Forum Members Poll: Your first underwater camera

[Placebo365 16]

Canon G15 in polycarbonate Canon WP48 (I think) housing. Natural light. Eventually saved up for one 2nd hand Sea&Sea YS01 strobe.

 

Moved onto SonyA6000 in polycarbonate Meikon housing. It's done I reckon about 600 dives and is still going strong.

 

Currently saving hard to move to full frame and 'proper ' housing. I can think of 5 people I know who have worked professionally using polycarbonate housing. In every case it's just been a question of finance not to upgrade.

 

Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cneal 9]

Nikon F3 in an Ikelite housing, used it until 2009.

[Robin-D 11]

Sea & Sea motor marine II was my first

[phxazcraig 116]

I guess we just write our reply as opposed to click on a survey choice somewhere?

PhxAZCraig

Edited October 30, 2019 by phxazcraig
already posted wanted to delete

[Interceptor121 765]

I guess we just write our reply as opposed to click on a survey choice somewhere?
PhxAZCraig

The survey is on the first post

Sent from my SM-A505FN using Tapatalk

[Stig 3]

On 10/30/2019 at 6:20 PM, Interceptor121 said:

The survey is on the first post
 

Sorry, I can't see what to click on there either.

 

Sea&Sea Motormarine MX10

[stuartv 34]

I am really surprised that there are so many people who went straight to a compact camera in a housing and did not have a GoPro first. It seems like everyone I know or meet has always had a GoPro before they bought a "real" camera of any kind (for u/w use).

 

Personally, I had a GoPro for years before I even started diving. Then, I did take my GoPro in the water a few times, and I did shoot a very few number of stills with it, in the water, before I bought my first "real" camera. So, I voted in the poll as GoPro. However, if the question were "what is the first camera you bought for the purpose of underwater use", then I would have voted ILC.

 

On 10/14/2019 at 5:03 AM, Interceptor121 said:

Yes that is a good point. I think the polycarbonate entry level is what I was referring to. There are less and less cameras without a port system unlike Canon Powershot and ixus series. I think transition from gopro to still camera is hard if you don't have a compelling proposition

 

Even Meikon offers polycarbonate with a port system now, in their Salted line for Sony crop sensors. Very inexpensive, too, compared to any other option I know of. My Meikon housing for my m43 camera is a fixed port setup, but it has been flawless over the last 4 years. I think they offer an amazing value.

 

And, for that reason, I think the transition from GoPro is not that hard. GoPro is SO limiting (for stills). A Sony a6xxx in a Salted housing can be put together for less than $1000, I think. And then you have options for using flashguns and for different lenses for WA and macro. If you're going to stick to recreational depths and don't need a full frame sensor, but you want good quality underwater photos, I think that setup is actually very compelling over a GoPro.

 

I started with the Meikon housing and their cheap wet wide angle lens for my E-M10. I upgraded a year or so ago to the Meikon housing with a Nauticam WWL-1. That gave me a quite noticeable improvement in image quality and I have gotten some pictures with that setup that I am VERY happy with.

[Interceptor121 765]

2 hours ago, stuartv said:

I am really surprised that there are so many people who went straight to a compact camera in a housing and did not have a GoPro first. It seems like everyone I know or meet has always had a GoPro before they bought a "real" camera of any kind (for u/w use).

 

Personally, I had a GoPro for years before I even started diving. Then, I did take my GoPro in the water a few times, and I did shoot a very few number of stills with it, in the water, before I bought my first "real" camera. So, I voted in the poll as GoPro. However, if the question were "what is the first camera you bought for the purpose of underwater use", then I would have voted ILC.

 

 

Even Meikon offers polycarbonate with a port system now, in their Salted line for Sony crop sensors. Very inexpensive, too, compared to any other option I know of. My Meikon housing for my m43 camera is a fixed port setup, but it has been flawless over the last 4 years. I think they offer an amazing value.

 

And, for that reason, I think the transition from GoPro is not that hard. GoPro is SO limiting (for stills). A Sony a6xxx in a Salted housing can be put together for less than $1000, I think. And then you have options for using flashguns and for different lenses for WA and macro. If you're going to stick to recreational depths and don't need a full frame sensor, but you want good quality underwater photos, I think that setup is actually very compelling over a GoPro.

 

I started with the Meikon housing and their cheap wet wide angle lens for my E-M10. I upgraded a year or so ago to the Meikon housing with a Nauticam WWL-1. That gave me a quite noticeable improvement in image quality and I have gotten some pictures with that setup that I am VERY happy with.

It is not surprising this forum wetpixel is predominantly a photographer destination. So most people here already had a camera of some description and then housed it. With the death of compact cameras and phones people tend to buy gopro and shoot videos not stills so they never arrive here.

Meikon offers solutions of course but the entry point is much more expensive than it used to be and this puts people off so they stay with the gopro

[stuartv 34]

17 minutes ago, Interceptor121 said:

It is not surprising this forum wetpixel is predominantly a photographer destination. So most people here already had a camera of some description and then housed it. With the death of compact cameras and phones people tend to buy gopro and shoot videos not stills so they never arrive here.

Meikon offers solutions of course but the entry point is much more expensive than it used to be and this puts people off so they stay with the gopro

 

I sort of get that. But, the divers I have talked to in person who are looking for something to use underwater are almost always people who were not photographers before, and they are looking to upgrade from a GoPro-style action camera. I guess that just means those people are often not so passionate about it that they find their way here. Personally, I have an old Nikon N70 film camera. No way I would have thought to house it. I think I'm not the norm. I was not an active photographer for many years before I got into u/w. I guess most people are one of two categories: They were already an active photographer on land, so they housed a real camera for the first u/w. Or, they were not a photographer at all and they ended up getting a GoPro.

 

Regarding your statement that the entry point is much more expensive that it used to be, I note that you can get a TG-5/6 in an Olympus housing for about $750 or so. And you can get a Sony a6xxx in a Meikon housing for under $1,000, I think. If that is much more expensive than it used to be, then how cheap DID it used to be?!? I can't imagine it being cheaper than that, say, 5 or 10 years ago. Am I wrong about that?

[wydeangle 46]

Disposable underwater film camera something like this one....

[Interceptor121 765]

The plastic housing are staying flat but the camera at entry level no longer exist it is mostly a consequence of smartphones

[stuartv 34]

Actually, now that I think about it, I have dived with people using an iPhone in a waterproof case who were taking pictures.

 

Does that count as a camera in a housing? Seems like it would. Maybe should be a separate poll option, though. It is certainly low cost of entry.

[mgaylordOYFD 0]

My first was a panasonic DVX 100 in an Equinox housing. 

[Interceptor121 765]

The poll does not accept answers anymore but I think @stuartv has good point we need smartphones/tablet as a choice

[Interceptor121 765]

can admin lock this thread and I create a new Poll please?

[liamelement 1]

rx100 m4 was my first camera.

[Spitfire 2]

some sony actioncam, then Nikon aw110, sony rx100mk2, Nikon d800, Olympus omd em5, Olympus omd em1...

[nokie 0]

Started with a Canon G9 in it’s WP housing, I don’t think gopros were around back then. Technically this is still my rig. I do have a go pro since last year, but it doesn’t really talk to my Inon z240 .

It’s probably time for something new...

 

[Angusparker 3]

FYI Tapatalk interface hides polls. You need to be using the browser.

[helloI'mFo 0]

Canon G7XII... Love shooting UW with it 

[Captain Fathom 8]

I built my first camera housings. The very first was a AGFA 35mm in a Plexiglass box using glands gotten from a listing in Skin Diver magazine and using the book How to Build Your Own Housing or something like that. I built a number of variations even fabricating a dome port from a marine compass bubble. The HS shop teacher helped a few times with the more complicated versions to machine various parts. During that time I was gifted a used Nemrod 120 camera. I then moved to a Nikonos I that was also well used when I got it and then I bought a new Nikonos III that I used in addition to a Nikon FE and then a Nikon FMIIT SLRs (in Ikelite bubbles). Then an Oly 5050 in Ikelite until it flooded, then a Canon A570 in Ikelite until it flooded and then a Canon S90 in FIX (still going strong) and now a Nauticam with Sony A6400. 

Edited February 26, 2020 by Captain Fathom

[ParkChapman 0]

Nikonos III- no strobe, no corrective lenses in dive mask. Still shooting manual today. 
 

[fisheater 0]

Sea & Sea DX860g with a Sea & Sea YS-27DX strobe.

It was a great camera, IF you didn't mind the insane shutter lag.

[Al Green 0]

 I currently use an Olympus TG5 in a housing.  Good camera and easy to travel with - but looking to move to my Canon DSLR very soon.  

[Al Green 0]

I should mention that I actually started with a GoPro 2 in a housing.  The only housing available to me had a dome lens, so the images were all distorted - I tried many times to get a proper dive housing, but by then you could not buy anything for that model.  I will likely buy a newer model for my wife one day soon as we dive together.