Steve Hickey

Thanks - I've found the 60mm great for macro on land but sounds like its a good option underwater as well. It does feel like a quality lens but do you not miss the zoom option you get with the 14-42mm ? Given I've already got the 60mm lens its a low cost option to give me something different (I think the alternative port for the housing is c£200) and I also love fish portraits !! I don't think I would use the fisheye that often although the combination of the WWL-1B with the 14-42mm sounds interesting. Thanks again for your comments and for sharing some of your amazing images....

Thanks for the additional comments. I did upgrade to the EPL10 and have now used it a couple of times and have found it to be a definite step up from my TG5. I've only used the 14-42mm standard lens for underwater photography although I have subsequently bought the 60mm macro lens that I use for photos of insects. I would really interested to hear what other lenses you've used for underwater photography and how they work with the existing housing and what they give you beyond the standard lens.....thanks

Hi John - many thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I really think the EPL-10 is a serious contender if i decide to upgrade given the large sensor and the familiar menus which will help with the transition from the TG5. Cheers Steve

Hi Tim Thanks again for your good advice on the wide angle and fisheye lenses. If I'm in the shallows I can get close to the fish but this isn't typically what I'm doing so probably isn't for me. On Lightroom I already use it on every photo and find it very beneficial and use most of the functionality to improve clarity and sharpness especially the dehaze button. Cheers Steve

Hi John I always shoot in RAW and process afterwards and don't have a housing for the TG5. Thanks for the suggestions - I've had a quick look at the wide angle lens and the fisheye accessory lens and they look like potential options. With the wide angle lens I would need a housing as well but I wondered what sort of pics you used it for and if you felt it improved the image quality ? I was really interested to hear that you had the Olympus EPL-10 as well. How does it perform in comparison to the TG5/6 and do you use each camera in different situations ? There is a big difference in sensor size - has this translated into better quality images with the EPL-10 for you in practice ? I saw that you live next to the Great Barrier Reef which must be fantastic for snorkelling and I love the turtle pic. I live in the north-east of England so don't have the same opportunities !!! Cheers Steve

Thanks for your comments guys - really helpful and informative. Tim - I hadn't really thought depth of field through and as you say for fish portraits a smaller depth of field is probably beneficial so a greater depth of field shouldn't really be on my wishlist. Chris - the increase in sensor area from the TG5 to a m43 is really interesting and gives me hope that an upgrade could give some increase in image quality. I know lighting would probably help but I don't think its really practical for snorkelling where I'm trying to keep things as small as possible. I was probably about 6ft to 10ft from the fish in the pics and the fish were quite small - 3 or 4 inches in length. I was zoomed in 2x but did process them in Lightroom and crop both of them to around 25% of their original size. Thanks again Steve

Hi Tim A little nervous to post some of my "amateurish" pics given some of the amazing ones I've seen on here but here goes. Just a couple of typical ones taken in the Mediterranean. I guess what I'm looking for is less grainy and sharper images and potentially a wider depth of field. If its a bright day when I'm snorkelling it feels like the light near the surface is pretty good so I was hoping a larger sensor camera would give me the improved image quality and a wider depth of field. I was also thinking that in lower light conditions it would take more light in than a smaller sensor and therefore help with image quality in those conditions as well? Thanks Steve

Thanks - all the cameras I mentioned have housings which I'm looking at as well. I had seen quite a price range but hadn't realised that some were metal and others plastic. I saw a very positive review by Backscatter of the E PL 10 plus housing which included a 14-42mm lens at roughly the same cost of the compacts including housing, so I wondered if this could be an option for better quality images given the larger sensor or would I definitely need additional lenses ? Its operation also looked very similar to the TG5 so an easy transition. Chris - I mainly shoot fish and a few other scenes rather than small things so I've rarely used the TG5's macro capability underwater. Is recording on a larger sensor the key to better quality images ? If so this might push me towards the E PL 10 or the Panasonic LX100 which both have 4/3 sensors as the other compacts have 1" sensors (although still bigger than the TG5)

I'm an occasional surface snorkeller who has got interested in underwater photography in the last few years. I currently have an Olympus TG5 which has given me some reasonable results but I'm looking to upgrade to a compact or mirrorless with the aim of improving the image quality in particular for stills rather than video. The main options appear to be the Panasonic LX10/15, the Canon G7X III and the mirrorless Olympus E PL10. I don't have a great technical knowledge so I'm struggling to understand which of these (or others possibly the Panasonic LX100 or the Sony RX100 VA) would give me an improvement in quality given the limitations of snorkelling. Any advice on housings would also be very welcome. I'm trying to keep the setup as small as possible so I'm assuming that as I'm snorkelling I don't need additional lighting or filters ? I'm also not sure with these cameras whether I would need additional lenses? Many thanks for any much needed guidance you can give me !!

Hi, I’m Steve and live in the north of England. I’ve been snorkelling and taking UW photos on a casual basis for about 5 years. I’m thinking of upgrading my camera so hoping to gain some knowledge and get some advice from this forum