Nikon going under (Underwater Photography)

[briany]

No, not another doom and gloom posting about FF sensors from the

naysayers. Going under water. Literally. Apologies about

another "what camera/lens do I take on vacation" question, but I

could use some feedback.<br><br>

 

I'm going to Bermuda in a few weeks and would love to take some

underwater photos there. I went a long time ago when very young and

was blown away by the marine life and shot quite a few Kodak

underwater disposables. I would like to do it right this time and

would appreciate your thoughts. My options are:<br><br>

 

1) D70 + kit lens + SB800 (which I've been thinking of buying anyway)

+ buy EWA Marine bag<br>

2) N80 + 18-35 + SB800 + EWA Marine Bag<br>

3) Buy a waterproof housing to match the digicam my girlfriend may buy

(a lot of the digicams seem to have nice UW housings now)<br>

4) put my very old Coolpix 700 in a sandwich bag with a twist tie.

Hell, it's only a few beers and a flash of creative spirit away from

having the glass of its lens removed and my 50/1.8 mounted on it to

make a decent(?) 300mm lens digicam.<br><br>

 

Honestly I'm leaning toward getting the EWA Marine bag. I will be

snorkeling over reefs maybe 5 feet deep, constantly going down to

that level for closeups and occasionally free diving to maybe 10 or

15ft betweem the reefs, and the water is very clear--I don't even

think my undwater disposable had a flash (not that that's the bar I'm

looking to equal). I'm also inclined to try the D70 for quality and

workflow and use the N80 if I can't get wide enough. (I did buy

these cameras to use them, not to contemplate worst case scenarios).

If you've been in similarly shallow waters, would you think I'd need

the flash, or will it just make the rig harder to manage? I am a

pretty competent swimmer.<br><br>

 

Thoughts on #3 and #4 are also welcome. The coolpix is slow to focus

and has horrible lag, but with it's small sensor, if I set it to

manual focus and focus 2-3 feet out and leave it there, it may well

perform as well as a disposable, and I could let my gf play around

with that underwater while I play around with #1, 2 or 3. It's

certainly cheaper than buying disposables and paying for processing,

and with some Photoshop batch color correction, she'd probably end up

with more pleasing shots. Oh, and a twist tie may be a bit cavalier,

but what would you put a cmaera like that in?? Two clear bags tied

with knots??<br><br>

 

Thanks in advance for the help.

[anand_raghavan1]

Sorry I have no useful input, but I gotta say that is a funny title :). I'm sure some people must already be smoldering without checking out your post. He He...

[anand_raghavan1]

Actually, just out of commone sense I would say digital and water don't mix. Of course you are using a marine purpose bag, and film cam and water don't mix well either, but still...

 

Anyway, another thought was that I'd imagine a superwide type lens (15-24mm FF) might get a lot of use under and I see you have a 18-35. Do you think you have something comparably wide for your D70?

[dan_fromm1]

EWA bags? I've used 'em on cine cameras and on my FM2n. Short answer, cheap and cheerless. Very hard to operate the controls through one. With an auto-everything camera, maybe. And its hard to look through the viewfinder of a camera in one. Lotta distance from eye to mask to back of bag to finder. Flash is problematic in them. And yes, I know that EWA sells bags meant to hold camera and flash. And if you use an EWA bag, be careful. I never flooded a camera with one, but I was always afraid I would.

 

Sandwich bags will leak, but if you want to ruin y'r little camera, well its yours, not mine.

[mawz]

What about a Nikonos V? Buy one used, sell after you get back.

[joe_m4]

Hello Brian - Buy a Lomo Frogeye. It is cheap and great. I used it for 1 month so far this summer. I bought mine for $30 and it has great results.

 

 

 

 

-Joe<div></div>

[bdpics]

It's a tough call--on the one hand you can save some money (w/Ewa bag) but then if you flood your camera, how much are you saving???

 

Good UW housings for the D70 can be bought for $700 and up.

 

A Canon Sure-Shot or Olympus C-5050/60 are great little point and shoots, and quality UW housings for them are about $150. They go down to 130', and really are of good quality. I have the Oly 5050 w/housing, and I love the pics I get with that set-up (there's a few pics in my gallery if you're interested). I also have two strobes, but you really don't need them above 15' or so.

 

Nikonos V's can be bought fairly cheap these days used (because EVERYONE is switching to digital for UW shots...) I've seen them on feebay for $250 or so. They're nice cameras, but getting good shots is really tough, especially when more than 4' away no matter how clear the water w/out strobes. Focusing without framers is also problematic--it's a really steep learning curve without AF.

 

Most UW photogs are switching to digital because the ability to shoot, see the shot, and recompose/adjust settings while still there is CRUCIAL to getting good shots underwater. With my Nikonos V, I'd be delighted to get 3-5 keepers from a 36exp. roll--with digital at least 60-70% are keepers.

 

I've known many people who've flooded their camera with Ewa bags--though admittedly this is usually due to user error. Past 15' or so the pressure is such that operating the camera's controls become very difficult through the Ewa bag, and they're not that easy to begin with.

 

BTW, the SB800 through an Ewa bag would be all but useless IMHO.

 

I see refurbished Oly C-5050's for $250, and the housing is $150. There are some newer Oly P&S's to choose from, but if you go to the UW digital photo sites (i.e. www.wetpixel.com) most folks are saying that the Oly 5050 and 5060 are the best. I'm a big Nikon fan, but that I'm aware of, the only UW housings for Nikon P&S's are very expensive like Tetra, Ikelite, etc.

 

One last thing, a HUGE advantage to using a P&S for UW pics is the ability to frame/compose the image with the larger LCD instead of having to squint through an SLR finder through your mask.

 

 

Good luck!

[ducksquat]

Another option is to check out where you are going to see if there are any UW camera rental places. I rented one when I went snorkeling at Cozumel's Chankanab Ntl. Park for (I believe) around $20 for 4 hrs. That was in the mid-1990's.

[dan_fromm1]

B Diamond, which "Canon Sure Shot" did you have in mind?

 

I ask because I have an AF35ML and an Ikelite housing for it. I've never taken a satisfactory shot underwater with the outfit. The camera doesn't seem to be able to find focus underwater even though it does pretty well in air and out of its housing.

[fourfa]

another option: the pentax OptioWP. Rated to 5 or 10 feet. I've played with one, it's a sleek little device, and I've been considering it for canyoneering adventures (basically sort of swimming, rock climbing, and cliff jumping combined - hard to drag along an SLR). They're cheap - $300 - though not as high quality pictures as the best compact digital P&Ss.

[sloopjohne]

B. Diamond says,

 

"...I see refurbished Oly C-5050's for $250, and the housing is $150. There are some newer Oly P&S's to choose from, but if you go to the UW digital photo sites (i.e. www.wetpixel.com) most folks are saying that the Oly 5050 and 5060 are the best...."

 

I've been looking for an affordable UW housing for my C5050 for over three months, and so far no luck! Olympus stopped making them for the C5050, and the only used one I found on the net is marked up from the original $130 to $400!

 

If you know where I can get one of the housings you saw, please let me know!

[michael_millard]

Why not just sell the Coolpix, buy the beer with the proceeds and leave the sandwich bags at home? Afterall, it is Aruba.(?)

 

Seriously though - Snorkeling or Scuba???

If you're into scuba diving, my advice would be to avoid the EWA bags altogether and invest the appropriate amount of money the hobby demands. (Afterall, diving is expensive per-hour, whether you own your boat or charter one!!)

 

More importantly, you need light. LOTS of it. A SB-800 through a plastic bag is probably going to look like crap. (It's the worst diffuser I can think of -- but of course, I "know" better than to say that here! Ha!!) I am thinking color shift in seawater varying with flash intensity. Yuk!!

 

Oh, and the bags leak. But then, so does everything else if you don't take the necessary precautions, especially the deeper you go.

 

And while it's never been a problem for me personally, I have heard folks complain about the variable bouyancy of camera bags....

 

Have fun, whatever you decide.

[bdpics]

Dan: Sorry, I meant to say

<P>

<A HREF="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home;jsessionid=DQVvjCJ1ZJ!766950101?A=search&Q=&b=8&a=528_4393&a=0&shs=&ci=5237&ac=&Submit.x=11&Submit.y=4">

Canon Powershot. B&H has all the models</A>.

<P>

John: You're right--I can't seem to find any PT-015's for the C-5050 for sale, guess I'd better stock up on o-rings for mine while I still can......I'm sure you'll see them pop up on feebay etc. as people upgrade. I may be getting a housing for my D70 soon, and might sell my 5050 housing.

<P>

Apparently, the hot new digital P&S for UW is the Fuji F810. For more info, see the latest news at: http://www.digitaldiver.net/index.php

<P>

Fuji makes their own housing (WPFX-701) and Ikelite makes a really nice one (http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/fuji810.html) for only $300.

<P>

Hope this helps,

<P>

BD

[briany]

Guys, thanks so much for all the feedback, and I enjoyed browsing your portfolios as well. B Diamond, you've got some great underwater shots. The point about it being hard to see into the viewfinder of an SLR with a mask is a good one. I'll have to think about it all a bit more. If I get any good shots, I'll let you know!

[sloopjohne]

B.Diamond replies:

 

"...I'm sure you'll see them pop up on feebay etc. as people upgrade. I may be getting a housing for my D70 soon, and might sell my 5050 housing."

 

If you do, PLEASE e-mail me and let me know! I'd love to get it!

 

John (sloopjohne@aol.com)

[sloopjohne]

Update:

 

During a visit to my local camera dealer last week, I discovered a new but dust-covered boxed PT-015 UW housing for my Oly C5050Z on a high shelf.

 

It had been sitting there for over 3 years!

 

Of course, I bought it on the spot, and he even knocked $100 off the sticker price, $259.95 My months-long search is over!

 

:-) :-) :-)