[Paul the Sunman]

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So, I do a lot of SCUBA - I used to enjoy going round with a little £30 action-camera in a case but the quality was never great, and one day it got knocked over the side of the boat and now lives, somewhat fittingly, at a depth of ~30m in a random stretch of the Firth of Clyde.

I decided yesterday that I want to replace it and actually get into underwater photography instead of just doing it and forgetting about it... and then losing it over the side of the boat.

For anyone who wants to get into underwater SCUBA with a Pentax DSLR, there is a housing available for the K3. I believe they might design and build one for later models if the customer lends them the camera for the development.

[stemked]

I have used two underwater cameras snorkeling, the Pentax W6-4 (14m/45 feet)and Olympus Tough (water proof to 15m/50ft). You can get a housing for the Tough as well to go deeper. Of the two I prefer the Tough; I also got a wide angle adapter for it. Both though offer a macro mode. A few images of both below

WG-4

WG-4 macro

Tough macro

Tough

[cprobertson1]

So THAT'S what clear water looks like?!

Oh yeah - first rule of getting good pictures is “Get close. Then, when you think you’re close enough, get closer!”

That applies up here in our cold, dark, murky waters of the Pacific Northwest, anyway. Unlike the tropics, when the viz here is over 20 ft it’s a good day, when you can see 40 ft it’s an amazing day, and when you can barely see your hand, it’s just Tuesday...

Makes sense! The more particulate between you and the subject, the more scattering there is to ruin the image; I hadn't thought of it that way but it's pretty obvious in retrospect!

In in the Firth of Clyde the vis can be good - on a few occasions exceeding 10m (~33ft) but that's been rare. In fact, I record the vis in my log - I wonder what the actual percentages are?

<1m: 5%
1-3m: 55%
3-10m: 30%
>10m: 10%

Note that <1m is underrepresented because if I go out and the water is like soup - I generally just won't go in :P

Also note that the average vis is probably in the 3-5m region but the Mares dive log wants it in the above groups. ::shrugs::

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"Waterproof to depths of 50 feet / 15m"
And they add housing to them - correct?
Seems pretty decent approach, 700-900 USD for a whole scuba set.

Aye that sounds reasonable - I might consider that my ideal-setup if I really get into it =D

For now though, cheapness is the name of my game - I'm leaning towards an apeman action camera with a bar-grip and a pair of chinese no-brand strobes.

However, I've just been informed that I will be furloughed for January... and possibly February too... and possible part of March... so it looks like I'll be holding off on buying anything for now. I might see if I can stretch my budget and just by the camera itself, using my torch as the light source - but it's probably more sensible for me to wait until after I come off furlough and get my moneys sorted again.

Nice of them to tell me a week before christmas! Oh well... what can ya do...!

Thanks for all the advice, folks - been an interesting read! ... I totally want a TG now

[Belcik]

Wow... I found used TG6 locally in Moscow for 15kRUB, that is 200 USD. I think I will have to consider that interesting option...