Underwater photograpy..newbie to it

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.

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.

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.

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

5.  Any other thoughts..i am sure I will have more questions as i go..thanks..tim

Lars has a lot of good info. Here's a bit more.

thicks13 wrote:

Going to Hawaii in sept. Going to snorkel and snuba.

I've snorkeled and scuba'd (349 dives) but never Snuba. I don't know if there is anything particular about Snuba that recommends for or against any particular type of equipment.

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.

First question I would ask is if you primarily want video or stills from your dives, or a good combo of both. If leaning toward mostly video, I'd say a GoPro may be a good choice. But if you are leaning toward mostly stills, I'd avoid a GoPro as they typicaly have not been very good for stills. (I don't know about the latest model.)

In the past there were more inexpensive choices for a camera + housing, especially from Canon. An s95 or s120 with housing could be had new for $500, both camera and housing. I'm not sure what's available in that price range now.

My personal experience was a series of Canon point-n-shoots in matching Canon housings (sd630, sd870is, s95, s120) followed by a Sony RX100 II in a Nauticam housing followed by DSLRs in housings.

I like the Sony for its slightly better IQ than the s120, but I like the Canon menu system FAR more than the Sony. And I think disdain/dismay/disappointment with Sony's menu system is widespread. It's difficult to see all the small print underwater and find your desired menu entry.

I have no recommendations (except maybe against the GoPro) of the cameras you listed, but I want to point out another option. You can get a universal housing for a smartphone from Kraken for about $300. Connects to phones via bluetooth so doesn't have to have a dedicated housing for a particular model.

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, it does not. It does add a layer of glass between the lens and the water, and there is a lot to know about that air/water interface. WIth a flat port, you get about a 20% magnification. End your corners will look awful. With a dome port you get better corners, but no magnification.

A fast lens doesn't do you too much good underwater as you typically have to stop down a lot more than you are used to above water. My typical starting settings (with strobes) are 1/160th shutter speed and F8 for wide angle, F16 for macro.

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.

Lars made it clear why Auto or P is typically a bad idea. You have to control the shutter speed to a minimum AND you need to keep the lens stopped down (for the corners). This situation screams out for a floating ISO, or strobes to add light when needed.

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 some specialized situations where a red or yellow filter comes into play, but typically with JPG instead of RAW output.

I do so little video I don't have a clue for the answer there.

5. Any other thoughts..i am sure I will have more questions as i go..thanks..tim

Two thoughts:

1. White balance

2. Post processing

White balance is tricky to set underwater, because it changes so much so quickly. For shooting stills, I don't pay a lot of attention to it and shoot in RAW, Neutral. I adjust white balance in post processing 100% of the time.

It's a critically important step, and it needs to be the first step. Every other adjustment tends to be impacted by white balance, so do it first. (May first have to boost exposure enough to see white balance changes of course).

You can carry some sort of white balance card, or know how to do it off your hand or some bit of gear, and that may be critically important for shooting video, but it's not important shooting stills in RAW.

Don't expect good underwater shots to just 'come out of the camera'. A lot more good shots 'come out of post-processing', though it certainly helps to get things right in-camera first.

Here's the thing about post-processing typical underwater images. And I'm talking about the ones that are mostly below snorkel depth. At snorkel depth you may have excellent sunlight and good lighting down 10 feet or more. You may be able to shoot great JPGs with an underwater option on your camera, especially a Canon. But if the sun goes away, or you get a little deeper, you're going to get a lot of blue- and green-dominated images. It helps to know how to set white balance in post.

Setting white balance (using Lightroom). You'll use an eyedropper tool to get in the ballpark, and experience after that. The eyedropper tool needs to select some neutral object, but what is that? Lots of wide shots have a diver in them, and divers typically have neutral black surfaces. A gray scuba tank or other metal piece is often a good choice. If shooting a macro, you very often have some spec of bright white coral bit you can use if not overexposed. If shooting near a sandy bottom, a whitish grain of sand works. In Fiji i saw a videographer using a dedicated video camera adjusting white balance at different depths by metering off a white balance card he'd zip-tied to a fin.

Once you get a white balance that looks decent, you can tweak it with color temp and tint. I do it on a calibrated monitor by eye until 'it looks good'.

After that you typically run into two situations:

a. you have a very contrasty subject and need to tame the contrast. (Typically a close up image, especially with flash). Your histogram has blown highlights and blocked shadows.

b. you have a very flat image with little contrast. Your histogram looks like a little blip in the middle with long flat sides. Typically shot with subject too far away and the water between has robbed contrast.

In shot A, you're going to be pulling down highlights and boosting shadows, with whatever slider options work best for you. In these situations you want a camera with extremely good dynamic range, as the highlights may not actually be blown, and there may be some visible detail in the shadows.

In shot B, you'll be trying to add contrast in different ways. You'll perhaps center the histogram as needed by adjusting exposure, then dial in ridiculous amounts of contrast. You may now have a subject that is viewable, but often the whole scene is 'cloudy'. A trick here is to carefully pull down the black slider, pulling the left side of the histogram toward the left edge and darkening things. You are adding contrast, but only on the dark half of the histogram. Do it carefully and the water haze sort of disappears.

I have some examples of before and after processing results at this link:

http://www.cjcphoto.net/beforeafter/index.html

Here are a couple of examples from that link:

Too much light?   Pull down the highlights.  (Note that I am shooting with a DSLR, not a point-n-shoot, and the cameras I use here have huge dynamic range.)

Thumbnails only:

After post processing

White balance example:

Thank you Lars for responding and giving interesting advice.

LarsPolarBear wrote:

Hello Tim,

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 am glad you posted this, because I went back and checked and the Canon housing I had found was for the mk II not the mk III.  Yes, going to snorkel and some snuba this trip, but in future years will do more.  I did look at the Olympus and saw some really nice pictures with it, from folks on here.

You spoke of manual and I have read a lot on the web about manual settings.  FWIW I hate to should auto, so no worry there.  My thoughts and correct me if I am wrong, will I have time to changed the settings in manual mode for each picture or will I find the settings that are good for a particular depth/area that I am swimming in?

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.

Yes, I looked at the GoPro and my opinion matches yours exactly..not a still photography camera...If I decide to shoot video, I would just rent it there.

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.

this is great news, thank you.

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).

This makes sense.  I have spoken to the folks up there and they say the strobe lights are not good...it is too sensitive up there for strobe lights...and if I get the canon, will have to get the handle, etc as you mentioned..the 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!!!

THANK YOU for this advice.  Yes, the fast lens on the Canon was one of the reasons I looked at it, so I could shoot as low ISO as possible to keep the noise out.

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.

Ok, thank you for that...I have researched and research the color correcting filters...and your response kind of made it easy...not good for shallow water!

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.

No sir...won't get frustrated..I spend hours in PP on my landscape shots..so don't mind the time to tweak it!

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.

Yes, it was a tremendous help..all of your post and gives me a good place to start, and gets me some steps further than I was, gave me things to think on, and research.  Now to digest it .  THank you again Sir!

Hope that helps a little,

It helped a lot!

Enjoy our trip and please share some of your results!

I will do that!

Lars

PHXAZCRAIG wrote:

Lars has a lot of good info. Here's a bit more.

Yes he did!

thicks13 wrote:

Going to Hawaii in sept. Going to snorkel and snuba.

I've snorkeled and scuba'd (349 dives) but never Snuba. I don't know if there is anything particular about Snuba that recommends for or against any particular type of equipment.

As far as I can tell, speaking with the boat we are going with, probably 15 feet is the deepest will go with snuba, as we are attached to the tank, that floats on top of the water.

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.

First question I would ask is if you primarily want video or stills from your dives, or a good combo of both. If leaning toward mostly video, I'd say a GoPro may be a good choice. But if you are leaning toward mostly stills, I'd avoid a GoPro as they typicaly have not been very good for stills. (I don't know about the latest model.)

Yes, that was my conclusion as well as Lars.  I would like to do a little of both..that was why I looked at the the Canon, Olympus, etc.  I suppose my primary desire is stills.

In the past there were more inexpensive choices for a camera + housing, especially from Canon. An s95 or s120 with housing could be had new for $500, both camera and housing. I'm not sure what's available in that price range now.

My personal experience was a series of Canon point-n-shoots in matching Canon housings (sd630, sd870is, s95, s120) followed by a Sony RX100 II in a Nauticam housing followed by DSLRs in housings.

I like the Sony for its slightly better IQ than the s120, but I like the Canon menu system FAR more than the Sony. And I think disdain/dismay/disappointment with Sony's menu system is widespread. It's difficult to see all the small print underwater and find your desired menu entry.

Yes, I can understand that.  Most of my experience is with the Canon dslr's, and a g10 early on.  I had thought about just getting a housing for my 5d, but I need a pocket type camera to just carry around on land anyway, as I got rid of the g10 a while back.  But I also invested last year in the Sony RX10 IV and love it, but the menu system is as you said!

I have no recommendations (except maybe against the GoPro) of the cameras you listed, but I want to point out another option. You can get a universal housing for a smartphone from Kraken for about $300. Connects to phones via bluetooth so doesn't have to have a dedicated housing for a particular model.

Yes, When I was in Puerto Rico I used my smartphone in a plastic case made for phones, and one of the problems I had(it did well) but I found it difficult to press to take a picture or start or stop video, because of the temperature of the water and my finger...smile

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, it does not. It does add a layer of glass between the lens and the water, and there is a lot to know about that air/water interface. WIth a flat port, you get about a 20% magnification. End your corners will look awful. With a dome port you get better corners, but no magnification.

thank you for this!

A fast lens doesn't do you too much good underwater as you typically have to stop down a lot more than you are used to above water. My typical starting settings (with strobes) are 1/160th shutter speed and F8 for wide angle, F16 for macro.

And thank you for this...I am making notes!  As I noted in my response to Lars, I don't think they allow the use of strobes there, dues to sensitivity(Molokini crater)

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.

Lars made it clear why Auto or P is typically a bad idea. You have to control the shutter speed to a minimum AND you need to keep the lens stopped down (for the corners). This situation screams out for a floating ISO, or strobes to add light when needed.

Making my notes!

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 some specialized situations where a red or yellow filter comes into play, but typically with JPG instead of RAW output.

I do so little video I don't have a clue for the answer there.

Thanks for the info on filter with jpg vs RAW...video...I understand...I will not do any professional video, just a little here and there to get something if it is interestin

5. Any other thoughts..i am sure I will have more questions as i go..thanks..tim

Two thoughts:

1. White balance

2. Post processing

White balance is tricky to set underwater, because it changes so much so quickly. For shooting stills, I don't pay a lot of attention to it and shoot in RAW, Neutral. I adjust white balance in post processing 100% of the time.

It's a critically important step, and it needs to be the first step. Every other adjustment tends to be impacted by white balance, so do it first. (May first have to boost exposure enough to see white balance changes of course).

Agreed!

You can carry some sort of white balance card, or know how to do it off your hand or some bit of gear, and that may be critically important for shooting video, but it's not important shooting stills in RAW.

Don't expect good underwater shots to just 'come out of the camera'. A lot more good shots 'come out of post-processing', though it certainly helps to get things right in-camera first.

Yes I am no stranger to PP..chuckling

Here's the thing about post-processing typical underwater images. And I'm talking about the ones that are mostly below snorkel depth. At snorkel depth you may have excellent sunlight and good lighting down 10 feet or more. You may be able to shoot great JPGs with an underwater option on your camera, especially a Canon. But if the sun goes away, or you get a little deeper, you're going to get a lot of blue- and green-dominated images. It helps to know how to set white balance in post.

Setting white balance (using Lightroom). You'll use an eyedropper tool to get in the ballpark, and experience after that. The eyedropper tool needs to select some neutral object, but what is that? Lots of wide shots have a diver in them, and divers typically have neutral black surfaces. A gray scuba tank or other metal piece is often a good choice. If shooting a macro, you very often have some spec of bright white coral bit you can use if not overexposed. If shooting near a sandy bottom, a whitish grain of sand works. In Fiji i saw a videographer using a dedicated video camera adjusting white balance at different depths by metering off a white balance card he'd zip-tied to a fin.

Once you get a white balance that looks decent, you can tweak it with color temp and tint. I do it on a calibrated monitor by eye until 'it looks good'.

After that you typically run into two situations:

a. you have a very contrasty subject and need to tame the contrast. (Typically a close up image, especially with flash). Your histogram has blown highlights and blocked shadows.

b. you have a very flat image with little contrast. Your histogram looks like a little blip in the middle with long flat sides. Typically shot with subject too far away and the water between has robbed contrast.

In shot A, you're going to be pulling down highlights and boosting shadows, with whatever slider options work best for you. In these situations you want a camera with extremely good dynamic range, as the highlights may not actually be blown, and there may be some visible detail in the shadows.

In shot B, you'll be trying to add contrast in different ways. You'll perhaps center the histogram as needed by adjusting exposure, then dial in ridiculous amounts of contrast. You may now have a subject that is viewable, but often the whole scene is 'cloudy'. A trick here is to carefully pull down the black slider, pulling the left side of the histogram toward the left edge and darkening things. You are adding contrast, but only on the dark half of the histogram. Do it carefully and the water haze sort of disappears.

Thank you again for your lengthy response and immense help and advice..I have printed this out and your advice on PP.  And thank you for the wonderful example pictures which are wonderful!  Nice pictures.  I hope that I can get some decent first times shots!  And with you folks help I should be able to..Thank you so much!

I have some examples of before and after processing results at this link:

http://www.cjcphoto.net/beforeafter/index.html

Here are a couple of examples from that link:

Too much light? Pull down the highlights. (Note that I am shooting with a DSLR, not a point-n-shoot, and the cameras I use here have huge dynamic range.)

Thumbnails only:

After post processing

White balance example:

Thank you!

thicks13 wrote:

And thank you for this...I am making notes! As I noted in my response to Lars, I don't think they allow the use of strobes there, dues to sensitivity(Molokini crater)

I've dove front wall and back wall of Molokini Crater.  If they are not allowing flash now, I bet it is more to do with making it easier on the dive staff.   The coral there is mostly bleached and beat up from so many divers, not flashes.  I had built-in flash on my crater dives, but I had a single external strobe for the back wall.

Here's a shot of my late wife with a manta at the back wall of Molokini.

Canon SD630, my first digital underwater camera

I think this shot was taken inside the crater, without flash, or perhaps with the pop-up just being too weak.  I don't think this camera had RAW capability.

You can see the coral is pretty bleached.

The diving was better right across the way from Molokini Crater to Maui, at the Turtletown dive site.

Thank you Lars..no problem on the snuba vs scuba...yes, I think that 5m is the deepest I would go as that is the length of the air line.  Any deeper I would have to free dive.

LarsPolarBear wrote:

Hi Tim,

just realized that you really meant "snuba", while I had taken it for a typo, think you meant "scuba".

So, let me shortly tweak my answer:

As you have figured out yourself, an additional light source at max. 6m depth is not necessary. You will mostly shoot with ambient light and additionally use the internal flash of the camera. From my own experience I would think, that you will take mostly wide shots of the reef and closer shots of certain coral blocks and fish, turtles etc., but not too much real macro.

Yes this is probably true!

Therefore, I would make sure that you are happy with the autofocus speed of the camera (the new RX100 seems to be the best in that class). Fish are unfortunately not very cooperative and annoying, I have a nice collection of fish tail pictures.... You said, that you had the Canon G10, well, I had the G9 and it was hell shooting underwater due to the slow AF...

Yes, I will check out the rx100 as well, because as you said the AF speed has to be good.  I have quite a few of the fish tail pictures I took with my phone in Puerto Rico, when snorkeling there...so I totally understand.  And no..the G10 would never suffice!

Just one more suggestion, when we snorkel, or dive shallow, we tend to take our subjects from above, I did this a lot in the beginning. While there are some compositions that are beautiful that way, generally speaking, you will find that being level with your subject or shooting from below to have an uncluttered background will improve your composition. That will mean that you will have to free dive a little when you are snorkeling (so no wearing a stupid lifewest as some people do in my region).

Yes, I don't use the life jacket and did free dive in Puerto Rico.  BUt your point is very good and good advice, not to shoot from above

...and last, but not least: I mentioned the glare on the LCD screen in shallow waters, try to get a LCD Screen Hood (somethinh like that: https://www.getolympus.com/us/en/accessories/camera/underwater-housings/lcd-hood-for-pt-057-underwater-housing-pfud-057.html

This is good advice too.  I had not even thought of glare.

it will improve your experience quite a bit.

So, that's it...

Enjoy!

Lars

Thanks again, sooo much...tim

Thank you so much...those are still really nice pictures.  Yes, the Four Winds are the ones we are going out with and I asked them about renting a strobe and they said they were not permitted...something about sensitivity. soo..

But we will spend 5 hours at the crater, then 3.5 over at either Turtle town or coral garden.

We are also going to snorkel out of Kauai.

Thanks again...tim

PHXAZCRAIG wrote:

thicks13 wrote:

And thank you for this...I am making notes! As I noted in my response to Lars, I don't think they allow the use of strobes there, dues to sensitivity(Molokini crater)

I've dove front wall and back wall of Molokini Crater. If they are not allowing flash now, I bet it is more to do with making it easier on the dive staff. The coral there is mostly bleached and beat up from so many divers, not flashes. I had built-in flash on my crater dives, but I had a single external strobe for the back wall.

Here's a shot of my late wife with a manta at the back wall of Molokini.

Canon SD630, my first digital underwater camera

I think this shot was taken inside the crater, without flash, or perhaps with the pop-up just being too weak. I don't think this camera had RAW capability.

You can see the coral is pretty bleached.

The diving was better right across the way from Molokini Crater to Maui, at the Turtletown dive site.

Therefore, I would make sure that you are happy with the autofocus speed of the camera (the new RX100 seems to be the best in that class). Fish are unfortunately not very cooperative and annoying, I have a nice collection of fish tail pictures.... You said, that you had the Canon G10, well, I had the G9 and it was hell shooting underwater due to the slow AF...

Yes, I will check out the rx100 as well, because as you said the AF speed has to be good. I have quite a few of the fish tail pictures I took with my phone in Puerto Rico, when snorkeling there...so I totally understand. And no..the G10 would never suffice!

Just a quick side note since you said you had the Sony RX10.  I have the Sony RX100Va, its the same with all the RX100 cameras, you do not have the ability to use back button focus.  I was surprised when this was not an option since Sony says the RX100 is a pro-level compact camera.  A workaround I have found is below, its cumbersome and I don't like it as I'm used to using back button focus, this single issue is the main reason I am looking to upgrade to the Sony A6400.

1) half-press shutter button to focus

2) change to manual focus ( I have custom button 3 set to this function)

3) fully press shutter button to take the image.

Thank you Lars..on my way there now!

LarsPolarBear wrote:

Hi Tim,

just found this website on Backscatter.com, might be helpful for you...

https://www.backscatter.com/reviews/post/Backscatter-Best-Underwater-Compact-Cameras

Best,

Lars

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.

Given the Sony super fast focus, it is a pleasure to work with it underwater.
I would suggest taking a look at the Rx1xx Salted Line model as the best all-around product for price and functionality. TG-6 is good for macro, but the focus time is not great. I have tried G7X II previously at the same time as I was using RX100 III side by side on a dive safari and Sony definitely was the one which was shining.

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.

I have not used G7X III underwater yet, but I have been underwater wit hRX100 VII for quite a long time now. Not too sure what you mean by adding a filter, but basically when you use a flat port your image will magnify and when you use dome port, your image will be as close to natural as it can be - in terms of focal length.

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.

Not hard at all, the LCD display is fairly large and because you can access all of the settings, you can see them on display (as long as it is not close to surface on a bright day)

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

That is correct, for blue water you want to use the red filter and for green you use magenta. However, you can play with white balance in-camera settings to avoid using filters with a combination of underwater strobe or video light. Especially when using a video light, you pretty much just set White balance to "Underwater" and you're good to go, no need to change much. I have stopped using filters after I purchased video light and things have been working out great for me.

Raw photo

5. Any other thoughts..i am sure I will have more questions as i go..thanks..tim

Additionally,

Take a look at the review of this item.

I hope this helps!

Thank you also Aquadrone! And a very nice RAW picture.

Some great info. I have been since my initial post been looking at the sony and canon and the Panasonic after reading Lars post here. I am reading all I can on the three.

If I may ask, which video light did you get for your Sony? I know they said no strobes at Molokini...

From what I have read, I may not need lighting down to 15 ' which is the deepest I will snorkel/snuba, but never can tell.

you said the Sony shined up against the g7x II....in all categories?..IQ?...focus/focus speed? Low light? I have Canon DSLR's and the Sony RX10 iv...so I am not as biased as I once was.

Was there noticeable difference in the slightly slower lens of the Sony and the g7x?

And thank you for the link..headed over there now to read up on the Salted housings!

One last question..was the RAW image you posted taken with your video light or with no light?

Thanks soo much..tim