DSLRUsers.com

Hey guys, i am currently in the middle of getting my Scuba license and of course cant wait to get underwater with a camera! But i know nothing about how or what and want any help that people can give me, tips, websites, links to your own galleries etc

Iv been looking at a fancy Ikelite housing for my Sony a300 for about $1500, does anyone know is this a good brand etc? Or is this a bad idea in general, like do people usually just buy dedicated underwater cameras or something?
Also can anyone recommend specific lighting setups or lenses i should be investing in? Even not specific, any general information will be good!

Any help anyone can give will be greatly appreciated, cant wait to get out there and start taking photos!!

Also my internet is broken and is being very tempremental, so it could be a while before i reply :$

We have several members who do a lot of underwater photography.
One of them at least (ATJ) uses ikelite housings, and has generally been very happy with them

I am sure you will get a lot more detailed responses - I have never been diving - but in general, you need to get up close and personal. So macros are a good idea. I know ATJ uses a 60mm macro. Remember, it is difficult to change lenses underwater. I suspect it is possible in theory, but not in practice. You also need to bring your own light sources as light is attenuated by water much faster than it is by air. Even quite shallow depths need extra lighting. Your flashes also need to be kept waterproof.

Congratulations on getting qualified for SCUBA - well, when you complete your course. This will open up a whole new world for you.

My first piece of advice is to get comfortable diving before you start taking a camera with you. Even when you have completed your course, there's still an awful lot to get your head around and having to worry about a camera and taking photos could be very dangerous. The number of dives you'll need to get comfortable will depend on you, but I'm guessing anywhere from 10 to 50 dives may be necessary. Basically, you want your diving to be second nature and not have to think about stuff too much. Additionally, buoyancy control is very important.

While you are getting your SCUBA experience, you can start thinking about underwater photography.

With SLRs you need to consider beyond just the housing. As SLRs have interchangeable lenses, the housings have interchangeable lens ports. You need to use the right port for the lens. There are also two types of ports, dome and flat. Typically, you'd use a flat port for macro or longer lenses and a dome port for wide-angle. A flat port narrows the field of view whereas a dome port pretty much preserves the field of view of the lens.

As Greg says, you also need to take your own light with you. There's a wide range of underwater strobes available and ideally you want to get ones to match the camera/housing. Note that it is the different rates of attenuation of different wavelengths in water that are the main reason for using strobes. Red light disappears very quickly and even at 5m, available light shots will appear very blue. There are filters you can use that help, but these decrease the light even more and mean you either have to go with slow shutter speeds, wide open apertures and/or high ISO.

Generally, you should stick to wide-angle to short telephoto lenses. Due to light loss and also particulate matter in the water, you want to get as close to the subject as possible and eliminate as much water between you and the subject as possible.

Ikelite have been around for over 30 years and have a pretty good name. Their housings are generally inexpensive compared to some other brands and one of the good thins is they are clear so it is easier to see if there are problems. As housings are specific to make and model of camera, you have to think about how much you want to spend on the housing knowing you'll need to replace it if you upgrade the camera.

I have been using Ikelite gear for around 6 years and have been happy with them. I have had some recent problems with my D300 housing but Ikelite were helpful and even replaced my 18 month old housing with a new one in order to resolve the problems. As I have an Ikelite housing, I also use Ikelite ports and Ikelite strobes so everything is compatible. Using the Ikelite strobes with the Ikelite housing means I get iTTL exposure, which makes things a lot easier.

I mostly take macro shots and use my 60mm macro. Some people use 100-105mm lenses for macro. I never have myself but often find that (at least around Sydney) even the 60mm results in me being too far away. I also use a 18-55mm lens (for general UW photography) and a 12-24mm lens for large subjects (like sharks, although it can also work with smaller subjects like weedy seadragons).

You can see my gallery (linked below) as well as my Dive Log which has pictures from dives.

A very good resource is Wetpixel.

ATJ wrote:even the 60mm results in me being too far away

Andrew,
This is not clear to me.
Do you mean that the camera is too far away from the subject for the light attenuation & therefore would prefer an even wider macro, or do you mean that image of the object in the resultant photo is too small & therefore would prefer a longer lens? PS I am never likely to be in the situation, so it is a purely for interest sake, though it may also clarify things for the OP.

Mr Darcy wrote:

ATJ wrote:even the 60mm results in me being too far away

Andrew,
This is not clear to me.
Do you mean that the camera is too far away from the subject for the light attenuation & therefore would prefer an even wider macro, or do you mean that image of the object in the resultant photo is too small & therefore would prefer a longer lens? PS I am never likely to be in the situation, so it is a purely for interest sake, though it may also clarify things for the OP.

I mean the distance between the front of the lens port and the subject is too great so there is a lot of water in between. This is less about light attenuation and more about the water not being very clear. Visibility around Sydney is generally not great, which means there particles and what have you in the water. The more water you have between the port and the subject, the more of this crap you pick up and the worse an image becomes.

For this reason I tend to use my 60mm behind a dome port which preserves the angle of view and so for the same magnification I can get closer than I would with a flat port.

Note that I'm talking about slightly larger subjects here. If I was only shooting nudibranchs (0.5-5cm long), 60mm in a flat port and even a 105mm in a flat port would be fine. If I was to come across a 10 cm cuttlefish, even in the dome port I have to move further away than I would like.

This is really only an issue with the poor visibility around Sydney. In the tropics the water is clearer and you can get further away.

my friend went to Red Sea recently, maybe could help with some idea... check this out:
http://thirschmann.smugmug.com/Underwater

Good advice to hold off on the camera until you get comfortable in the water. It will take a little bit of time for it to become second nature. For me I would suggest at least 20 dives under your belt (mictures of both boat and shore dives) before considering a camera.

A word of warning - THIS IS AN EXPENSIVE HOBBY, and things ofeten go wrong in terms of equipment, but you can get extremely rewarding results if you are willing to spend the time and money!

In considering the cost of the housing make sure you also consider what lenses you want to shoot with plus the cost of the ports, strobe(s), arms, brackets and triggering mechanism (optic fiber or synch cords). For an SLR system they will add at least an additional $1000 - $2000 depending on what you want to get.

In my opinion if you want to shoot wide angle photos you will need two strobes. You can get away with one strobe for macro photography.

I am going to sound like a broken record and reiterate the message to get comfortable with your diving before thinking about taking a camera underwater. As an ex-PADI instructor I have seen the results of this several times!

One of the best pieces of advise I got given when I started taking a camera underwater was to develop the mental attitude that it is the world's most expensive disposable camera. It is not if it floods, but when it floods that you need to worry about. A camera is replaceable, DCS is painful. I have seen divers sprint for the surface when the cameras flood sensor goes off!

Now that I have gotten that off my chest, your choices are around housing your SLR or getting a cheaper P&S with a housing (and possibly a strobe). I shoot with a Oly C-5050 and Inon D-180 strobe but am now lusting after a housing for my D50 (or its replacement if I get my way soon).

Pros for the P&S: It's cheaper, DOF for Macro is good, simple housing: no ports etc. to worry about, a lot of the housings will support wetmate lenses so you can change lens underwater. The biggest downside with my 5050 has been shutter lag and I have a lot of shots of fish tails to support that!

Pros for an SLR: Creative control, faster performance, all the other reasons you would shoot with a DSLR over a P&S!

Cheers,
Antony