lot, sinking down to take a picture, then rising up again.  Lots and lots of pressure on the ears, and you need to remember to clear them often.