[Coral-List] Collated responses: working uw digital camera advice
Bill Allison
allison.billiam at gmail.com
Fri Aug 17 10:11:02 EDT 2012
Thanks to all those who responded to my inquiry about underwater cameras.
To put this in context, I have owned and used for extended periods a number
of cameras and housings including Olympus, Sony, Fuji, Sea and Sea and
Canon (G12, S95) and they have served me well. When I am working, a lot of
‘measure, record, photograph’, I want a camera that turns on immediately,
has rapid response, long battery life (3 hrs is good - turn it on and
forget about it) and does not get in the way. My older Sony Cybershot (ca.
2005) still does the still photo job very well but is no longer available
and lacks the video capability I want.
I own a GoPro which although useful for recording such things as behaviour
and general aspect of reefs, has less than an hour battery life and
considerable wide angle lens distortion so I don’t use it for quantitative
work such as video transects or photoquadrats.
I have appended the responses with some editing for clarity and
streamlining.
I have inserted the occasional clarification in square paren [WRA comment].
By the numbers, Canon is the most popular brand and gets very good reviews
both in the responses and online. The Canon most closely matching my
preferences is the S100. Reviews:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons100
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/cameras-and-camcorders/cameras/compact-cameras/canon-s100-1040081/review/page:8#articleContent
Each user will have particular requirements and preferences. I hope the
information below is useful to all.
A few notes:
Fogging was mentioned wrt the G12 and can be a problem with any of the
housings because these cameras generate quite a bit of heat, driving off
moisture from the camera. I used to avoid this by heating the camera for an
hour or so before putting it in the case. Useful heat sources included my
computer power supply, the camera’s battery charger if separate, table
lamps, hair driers, the sun.
Several respondents favoured a belt and britches approach in which a camera
waterproof in shallow water is placed in an underwater housing.
The ability to save raw images may be important to some.
Of interest because it is probably good enough for photoquads and general
aspect shots and very cheap is the Coleman Xtreme C5WP 12 MP at $80.00. I
can imagine equipping a few divers with these and getting a lot of
photoquad transects done in a hurry - then comes the reality of data
extraction and analysis.
________________________________________________
Original question to Coral List:
Bill Allison allison.billiam at gmail.com to: coral-list coral-list <
Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 9:32 AM working uw digital camera advice
I'm looking for advice about a simple, compact digital camera and housing
for day to day work surveying reef?
Desirable features:
- fit in bcd pocket
- built in flash good for macro to .75 m or a bit more in clear water.
- simple controls preferably with auto-macro detect
- 10 - 12 megapixel photos
- immediate shutter response (I have enough fish tail shots)
- rapid processing to memory
- 2 - 3 hr battery life
- HD video
- 16 or 32 Gig memory (for vid)
I suspect one of the smaller Canons or Sonys will do the job - but if so,
which one?
Responses:
[Coral-List] working uw digital camera advice
__________________________________________________________________
Ulf Erlingsson ceo at lindorm.com to: Bill Allison <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 9:43 AM
If you are not going too deep, maybe you can use an Olympus TG-1, a camera
that is watertight in itself. Make sure to get a high-speed SD card, class
10, as it makes photographing quicker.
__________________________
Andrew Collins andrew.u.collins at gmail.com to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 9:42 AM
I use a Canon G12 and underwater housing and it takes absolutely excellent
shots. The Canon G-series are probably the best "point & shoot" digital
cameras you can buy. However - this will not fit in your BCD pocket. I just
use a cable tie loop and a BCD clip. The shutter response is quite fast,
though obviously depends on lighting. That's a sacrifice you have to make
when choosing against a DSLR. Lastly, it takes very very nice macros.
_______________________________________________________
Phoebe Jekielek phoebejek at gmail.com to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 9:44 AM Re:
I've had a Canon Powershot and housing for about 6 years now and it has
been fabulous. I'm sure there's higher-def versions of the camera now, but
this package has been amazing and I've taken thousands of pics with it. The
macro setting has taken great pics. The battery definitely lasts 2-3 hours.
Super simple controls and pretty compact. As I said, my camera doesn't have
some of the features that you're looking for, but I'm sure there's a newer
version out there that would work for you. My experience with Canon has
been great and I would suggest them any time.
_______________________________________________________
Goldman, Ryan rgoldman at broward.org to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 9:47 AM
I recently purchased this model, price was a huge factor. Coleman Xtreme
C5WP 12 MP Waterproof Digital Camera.
http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Xtreme-Waterproof-Digital-Camera/dp/B004SB1X4E/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&qid=1344951592&sr=8-27&keywords=underwater+digital+camera
PROs:
$79.99
12 megapix
Waterproof
A little larger than a deck of cards
Macro setting
Flash
Rechargeable battery
Auto-detect
CONs:
Video - but not HD ( I think) (***WRA: its 760, which is fine for some
purposes).
8gig memory limitation. Instruction manual says 8 gig is the largest card
you can buy for the camera. But I am not sure that it is actually true and
if it would work with a larger microSD card. I bought an 8 gig.
Rapid shutter speed is not something I can swear to - just have not really
noticed that factor yet.
Hope this helps, or is least under consideration.
_______________________________________________________
Benjamin Cowburn benjamindcowburn at googlemail.com to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 10:10 AM
The Panasonic Lumix is really great. Its the same price as most "tough"
cameras out there, but the spec is slightly better, and most importantly it
just does what you want under the water. It has really fast shutter speed,
good auto focus and does well close up. Only issue is it can't go below
12m, so only really for snorkel and shallow water surveys.
Best wishes,
_______________________________________________________
Phil Dustan dustanp at cofc.edu to: Bill Allison <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 10:15 AM
Get one that captures raw images. I find that the reef reflectivity is very
low- the community is a light sink- so you might need to boost their
brightness. THis can be done easily with raw formatted images to a better
quality than with jpg. That said I have a SONY STX-9 in their housing which
is very durable and serviceable.
_______________________________________________________
John Ogden jogden at usf.edu to: Bill Allison <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 10:16 AM
I am looking to replace an older Canon PS540 camera and housing that I used
for many years. Wonderfully powerful for documentation and very compact.
Please share your responses. Thanks.
_______________________________________________________
Richard Shaul r.shaul at seabyteinc.com
via<http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&ctx=mail&answer=1311182>
yourhostingaccount.com to: Bill Allison <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 10:16 AM
I use the Canon S-100 and have been very happy with the quality, size and
flexibility. It does not have auto detect macro but easy to switch. Also
has a rapid covert to video button that I really like. Allows me to
instantly switch back and forth between video and still shooting. Also has
an underwater mode that really helps color when not using the flash.
I have tried a bunch and really like this one.
_______________________________________________________
Alice Grainger alicetgrainger at gmail.com to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 10:31 AM
I have been taking underwater pictures for sometime, for both artistic as
well as scientific purposes. I have been using a Panasonic Lumix (at the
lower end of the price range) and have been extremely impressed by its ease
of use, image clarity, durability, and features. For the price, I cant
recommend the Lumix range highly enough. Dont go near Sony! [WRA: I asked
why not - answered below]
_______________________________________________________
Alice Grainger alicetgrainger at gmail.com to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 12:06 PM
Just know of/have worked with people who have been using them [Sony - I
asked what the problem was], who have had problems with Sony digital point
and shoots - mainly durability, sticky shutters etc, suddenly freezing, no
picture on the screen.
My Lumix has been with me for years, lived in Indonesia, traveled to the
Andamans, worked everyday for a year in Madagascar doing photo quadrats,
brackish water, high temperatures, direct sunlight, fine sand, never had an
issue. They also have Leica lenses so picture quality is amazing. While I
am not a pro by any stretch of the imagination, I have had some of my
little Lumix's shots printed in Asian Geographic magazine. Quite an
achievment for a lower spec piece of apparatus!
Also, for ease of use, the Lumix blows the Sony out of the water. The Lumix
menus are really easy to navigate, very intuitive. Sonys always seemed to
me unnecessarily complicated for fewer features.
Anyway, its just my option! If youre used to Sony you might find them more
familiar, and, at 40m that's definately a quality that comes in handy ;)
_______________________________________________________
Bill Allison <allison.billiam at gmail.com>,
coral-list coral-list <Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 10:32 AM
I use Sony Cybeshot W 300 with underwater case. It is very usefull.
________________________________________________________
Michael Risk riskmj at mcmaster.ca to: Bill Allison <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 10:44 AM Fwd: [Coral-List] working uw digital
camera advice
Date: 15 August, 2012 10:31:36 AM EDT
For fast action photos (like being in the surf, we used the
OlympusSP-560UZ with underwater housing. They make something similar
to this now,
but do not make this same model. This has been the best dive camera for
the price.
For the smaller stuff, we used the Olympus Stylus Tough-8010. 14
megapixel. It doesn’t take very fast pictures. You can beat the hell out
of it and take it down to 10 m without the housing. I have the housing for
it, and it is fine at least to 110 ft. This has movie capability with
sound. I have a 16 gb card in it.
I tried the Sony competition, and it [was inferior]. The Canon was pretty
good.
_______________________________________________________
José Speroni JSperoni at ceih.org to: Bill Allison <allison.billiam at gmail..com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 10:58 AM
you may want to check this
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/browse/Underwater-Equipment/ci/11585/N/4294551294
and ask B&H staff for advice about the best cost/benefit/perfomance models
whithin your needs.
Also check the user reviews before buying.
_______________________________________________________
Karsten Shein karsten.shein at noaa.gov to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 11:08 AM
I tend to go deeper than 10 m, so I put my point and shoot canon in a
housing. Canon makes pretty good housings and camera+housing can be around
$300 total. I also bought a Dive-Rite Thigh Pocket that attaches to your
BCD cumberbund and around your thigh. It is just big enough to hold a
point and shoot camera in a housing (I use a Canon S100 in a Canon
housing). In a housing, you can simply go with the camera you like best
(Canon, Sony, Nikon, etc).
But, if you want something that can fit in your BCD pocket, you probably
will need to go without a housing. I would not recommend the Olympus
Stylus Tough. Although it has a good depth rating and is pretty rugged, I
found the shutter lag to be unacceptably slow. I have heard pretty good
things about (but have not used) both the Pentax Optio WG-2 (40ft depth
rating) and the Canon Powershot D20 (the newer version of the D10 - 33ft
depth rating). Both have 28 - 140 mm lenses (I prefer a 24 mm for better
wide angle - but to get that you need the camera/housing combo), both will
do close in macro focus (1 cm), and both will do 1080p HD video. Canon is
12.1 MP and Pentax is 16MP. Overall, I've become partial to Canons for a
few reasons - it's simple to set the built-in underwater mode (pretty good
white balance correction), a good sensor, and fast shutter response.
_______________________________________________________
Karsten Shein karsten.shein at noaa.gov to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 12:25 PM
If you want primo pix, full manual control, huge sensor, RAW images
(basically a pro package in a point and shoot), I am really loving the
S100. Drawback is the price (~$400). But when I was looking for a good
Canon with a housing at a slightly lower price point, I was leaning toward
the Powershot ELPH 320HS (24 mm wide angle, 1080 HD Vid, 16.1MP, underwater
settings, and a housing is available. There is also the SX230HS.
_______________________________________________________
Karsten Shein karsten.shein at noaa.gov to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 1:27 PM
If you go to http://mermaid.zenfolio.com (my underwater photo site) and
click on the underwater folder, the first 50 pix in the gallery are ones I
took with the S100 in April in Cozumel. The last 7 I took last week in the
Outer Banks with the same camera, and the rest I took with a Canon
Powershot ELPH SD600 (a 6 MP point and shoot camera). These should perhaps
give you a better idea of the quality.
_______________________________________________________
Karsten Shein karsten.shein at noaa.gov to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 2:56 PM
I have found that at extreme closeup macros, the Canon housing lens barrel
creates a partial shadow over the image. At ranges of perhaps 10-50 cm,
the flash diffuser on the flash works beautifully (provided the water is
clear - otherwise you will still get backscatter no matter what distance).
In looking at the ikelite housing for the S100, the lens barrel covers the
flash entirely, so you would pretty much need a strobe (of course defeating
the ability of slipping it into a BCD pocket). Best bet either way is to
get an inexpensive strobe like the Fantasea Nano, ikelite AF35, Bonica
G8-B, or the Sea & Sea YS-02. With a good flex arm, you'll be able to
easily reposition the strobe to get good lighting (I duct taped a small
dive light to my bonica strobe as a positioning light, and both perform
very well). When I have the strobe on, I attach the rig to my BCD with a
powerful retractor or coiled lanyard w/clip (both work well to keep it in
place).
_______________________________________________________
nicholas turner nrt2961 at gmail.com to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 11:50 AM
I have to suggest the sealife dc 1400. I recently used mine in the clear
water of Roatans bay islands and could not have been happier. I used the
cameras built in flash which did surprisingly well within 4 ft. It is 14
mega pixel and shoots 1080 hd video which is crystal clear. It fits in my
bc pocket and also comes with a wrist strap and clip. Battery life was
excellent and the camera is very easy to use. Check it out online. I give
it 5 stars!
_______________________________________________________
Allison Calhoun calhouaa at whitman.edu to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 12:45 PM
We have switched over to a GOPro camera in the underwater housing for my
work. The one thing that is missing is the integrated flash. Otherwise it
has immediate response, can be used for HD video and is tiny (easily fits
in a BCD pocket.)
Other manufacturers make flashes that can be mounted with the camera. We
didn't use a flash b/c we were in high vis water during the day. However,
on a night dive, I used a handheld flashlight and still got great pictures.
If you go this route, make sure to buy the underwater housing - though the
standard housing is waterproof and sealed for use underwater, the lens
cover creates a very distorted fish-eye appearance in the photos and
seriously hinders clarity.
[WRA elaboration: Until recently the GoPro housing waterproof to 60 m had a
port that was not suited for underwater use (go figure) so a third party
adaptor (good to 30 m) was required (e.g., Snake River) that also allowed
filters to be affixed. There is now an “underwater housing” with an
appropriate port available from GoPro].
I do highly recommend the camera - daily use for 1-2 hours per day and no
problems whatsoever - and no issues with downloading the data either. If
you wish to see some of the pictures we took with it, let me know.
_______________________________________________________
John McManus jmcmanus at rsmas.miami.edu to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 1:07 PM
I am blown away by the quality of UW stills and movies from my
recently-purchased Nikon AW 100. It only goes to 30 ft, but I have seen ads
for a small housing. I do most of my work snorkeling, but if I have a need
for scuba work, I will most likely just get that housing.
On the other hand, I have seen great video from the Go-Pro Hero 2. However,
I like to use a camera on land as well, and the Nikon fits nicely in my
pocket or belt-pouch.
_______________________________________________________
jkrumholz at gso.uri.edu to: Bill Allison <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 1:43 PM
My name is Jason Krumholz, I'm with the Reef Ball Foundation. I thought I
would chime in on your query. The main unanswered question in your
original e-mail is the depth at which you need to take the pictures. We
use Canon D300's for shallow water work (they're waterproof to 10m with no
housing), which we love, because they're relatively inexpensive, 10mp, and
very compact, and they have removable mini SD memory, so you can go all
the way to 32GB with the right card (though it's tough to shoot really
good video due to the compact size= lack of stabilization).
I also have clung to an older Canon S500 with a housing that I use as a
compact underwater point and shoot at depths 10-40M. That camera is only
5MP, and I've found it shoots better stills than the D300. It's not the
number of pixels, it's the quality of the optics that's the limiting
factor unless you're blowing your pictures up larger than 8X10.
Flash is very difficult. To shoot quality macros, in my opinion, you need
a detatchable strobe, even just a small one makes a huge difference.
_______________________________________________________
Justina Dacey justinadacey at gmail.com to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 2:45 PM
If you are looking for something inexpensive and quite simple the Canon
Powershot ELPH 300 HS might be a good bet. I recently bought one and it has
many of the features you mentioned. I think it does an exceptional job
taking pictures in low lighting compared to some other cameras I have used
in the past. It's also quite hardy (I just backpacked Europe for three
months with it). It has an underwater housing you can find probably for a
decent price on Ebay or Amazon.
_______________________________________________________
Tamsen Tremain Byfield tamsen_byfield at yahoo.com reply-to: Tamsen Tremain
Byfield <tamsen_byfield at yahoo.com>
to: Bill Allison <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 8:04 PM
I've had great luck with the Canon Powershot series. I used that for much
of my field work and now have a Canon G11. I find that 8 megapixels is just
fine for high-quality printing but hese days that's considered low. Usual
Ikelite housing. A wide-angle adaptor is available; worth the money.
Battery life for Powershots and G11 very satistfactory.
_______________________________________________________
Ian Butler ian.butler at uqconnect.edu.au to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 9:23 PM
Hi Bill,
My 2 cents.....and it may be a couple of years out of date :) I have
used the Olympus tough cameras - great pictures, esp macro, once you get
used to the bright flash(which can be an asset as well!). But the Achilles
heel is the little window shield that covers the lens - it gets stuck easily
(sand grit eg) and the camera won't work. Very very annoying once
underwater....
I have used the Lumix AVCHD camera and had no problems and
great pictures - it does not have the little shield. I think with any
compact underwater camera suffers from the same issue - you can never really
trust the built in housing to prevent the occasional leakage, which can be
catastrophic to the camera. I have suffered housing leakage (albeit minor)
and anyone I have ever spoken with has had the same thing happen. I have
since become a bit more religious about lube along the seals, but even
then......
Most people I have spoken with have agreed that you still need
to purchase a housing for extra protection, which is what I have done. The
lumix housing is nice and small. The Olympus one is a bit bigger.
_______________________________________________________
Stephan Moldzio moldzi at aol.com to: allison.billiam at gmail.com
date: Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 2:16 AM
the Panasonic DMC-FT3 is really excellent for that purpose. 12 MP and HD
video.
It´s waterproof down to 12m depth, so you don´t need a separate housing.
_______________________________________________________
al Eyal galeyal at mail.tau.ac.il to: Bill Allison <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 8:14 AM
Hi Bill,
S100 of canon is a good option!
_______________________________________________________
Erin Burge eburge at coastal.edu to: Bill Allison <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 8:57 AM
The best compact is the Canon S100, in my opinion. It pairs with an Ikelite
housing that is also top quality. The camera is very small, but in the
housing I don't think it will fit in BC pocket
_________________________________
Gal Eyal galeyal at mail.tau.ac.il to: Bill Allison <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 9:11 AM
Here you can find more details
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/831110-REG/Ikelite_6242_10_6242_10_ULTRAcompact_Underwater_Housing.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/822124-REG/Canon_PowerShot_S100_Digital_Camera.html
_________________________________
Steve Dalton sdalton at nmsc.edu.au
via<http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&ctx=mail&answer=1311182>
coral.aoml.noaa.gov to: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
date: Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 3:46 AM
Hi Bill, not sure if you will find a compact digital stills camera that
does not have a lag on the shutter, a digital SLR doesn't. I would
recommend a Canon G12 or similar. I am still impressed with the Olympus
5050 for image shot quality and functionality, has a lag though and no
longer available but you might find one online ex stock.
_________________________________
Karsten Shein karsten.shein at noaa.gov to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 9:51 AM
BTW, I put a SquareTrade accidental damage warranty on it. I have found it
is not "if" a housing or waterproof camera will flood, but "when". Their
warranty does cover any water damage and cost me about $80.
_________________________________
Sonia Rowley srowley at hawaii.edu
via<http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&ctx=mail&answer=1311182>
coral.aoml.noaa.gov to: Steve Dalton <sdalton at nmsc.edu.au>
cc: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
date: Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 12:37 PM
I've been using the CANON IXUS (powershot) 980 + 900 back up since
2009. The back up is really for long research trips to remote
locations. With either set up you can get external lenses (INON) which
for me have been worth their weight in gold. My research is on
gorgonian corals within the Indo-Pacific and the wide angle attachment
is fantastic. The cameras can, if you push it, get ~2 cm away from the
object without an additional lens, nevertheless a macro lens is
available and works a treat, the fish eye is amazing too. You can get
amazing results with these little things, check out this site and ask
Qs, they are very helpful.
http://www.camerasunderwater.co.uk/index.php
http://www.camerasunderwater.co.uk/canon-find-comp
_________________________________
Greg Challenger gchallenger at msn.com to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 5:41 PM
The go pro with the separate flat lens for underwater is great. You can
also get filters. It takes an hour of video and tons of photos. I'll send
some pic examples when I get to computer
I own an amazing canon eos 7D with wide angle and housing that takes an
entire suitcase. I can close my hand around this and you can't see it. I
rarely travel with the canon anymore
_________________________________
Greg Challenger gchallenger at msn.com to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 6:39 PM
The underwater flat port is the trick. The one that comes with it
sucks [wra note: GoPro now has a housing with a functioning underwater
port. My GoPro produces considerable peripheral lens distortion - contact
Greg for more information about these isssues and google GoPro]
_________________________________
Doc Radawski docradawski at gmail.com to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
cc: coral-list coral-list <Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
date: Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 5:42 PM
I've just switched over to an Olympus TG1 iHS and am getting good pictures.
It has an F2 lense, GPS and is water proof out of the box, as is, to 40ft.
A waterproof housing (135 ft ), fisheye and teleconverter lenses are
available or will be available soon.
The outside dimensions are:
111.5mm W x 66.5mm H x 29.1mm D
4.4" W x 2.6" H x 1.1" D
Weight 230 g, 8.1 ounces
Specifications:
http://olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1621&page=specs
_________________________________
Doc Radawski docradawski at gmail.com to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 6:21 PM
That [waterproof camera inside a housing] was part of my reasoning for
switching to this system.
What I know best about UW lights and housings is that they all eventually
leak, no matter how much or how little you pay for them.
_________________________________
Richard Shaul r.shaul at seabyteinc.com
via<http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&ctx=mail&answer=1311182>
yourhostingaccount.com to: Bill Allison <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Thu, Aug 16, 2012 at 2:25 PM
I use the Ikelite case.
_________________________________
Steve Mussman sealab at earthlink.net reply-to: Steve Mussman <
sealab at earthlink.net>
to: "coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
cc: Bill Allison <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 8:31 AM
Although my recommendation may not fulfill your every requirement, Canon's
G series would be an excellent consideration. These cameras are
consistently rated best in class, have relatively fast shutter speeds,
long battery life, and effective internal flash capability for daytime
use. I'm currently using a G10, but the 11 and 12 have been upgraded to HD
video. Canon makes a bullet-proof, inexpensive housing for these cameras
and you can easily add a compact external light for night time shots. It
won't fit in a BC pocket, but it's manageable compared to bulky digital SLR's
and provides comparable quality.
___________________________________
Kaitlin Baird kmariebrd at gmail.com to: allison.billiam at gmail.com
date: Thu, Aug 16, 2012 at 1:20 PM UW camera
I have just gotten a Cannon G12 and its housing for everyday work on the
reef and i really do love it.
i am not trained in any photography and its easy to use and ive been able
to get some great shots. It won't fit in your BCD pocket but i find if i
clip it to my D-ring with a clip and put it under my arm it will float up
near my tank. When i nead it i just can push it under my arm to grab the
photo. My only complaints about it, it doesn't like really low light and
the refresh in terms of being able to fast fire pictures takes a few
seconds to reset, its not quick.
it has an underwater setting though that allows you to try and keep reds in
and ive really enjoyed getting it!
attached is just a random point and shoot i took today of a baby blue tang.
I was free diving so its not too close, but gives you an idea of the
quality!
ps. some of the photos we have been taking with it for work can be found on
Facebook on "Waterstart" which are our summer camps here in Bermuda
_________________________________
David Burdick burdickdr at hotmail.com to: allison.billiam at gmail.com
date: Thu, Aug 16, 2012 at 12:07 AM camera info
We've tried out a few different compact camera/housing setups over the last
few years and I thought I'd chime in. Of those we've tried (Canon
Powershot A720 IS, Canon Powershot ELPH 300 HS, and most recently the Nikon
Coolpix S6300), the Canon Powershot ELPH 300 HS seems to have most of the
features you were looking for. It's quite small and the housing (WP-DC41)
is the most compact I've seen. It could easily fit in a BCD pocket. It
shoots images at 12.1 MB resolution and can take 1920 x 1080 HD video. In
macro mode you can get as close as 1.2 inches, although you have to
manually select the macro mode. It also turns on quite quickly and the
image processing time is reasonable.
The internal flash of compact cameras are rarely worth using, and this one
is no exception. This is mostly due to the design of both the flashes as
well as the housings. If you're a couple feet away from a subject you may
get enough light on it to get a decent shot, but any closer and there will
be a shadow caused by the portion of the housing enclosing the lens, and
any further away little light will make it on the subject. Also, due to
the position of the flash right near the lens, you'll have to deal with
backscatter. If you really want to use flash I'd recommend getting an
external strobe specially designed for compact cameras (although that would
preclude you from fitting it into a pocket). We don't use internal or
external flashes for our monitoring work and find that manually adjusting
white balance at depth (using a white slate) usually gives us pretty decent
images. We chose these models specifically because they allow manual white
balance adjustment. I used an older model Sony Cybershot a while back and
any shot below about 15 feet was usually washed out in bluish-green and had
extremely overexposed highlights - and there was no saving the images with
Photoshop.
I've only used the Nikon Coolpix on a couple dives so far, but it seems to
match or beat the Canon ELPH in most features, but unfortunately the
housing we procured was much larger than we anticipated. The housing is
made by Ikelite, but there may be another manufacturer making housings for
this model (try Fantasea). We've delegated the Nikon to photo transect
duty, and with its 16MB resolution it seems to be a nice fit for it. It's
attached to a PVC photo frame so there's no need to put it into a BCD
pocket.
http://www.guamreeflife.com: *promoting awareness of **Guam**'s marine
biodiversity through access to thousands of underwater images*
http://dburdick.smugmug.com: *underwater images from **Guam** and beyond*
_________________________________
David Burdick burdickdr at hotmail.com to: allison.billiam at gmail.com
date: Thu, Aug 16, 2012 at 5:11 PM RE: camera info
I forgot to mention that the WP-DC41 housing doesn't provide access to all
of the ELPH 300 HS buttons/functions, but when the camera is placed into
the housing it goes into a special underwater mode where you can access the
manual white balance, macro, and other useful functions. I've never run
into a situation where I couldn't access a function I really needed. That
combo is also slightly negative, which I've found is usually a good thing.
It's annoying to have a camera always tend towards the surface, and even
more annoying when it escapes to the surface (of course that can always be
remedied by adding weight to the housing).
_________________________________
Additional responses, different subject lines
KG SotS kg at sultansoftheseas.com to: Bill Allison <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Thu, Aug 16, 2012 at 7:10 AM RE: Sony cameras
The Sony Cybershots with U/W house has been working fine, the only issue is
the latest model housing’s big o-ring, it stretches and has to be changed
after just a few months. Canon’s G12 and original U/W house suffers from
bad condensation.
_________________________________
Paul McCann paulymccann at gmail.com to: Bill Allison <
allison.billiam at gmail.com>
date: Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 10:07 PM
With reference to the email you sent to coral list this morning, I'm sure
you've received many replies already but I did pass it on to a reliable
source and they had the following information to contribute:
Two good options for a compact cameras that are simple to use and effective
for the majority of your listed requirements are:
A) The Lumix ST4 with housing (~$1045AUD)
B) Canon S100 with housing (~$990 AUD)
- Both of these items alone are compact enough to be stored in the BC
pocket, and possess built in a flash capable of macro up to 50cm. If you
want to achieve macro to 75cm you'll need to pair the compact with a
suitable lense + strobe (~ $1500 for each) which will increase your total
outlay to around 3-5K
- 16-32 GB Memory cards are fine for both models listed
- 10 MP is preferable, as 12 MP can 'crowd' the sensor of a compact and
actually detract from the quality of images obtained
- The shutter response is generally not a problem on cameras, it is
actually the available light in UW environments that can limit the speed of
the autofocus. To mitigate this factor, a strobe is recommended however
this addition will prevent storage of the item in a BC pocket (and is also
$$)
- HD video is fine but often 'true HD' causes a reduction in frames per
second so it's a balance between video quality and still quality - if video
is a known requirement for the project, the GoPro is much more suited to
the task and should be purchased in addition to the compact
N.B. Many people advocate use of Canon G11, G12 etc however these are not
the ideal choice for underwater footage as they possess a telephoto lens
that cannot be used to advantage in UW conditions. Also, unlike the
compacts listed above, the compatible wide angle lenses available are not
designed with UW photography in mind.
--
________________________________
"... the earth is, always has been, and always will be more beautiful than
it is useful."
William Ophuls, 1977. The Politics of Scarcity
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