iPhone 13 Pro with Waterproof Housing, vs TG6?

Camrarat wrote:

Amazing photos, do you think either the iphone or a tg6 are capable of pics like this when used in conjunction with some kind of strobe? (Im assuming it is possible to use them with a strobe?)

iPhone, or any other phone currently in the market, is not capable of syncing with strobes because they lack a mechanical shutter.

TG-6 can sync with strobes. It won't give you the same quality - you can't expect a 1/2.3" sensor to match APS-C; the sensor area is different by the factor of 15 - but with a wet wide lens and a good pair of strobes, it will give decent wide-angle performance. Shooting macro, it may actually outperform larger cameras in some scenarios, because with the small sensor, it does not need as much magnification to fill the frame with a tiny subject, and thus gets much greater depth of field - in scenes where my camera will only have a critical part of the subject in focus, a TG-6 may capture the entire subject clearly.

One significant limitation of TG series cameras is Olympus' stubborn refusal to include manual operation mode. You can run them in aperture priority and set ISO, but there is no way to directly control shutter speed, only influence it indirectly through exposure compensation.

You can look through this thread on Scubaboard for samples of photos taken with TG series cameras: https://scubaboard.com/community/threads/tg-photos-show-us-what-you-shot.606279/

Not sure which waterproof housing you are considering. I bought an inexpensive ($120?) housing for my D7000 years ago for a trip to Hawaii, and it always made me nervous that it was going to leak and kill a $1400 in camera/lens. And it was difficult to use. After, I wish I had just put that money into a dedicated waterproof camera. I would imagine losing the operation of your phone while on vacation would be a major inconvenience...

Heading back to Hawaii in June and this time around I considered something like the TG6, but went with the gopro8 as I'm more interested in underwater video.

ulrichsd wrote:

Not sure which waterproof housing you are considering. I bought an inexpensive ($120?) housing for my D7000 years ago for a trip to Hawaii, and it always made me nervous that it was going to leak and kill a $1400 in camera/lens.

Modern housings feature vacuum test systems more often than not. Example: https://krakensports.ca/product/krh03-universal-smart-phone-housing-pro-with-depthtemp-sensor/

After, I wish I had just put that money into a dedicated waterproof camera.

Most waterproof cameras are only waterproof to a limited depth, so they still require a housing. Even more, their waterproofing, such as it is, relies on very thin o-rings and gaskets, which are very easy to damage and wear out quickly - Olympus, for example, recommends yearly servicing for the TG series cameras. SeaLife Micro series is a notable exception, being fully sealed (internal memory, internal battery, no openings whatsoever), but with a tiny sensor, fixed lens, and no ability to trigger strobes, it isn't much of a camera.

Barmaglot_07 wrote:

Most waterproof cameras are only waterproof to a limited depth, so they still require a housing. Even more, their waterproofing, such as it is, relies on very thin o-rings and gaskets, which are very easy to damage and wear out quickly - Olympus, for example, recommends yearly servicing for the TG series cameras. SeaLife Micro series is a notable exception, being fully sealed (internal memory, internal battery, no openings whatsoever), but with a tiny sensor, fixed lens, and no ability to trigger strobes, it isn't much of a camera.

The TG-6 is rated for 45 meters (147 feet) and the OP is snorkeling - if he is going deeper than that while holding his breath, then I'm impressed! Even the Gopro8 is rated at a depth of 33 feet, more than enough for snorkeling without a dedicated housing.

If we were talking about high-end scuba rigs, then it would be a different discussion. I'm just saying that given how much I rely on my phone, I would not want to take it underwater on vacation and risk a housing failure

ulrichsd wrote:

Barmaglot_07 wrote:

Most waterproof cameras are only waterproof to a limited depth, so they still require a housing. Even more, their waterproofing, such as it is, relies on very thin o-rings and gaskets, which are very easy to damage and wear out quickly - Olympus, for example, recommends yearly servicing for the TG series cameras. SeaLife Micro series is a notable exception, being fully sealed (internal memory, internal battery, no openings whatsoever), but with a tiny sensor, fixed lens, and no ability to trigger strobes, it isn't much of a camera.

The TG-6 is rated for 45 meters (147 feet) and the OP is snorkeling - if he is going deeper than that while holding his breath, then I'm impressed! Even the Gopro8 is rated at a depth of 33 feet, more than enough for snorkeling without a dedicated housing.

If we were talking about high-end scuba rigs, then it would be a different discussion. I'm just saying that given how much I rely on my phone, I would not want to take it underwater on vacation and risk a housing failure

There is typically a time limit as well, and it’s never entirely clear whether it is for intentional submersion or accidental submersion. Ie. Whether it is more or less certain to make it or likely to make it. With the iPhone it is the latter, and I don’t think any of the GoPro or tg can really do scuba without housing. Snorkeling I think the answer is yes. The seals will wear out over time etc as well.

Camrarat wrote:

SafariBob wrote:

ulrichsd wrote:

Barmaglot_07 wrote:

Most waterproof cameras are only waterproof to a limited depth, so they still require a housing. Even more, their waterproofing, such as it is, relies on very thin o-rings and gaskets, which are very easy to damage and wear out quickly - Olympus, for example, recommends yearly servicing for the TG series cameras. SeaLife Micro series is a notable exception, being fully sealed (internal memory, internal battery, no openings whatsoever), but with a tiny sensor, fixed lens, and no ability to trigger strobes, it isn't much of a camera.

The TG-6 is rated for 45 meters (147 feet) and the OP is snorkeling - if he is going deeper than that while holding his breath, then I'm impressed! Even the Gopro8 is rated at a depth of 33 feet, more than enough for snorkeling without a dedicated housing.

If we were talking about high-end scuba rigs, then it would be a different discussion. I'm just saying that given how much I rely on my phone, I would not want to take it underwater on vacation and risk a housing failure

There is typically a time limit as well, and it’s never entirely clear whether it is for intentional submersion or accidental submersion. Ie. Whether it is more or less certain to make it or likely to make it. With the iPhone it is the latter, and I don’t think any of the GoPro or tg can really do scuba without housing. Snorkeling I think the answer is yes. The seals will wear out over time etc as well.

Yeah I decided on skipping the 13 Pro and getting an iPhone 13 regular and likely a TG6 (or 7 if they release it before summer) for this kind of P&S photography. In addition to the factors you mention about losing the phone and relying on housings, and the extra controls people mentioned with the tg6, the clincher for me was that as far as I can tell from fooling around in the store, and from insta photos, the 13pro macro has a LOT of distortion around the corners of photos taken very close from subjects, and macro was going to be a key selling point for me. Focus stacking in the tg6, noticably less distortion, and my plans to buy a true macro lens in the near future also helped make up my mind. Even basic macros on basic cams like 60mm on em10 seem to produce reliably better pics than the 13 pro macro. It just isnt there yet.

I find the iPhone camera a bit useless without the “pro” tele unit. The challenge with the tg6 is that even under optimal conditions the iq is a let down. The GoPro and iPhone are at least a notch above best case.

kelpdiver wrote:

SafariBob wrote:

Camrarat wrote:

, the 13pro macro has a LOT of distortion around the corners of photos taken very close from subjects, and macro was going to be a key selling point for me. Focus stacking in the tg6, noticably less distortion, and my plans to buy a true macro lens in the near future also helped make up my mind. Even basic macros on basic cams like 60mm on em10 seem to produce reliably better pics than the 13 pro macro. It just isnt there yet.

I find the iPhone camera a bit useless without the “pro” tele unit. The challenge with the tg6 is that even under optimal conditions the iq is a let down. The GoPro and iPhone are at least a notch above best case.

I told you before that a microscopic iphone lens just can't compete with a compact or larger, and the above poster's observations appear to support that. You can only do some much manipulation of the raw image to make up for these compromises.

I believe this is an observation specifically related to macro.

The iPhone has similar sensor size to compacts, and has prime lenses in front, in addition to a large amount of R&D and software.

Though there's nothing basic about the 60mm macro from Olympus for the 4/3rds. It's a $500 lens that weighs more than the entire iphone.

True, and presumably much superior, it's also a much larger sensor.

And the gopro isn't beating it either. Fixed focus lenses are great for video and avoid the hunting problem of FF video in silty waters, but they involve their own compromises.

After browsing through hundreds if not thousands of photos and clips, that's the conclusion I made. I could be wrong, but it wasn't a particularly close call.

ulrichsd wrote:

The TG-6 is rated for 45 meters (147 feet) and the OP is snorkeling - if he is going deeper than that while holding his breath, then I'm impressed! Even the Gopro8 is rated at a depth of 33 feet, more than enough for snorkeling without a dedicated housing.

If we were talking about high-end scuba rigs, then it would be a different discussion. I'm just saying that given how much I rely on my phone, I would not want to take it underwater on vacation and risk a housing failure

TG-6 is rated for 45 feet, not meters, and again, its waterproofing even within that envelope is pretty flimsy.

kelpdiver wrote:

SafariBob wrote:

The iPhone has similar sensor size to compacts, and has prime lenses in front, in addition to a large amount of R&D and software.

no amount of research or computational photography gets past the problem that those "primes lenses" are the size of a pinhole.

be that as it may, the tg has a slower aperture throughout its range.

And the gopro isn't beating it either. Fixed focus lenses are great for video and avoid the hunting problem of FF video in silty waters, but they involve their own compromises.

After browsing through hundreds if not thousands of photos and clips, that's the conclusion I made. I could be wrong, but it wasn't a particularly close call.

and were this so, Backscatter wouldn't even try to sell the TGs, and would just focus on gopros and the filter sets that BS makes. For all the complaints about the TG not having manual mode, it at least has control and enough buttons to not make you go mad.

i think the tg is attractive in its own right, the GoPro is limited to wide angle and the iPhone is an expensive thing to take underwater, with no affordable housing that provides adequate controls.

it’s just that in my opinion, the iq leaves something to be desired. You may disagree, and that’s absolutely fine

It's a brave soul that tries to do macro, or even just closeups, with their gopro.

Possibly.