Yay!!! Got my Panasonic TZ1 underwater housing.

[fuzzybabybunny 0]

I had to order this housing from the UK ( DiverVision ) because there are no merchants in the US with this in stock. It was shipped on the 25th... and it got to me on the 28th... Yay for EMS shipping!

 

Anyway, here are the pics:

 

http://fuzzybabybunny.smugmug.com/gallery/2774920#147737393

 

Total cost was about $350. $100 for the camera ($200 - $100 circuit city gift card from when I bought my Canon 30D) and $250 for the housing.

 

I took it to the diving well today, and, well, it's disappointing. Not because of the housing but because of the stupid camera.

 

RANT

I don't know what in God's name Panasonic thinks it's accomplishing with its Venus III engine. Anything over ISO200 it just blurs to hell and back because it tries to remove the noise but instead nukes a lot of the image detail along with it. My 4-year-old 4MP Olympus C-750 has better ISO400 than this thing. I really want someone to just hack Panasonic's firmware and allow people to turn noise reduction off. Picture taking is absolutely pointless with this thing in all but the most well-lit places.

 

The lens on the TZ1 is not wide enough for underwater stuff. Not even close. 35mm is the widest. When held at arm's length, one human head fits the screen, perhaps two if they are cheek to cheek. I just realized today just how important wideangle is for underwater stuff.

 

For the newbies, you want to shoot as close as you can to your subject. The reasons are:

 

1. As you increase distance from your subject, the murkiness of the water will cut down on sharpness. There is no such thing as telephoto underwater photography for this reason.

 

2. As you increase distance from your subject, the water cuts down on the amount of light from your subject that reaches your camera, meaning you'll need to shoot at slower shutter speeds to compensate AND/OR your flash will be unable to reach that far.

 

3. Longer focal lengths magnify camera shake, which is prevalent if you are snorkeling.

 

With a wide, you can get as close to your subject as possible, minimizing 1, 2, and 3, while squeezing in as much into the frame as possible. I can tell right now that I'm going to have some serious trouble shooting things like schools of fish and my friends unless I'm a good 20 feet back, whereas with a wide I might be able to float only 10 feet back or even closer.

 

Shooting underwater is hard! Buoyancy is a serious issue. When you shoot pictures you want to be as steady as possible. Even the slightest upwards float or downwards sink can blur a picture and screw up framing, and this is only magnified by the longer focal length.

 

Filming underwater is also hard! Again, it's buoyancy, but it's also hard to hold the camera steady as you're kicking with your flippers. Image Stabilization really helps here.

 

GRRR I wish there was a camera out there that had a wide lens and could zoom during movie mode! The TZ3, the successor to my TZ1, has a nice 28mm lens, but it doesn't zoom during movie mode

Edited April 29, 2007 by fuzzybabybunny

[vinny 0]

hi

you could always try adding a lens onto your set up , i use an inon UFL-165AD and find it makes a lot of difference, the lens will let you get to within touching distance of what you want to take and also it is great for a bit of distance

 

i think they do the AD mount for your housing

 

the macro lens is great too

 

yours

 

vinny

[DesertEagle 2]

Thanks for the review. Since the housing has an oblong-shaped port, it will be very difficult to add a wide angle lens. I checked Inon's website. There is no announcement of any AD mount for the TZ1 housing.

 

My advice is to sell it on eBay.

[vinny 0]

hi again

 

on the panasonic japan website it says there is gonna be an Inon AD mount for the housing

 

the link is

 

http://panasonic.co.jp/pavc/global/lumix/t...ccessories.html

 

then click on "Dive with LUMIX" box where the marine housing part is

 

then click on "Basic steps and tips"

 

then click on Button number "6 "

 

hey presto i pressume the TZ 3 and TZ 1 use the same housing ? they look identical

 

then click on the" for details of Inon" button

 

schedule release date April 21 2007

 

hope this is not too complicated and hope it helps

 

vinny

[james 0]

Wow, you must have a nice light booth - those product photos look great!

 

Cheers

James

[DesertEagle 2]

If Inon supports that housing, it would be the first rectangular port housing to get a wide angle lens. If I were to guess, Inon will provide a strobe connection, but not an AD mount.

[vinny 0]

you could be right there desert eagle

 

i looked again and thought the ? in the text was the A out of AD mount base

 

but there is no AD mount in the pictures

 

sorry about that

 

vinny