MandyH

So I went on my dream trip last year with my mother to snorkel with the Humpbacks. It the first time for both of to be snorkeling, let alone with whales so we decided to take it easy on get cheaper camera equipment. I got a Lumix underwater camera for both of us. Mine ended up malfunctioning on the 2nd day. Thankfully my mother's did not so I was able to get some decent shots. We are planning on going back in 2017. As for the pictures themselves, well... I'm not very pleased with them. I wasn't expecting spectacular quality, but not one of the best shots that I got prints well. I know with photography, you get what you pay for so I'm looking to get some guidance on what kind of cameras I should look into for my next trip as well as what I can do technique wise to get better shots. I'm assuming a DSLR would be my best bet? What about filters, are any type of filters recommended? Lastly, what settings should I shoot in? Here are a few pics from my trip last year. I'm not happy with the "noise" in the water, but I'm sure the camera I used has something to do with it. I think with a better camera it likely would've been a lot better. I should note that we did have pretty murky water so maybe there's not much that could've been done? I just don't know... The last pic with mom under her pec fin is my favorite from the whole trip and it looks horrible printed.

As someone who spends as much free time as possible watching whales in the wild, I have to say that I'm 100% against keeping whales (of any species) in captivity. They're far to intelligent to be used as an entertainment object. Personally, I will never go to any place (Seaworld, etc) that keeps whales in captivity for the sole purpose of profit. It's just wrong on many levels. If you're interested in seeing my photos of whales you can check out my site at www.whalesonfilm.com.

Thanks, as I said I just started looking at that camera so I hadn't read all about it. I guess I'll keep searching. I would love to get a fish eye lens and housing for my camera, but I can't spend $2,000+ on it. I think going with a point and shoot may be my only option.

Thanks for the feedback everyone! And, thanks to you SOS for posting your shots! Man I can not wait to get into the water with them for the first time. I think my first time in, I'll go without my camera just to experience it. I'm leaning more towards getting an underwater camera now instead of a fisheye lens for my Canon. I don't know what I was looking at when I first started looking at the fisheye lenses, but the one I saw was in the $300 range which was very doable! Now that I've started to look again they're mostly over $1,000 which is more than I'm looking to spend. I did find a promising underwater camera (which I just started looking into). It's the Sealife DC1400. Anyone have any experience with this camera? The sample photos and videos I've seen look pretty promising. It looks like our trip won't be until 2014 because we're trying to get a group together and some of our group members need extra time to save up. So, I still have plenty of time to try to figure things out and get all the gear I need.

Thanks for the advice! I was thinking of getting a fisheye lens soon so I think that's potentially going to be what I'll be using on my trip for the underwater stuff. The trip I'm looking into going in tries to find whales who are more or less relaxing and being calm to go swimming with so I'm HOPING we'll get lucky and will find some nice co-operative whales that'll be easy to keep up with.

My mother and I are starting to plan our first real vacation. As soon as we save up the cash we'll be heading to the Dominican Republic to swim with the Humpback Whales on their breeding / calving grounds. We watch these same whales while they're up here on the feeding grounds during the spring, summer, and fall. If you're interested, you can see some of our photos on my website www.whalesonfilm.com. Anyway, I currently use a Canon Xti (old equipment I know) and my mother currently uses a Canon Xsi. We both want to get underwater housings for our cameras so we can get some decent shots. We're not looking for Nat Geo quality although that WOULD be nice! The trip itself is going to cost us approx $5,000 when all's said and done so whatever camera equipment we purchase has to be reasonably priced. We're not looking to spend another $1,000 on top of what it's already going to cost. We do realize though that you get what you pay for so the lesser priced housings may not be that great function wise or image quality wise. Do any of you have any suggestions? Also, since this will be our first time in shooting the water what settings would you recommend? I normally shoot in Av mode on our whale watches and my mother still uses sports mode. I'm trying to teach her, but at the same time I'm still learning!

Hi everyone, I'm new here. My name is Mandy and I'm hoping to get some great advice for an upcoming vacation that I'm starting to plan for. It involves heading to the Dominican Republic to swim with Humpback Whales! I look forward to learning about underwater photography!