Underwatercamera

Hello,

In about one month i'm heading to cape verde. I'm planning to go snorkling and scuba diving (isn't sure yet) (and of course photographing birds!) I like to take pictures underwater. I've snorkeld many times and dived a few times and i have seen many beautiful things i like to take a photo of. But i can't decide wich camera to buy. I have a budget around the 570 USD (400 euro) and i was looking at the sealife dc800. But there are also many other compacts wich deliver great image quality, but don't go that deep (60 meters). As a reflex photographer i like to go for the highest image quality possible, and it's not just for taking snapshots. I hope someone can help me out!

Greetz

Hi
Not sure from your post whether you want to do the underwater bit and the birds with the same camera. However, for the budget you have you can only go with some sort of compact. Don't think 60m depth rating is important. In my experience, most of the interesting marine life is to be found in the top 20m or so and I rarely find I need to go much beyond that. For underwater I would recommend you look for something with good macro capability and although your camera's built in flash will probably limit how close you can get and light the subject at the same time, at least you can add a separate flash later when funds allow.
Never been to Cape Verde and would be interested to hear what it is like.
Jim Greenfield
www.oceaneyephoto.com

Hi,

No i mean that i'm also going to photograph birds on cape verde with my canon 30d!:)
Thanks for you reaction, no indeed, 60m is very deep, but many other compacts don't go further than 10m. That's not much for diving. So wich camera do you suggest?

p.s beautiful pictures on your site!

... could you rent something for the trip?

The camera is just half of it since you need lights. Any decent DSLR will be expensive. Do you have something you can buy a housing for? .. anything you get remember to go as wide as possible or you will be doing macro only. A twenty or more would be ideal !!

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CChris%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsoh tmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CChris%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsoh tmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CChris%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsoh tmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml"><style>  </style> Generally the cheapest part of underwater photography is the camera.

I have just ordered the housing and video lights for my 5D MKII at a total cost of $5700USD the camera cost was $3500AUD.

You may want to consider looking for a second hand Nikonos V with its flash and go the film route it may well prove to be the cheapest (and best ) option.

I have done some 40 years of U/Water photography 99% within 40 feet of the surface, at 60 Metres you have lost all but your blacks and dark blues and lighting for that depth may require a second mortgage.
Generally small P&S cameras are useless in all but the most crystal clear waters but I have a housing for my Olympus C770 which I hope to try this summer on the barrier reef.

Best of luck.:)