Some camera gear at the Digital Shootout

Bonaire, 2022.

I've led a sheltered diving life, having never been around another big FF digital camera rig other than mine.  But once diving at the Digital Shootout, my D850 wasn't even the only D850 rig on my boat - there were three!   We did enjoy looking at each other's camera gear while diving.

Here's a bit of underwater camera gear porn.

Prep area for cameras before and after dives from either boats or shore.

Cameras lined up before the boat leaves the dock.  This is one of five boats.

Big dome ports were the rule on 'wide angle day at the Salt Pier'

One of those rigs has strobes on it that have seen 2000 dives.

We all were careful not to fall over the cameras!

Even the 4/3rds cameras weren't small.

My dive buddy Simon with his M4/3rds camera.

Dive buddy Ryan with a D850 sporting the Nauticam WACP.

Dive buddy Jocelyn had a TG6, which was a lot smaller but limited too.

Another shot of dive buddy Simon and his Olympus rig.

Ryan was testing pre-production Isotta strobes on his D850 rig one day.  The Isotta strobes were quite popular.  Very powerful, and divers with old YS-250's wanted them.

One more of Simon with his 4/3rds rig.

Both divers here are with the Digital Shootout staff.  The closer one is shooting video, on either the latest Canon FF or a Sony A1 I think.  They were cycling through the loaner cameras as well as their own.

Thanks for sharing Craig. Those were some impressive setups. I'm just getting back into diving after a several year hiatus and seeing this was further motivation to get back into the water.

R,

Keith

If you are into dive photography, the next Digital Shootout will be back at Cayman Brac next year, I think.  I'm strongly thinking of going, partly to try new gear, including the Pegasus thruster.

The biggest rig by far was the Red video camera in Nauticam housing that Cristian Dimitrius was shooting.   4 Keldan video lights, Ninja Atmos display.   And yet he moved it smooth as silk underwater.

kelpdiver wrote:

the liveboards' camera tables these days are half big rigs, half gopros. The compacts are vanishing away. And as you saw, the 4/3 rigs are nearly the same size as a FF - the housing is smaller, but the strobe arms and strobes are no different.

The main variation is in the dome port size. A FE lens can use a 4" dome port. But a rectalinear needs no less than a 6, and most are 8-9.5, so again, no space savings.

You did see thoese $7000 wet lenses from Nauticam that avoid the volume, if not the weight. But money would have to be no object to go there.

That's an interesting observation: the split between large rigs and go pros. Is it a function of the compacts, small mirrorless aren't keeping pace with the FFs?  Or is it people separating into stills and video camps?

Falcon04 wrote:

kelpdiver wrote:

the liveboards' camera tables these days are half big rigs, half gopros. The compacts are vanishing away. And as you saw, the 4/3 rigs are nearly the same size as a FF - the housing is smaller, but the strobe arms and strobes are no different.

The main variation is in the dome port size. A FE lens can use a 4" dome port. But a rectalinear needs no less than a 6, and most are 8-9.5, so again, no space savings.

You did see thoese $7000 wet lenses from Nauticam that avoid the volume, if not the weight. But money would have to be no object to go there.

That's an interesting observation: the split between large rigs and go pros. Is it a function of the compacts, small mirrorless aren't keeping pace with the FFs? Or is it people separating into stills and video camps?

My observation is that when you do video, you need to commit to it for many dives to get the content you need.  So whether compact or big rig, they were in one camp or the other.  Gopro's of course tend to be video.  As for video, they ranged from gopro's (including staff) to Red Epic-M Dragon 6K.

I'd not been around other rigs before, except an old Nikon F4 rig and a Nikon D90 one back in 2009.  I did notice the 4/3 stuff was a bit smaller, though not all that much.  But has to be easier to pack.

There were APS-C/DX cameras there too.

kelpdiver wrote:

Falcon04 wrote:

kelpdiver wrote:

the liveboards' camera tables these days are half big rigs, half gopros. The compacts are vanishing away. And as you saw, the 4/3 rigs are nearly the same size as a FF - the housing is smaller, but the strobe arms and strobes are no different.

The main variation is in the dome port size. A FE lens can use a 4" dome port. But a rectalinear needs no less than a 6, and most are 8-9.5, so again, no space savings.

You did see thoese $7000 wet lenses from Nauticam that avoid the volume, if not the weight. But money would have to be no object to go there.

That's an interesting observation: the split between large rigs and go pros. Is it a function of the compacts, small mirrorless aren't keeping pace with the FFs? Or is it people separating into stills and video camps?

I think above all else, it's a reflection that the Heros are good enough for a really excellent price for people who want to capture something. For 8 generations, they've been capturing 4k video, and they're passable for stills for the past 4 or 5. 350-450$ gets you in, and a little over a grand gets you with two good lights and a tray. But it packs in almost nothing, and is easy to hand from your d-ring in the water.

Yes. This is exactly what I’m finding. For an additional $630, one  can get a tray, lights and filters.

Perversely, getting good images with compact cameras is actually harder than it is with the larger sensors, aside from the heft. Focus is slower, colors are worse, IQ is far worse. I think those who want to go hard at the photography angle want to get past the upper ceiling that the small sensor and so so built in lenses can deliver.

These are all valid points. For me, I think that for the near future, shooting video may be the right answer.

Just as an FYI, the folks at the Digital Shootout particularly recommended the Hero 9 and 10 as being capable, more so than previous versions.  I forget why.

I have a Hero 4 bought back in 2015.   Never really used it, and my PC then could barely handle the highest-quality output, so I stopped using it.   Never did take it underwater as I had the DLSR to learn underwater shortly after and put my time into that.   Often thought about having it mounted to a cold shoe for video while shooting stills with the big camera.

kelpdiver wrote:

PHXAZCRAIG wrote:

Just as an FYI, the folks at the Digital Shootout particularly recommended the Hero 9 and 10 as being capable, more so than previous versions. I forget why.

I have a Hero 4 bought back in 2015. Never really used it, and my PC then could barely handle the highest-quality output, so I stopped using it. Never did take it underwater as I had the DLSR to learn underwater shortly after and put my time into that. Often thought about having it mounted to a cold shoe for video while shooting stills with the big camera.

The IS really improved. But it can really eat up batteries if you don't disable wifi and other drains.

Yes, I've read that too.  Backscatter has their recommended settings on their website.

Additionally, GoPro just released a new battery designed for cold weather, but also lasts 40% longer at normal temperatures. That should go a long way to providing usable recording time.

Mounting it is particularly beneficial when you're shooting the 100mm and want an option if a whale shark comes along.