Camera opinions wanted!

[Dusty2]

I too have bought allot of gear from LP and never been hurt or dissapointed but I also know that most of the equipment Mfg. Have disclaimers right on their sites that Liesure pro is not authorised to sell their products and warranties are void for products purchased thru them.

[narcosis Junky]

Ok just my 2 cents. First, I recomand the DS-125. It has the rechargable battery, I love it. Never have to buy batteries. you get a lot of flashes out of it for your buck. second big plus, the modeling light. A big plus. As far as camera, personally I like Nikon. That's just my flavor in a SLR. As far as a point and shoot, I like Olympus. I have two C-60's. I'm selling one of them because I don't need two. The other one was for the wife and she doesn't use it. Plus I have come to realize that my self, I prefer to use the Nikon D-50. Very long battery life on that perticular camear. I can do 7 one hour dives and never change the battery. yes it's true I have done it many times. If you spend $2000 , what's an other $1000. You will have what you have always dreamed of. My set up is a nikon D-50 with Ikelite housing with DS-125 on one side and the startek 21-13 adjustable HID light. $1500 just for the light. But hey I always put light on my subject. A matter a fact there are many ocations, were I don't use a flash due to the light being bright anough. it looks more natural. If I don't use the nikon, I always resort back to the Olympus. I have learned to use that more for video then photography. Again just my two cents.

[Scott G]

Canon G9 camera: $457.30 incl. shipping from newegg.com (I've done lots of business w/ them before and they're good)
Ikelite housing #6147.09: $583.55 B&H Photo inc. shipping
Ikelite DS-125 strobe package #3944.75 (TTL sync cord, DS-125 strobe, ball/socket arm system, smart charger) $1044.95 Leisure pro, free shipping

Hi Janna, This first system you describe is what i upgraded to over the winter, it is working out really good... I also have a DSLR and chose not to house it for all the other expense and bulkiness... plus nice to keep UW and topside separate.

Anyway, i added that W-20 lens just recently... was sold immediately, opens up alot of area for low visibility photos.

Good luck, I winced similarly while clicking "pay now", but was worth it for me... BTW i bought mine through Helix, strobe and WA lens through BH... bought all at different times to take the bank account hit in stages

Scott

ps. think about an extra battery and a 4GB card, shoot it all in RAW.

[DiverBob]

Lot's of great camera info. I deceided to go simple for my first underwater camera and housing. I just purchased a Canon A570 is. This camera has a good selection of manual controls and should be a good choice to learn with. There are some good closeout deals to be had now with this camera. Bob

[nwscubamom]

That's a great idea and you selected a good camera Diverbob. You can always upgrade later and by then, something newer and cooler will have come out. (that always happens with electronics).

I assume you went with the Canon housing on it?

I have had good luck with setting past Canons for center spot focusing, shooting in P mode, putting flash on ON, but dialed back a notch or two), Cloudy white balance setting and I forget what else. Oh, ISO 400. But I'd still experiment more to see what works for you - heaven knows I'm still experimenting.

I *DO* know that vivid colors does NOT work well underwater Really awful!

- Janna

[Dusty2]

Congrats Bob, You should be happy with your new toy. It's a good sound camera with better than mid range versatility. I'd say you made a good choice for a first U/W cam. Now get out there and dive, dive, dive. One hint of the top. Forget the underwater setting. It's for blue water and we don't have any of that stuff around here.

[nwscubamom]

Oh, also, Canon's EXCEL at taking macro shots....you should be able to get within centimeters of your subject and have it focus nicely.

Also use some sort of light to help your camera focus - I often just point my dive light towards the subject when I'm shooting digital, or my buddy does.

- Janna

[Dusty2]

FYI for Janna and Bob, My settings are almost always P mode, spot focus, Macro, flash locked on. But I usually set my ISO at 100, 200 Max. Anything more and you'll get grainy pictures with lots of noise if you try to crop for close ups or do much editing. Alwas set to the max size so you have lots of room to crop later and use an external focus light so the camera can get a good focus. The built in focus light will blocked by the case so shut it off. Another thing, if you have it in macro don't touch the zoom. As soon as you start to zoom macro no longer works and the camera won't focus properly

[dwashbur]

FYI for Janna and Bob, My settings are almost always P mode, spot focus, Macro, flash locked on. But I usually set my ISO at 100, 200 Max. Anything more and you'll get grainy pictures with lots of noise if you try to crop for close ups or do much editing. Alwas set to the max size so you have lots of room to crop later and use an external focus light so the camera can get a good focus. The built in focus light will blocked by the case so shut it off. Another thing, if you have it in macro don't touch the zoom. As soon as you start to zoom macro no longer works and the camera won't focus properly

I do the same, except that I go in AV mode, which is aperture priority, and set the aperture to f/8.0 so I get greater depth of field. I use ISO 200, but I'm probably going to dial that back to 100 just because I can. I also use the built-in focus light and it seems to do all right most of the time. You'll find your own settings as you get familiar with the camera, and the nice thing is, there's really no right or wrong, it's largely personal preference.

[DiverBob]

i will buy a Canon Underwater housing for the 570. The plan is to just kep things simple and experiment with different settings. I am sure that there will be lot's of questions after the first dive with the camera.

Congrats Bob, You should be happy with your new toy. It's a good sound camera with better than mid range versatility. I'd say you made a good choice for a first U/W cam. Now get out there and dive, dive, dive. One hint of the top. Forget the underwater setting. It's for blue water and we don't have any of that stuff around here.

My wife and I dove on Saturday morning and it was a very small milestone in this new obsession/hobby, dive #10!! The visibility was actually very good and we saw 2 GPO's, a first for us! Would have loved to have had a camera. Bob