11 replies to this topic

[Longimanus1975]

Hi

I have been asked by a mate to find out whats a good value video recorder to take underwater. I have a fair amount of experience with a P&S camera, and just upgraded to a D7000, but not really up to date with the latest video cameras.

I reccommended to him to look at the s100 as its small, light, relatively cheap and can do full hd recording.

My question is, is the s100 really up to video recording or is there something else that can do this better for less/same amount of money? Ideally he wants full HD recording.

There will be other questions but for now I am just trying to find out whats the up to the job.

Many thanks

[Drew]

What's his budget for the whole rig?

[Longimanus1975]

What's his budget for the whole rig?

I think for the housing and the camera he wants to spend between £500 and £600, I have said that ideally he would need a wide angle lense as well, so he is bracing himself!

[Drew]

I'd go with a GoPro 2. Everything is cheap and it has a built in wide angle lens so there's no need for attachment lenses. And now even GoPro's housing has filter capability. It can't take stills to save lives, and it's still noisy in lower light, but with housing, accessories like handles and filters and 120° (from 170° corrected for water behind flat port) for under $800, it's a nice package.

[Longimanus1975]

Drew

Thanks for this, it was something I initially said to look at, but after having a conversation with a shop in the UK he was put off a bit, hence the reason for looking at the s100.

I will have a further look into this

[RWBrooks]

In the hands of a relatively experienced diver, using a red filter and manual WB at the touch of a shortcut button, I have seen the S100 and S95 produce some reasonable video. It does well in low light and surprised me with it's output. It won't produce the hi end video that much larger and more expensive set ups do, but it is great for the money you spend. It's a great starter and the wide angle lens can wait until your friend gets into it more.
A great starter for video and good for stills to mix it up too.


Richard

[Longimanus1975]

Need to resurrect this as my mate was almost ready to purchase a GoPro and then had a question, and I wasn't sure what to suggest.

He was about to purchase a the GoPro + backscatter housing, red filter, arm and a sola 800 video light, for this amount of money would it be better to go with the Canon S100 with an ikelite housing and a wide angle lense?

I personally think the GoPro is the better way to go as he only wants video, what do others think?

[RWBrooks]

I think your friend will become frustrated with the GoPro due to the fixed lens. The 100 has much more creative posibilities.
But then it's his decision.

[Longimanus1975]

Thanks for coming back to me

Is a fixed lens really a problem? I would have thought that you don't want to zoom in too much anyway, better to get closer to the subject.

I know whatever I recommend to him, it will be my fault if it doesn't live up to expectation ;-)

[PIG004]

I think your friend will become frustrated with the GoPro due to the fixed lens. The 100 has much more creative posibilities.
But then it's his decision.

I'm with Richard on this, I bought both the S-95 and then the S-100 for the video as some dives here in Palau are just too demanding to lug around a big video camera or DSLR.
The stills the S-100 takes are really high quality for a P&S and will give much more flexability than the GoPro. Manual white balance gives great results and I'm very happy with this camera as support for my D300.

[RWBrooks]

haha, I know your pain, people are always asking me what they should buy. Getting close is good but a variety of focal lengths is going to make for much more interesting videos. If everything is wide angle then it will get boring quickly.

Richard

and there you go, Cheers N

[Longimanus1975]

Many thanks for the update guys, I will give him the feedback