11 replies to this topic

[gerberjr]

does anyone know where i can get a great case to shoot underwater at.

[nbanjogal]

I will be very interested to hear what people have to say about this. I love the idea of underwater photography, but it terrifies me to think of taking my precious (insert Gollum voice here) in the water. Are those housings really that good?

[Adamwesleyo]

Yeah it is a major trust issue. 

[UntamedSpirit]

Ikelite has great cases, as long as you make sure the O-Rings are clear, you should be good.  I've had my point and shoot down to about 150 ft, and no leaks, the case is over 5 years old.  

 

I'd check with a local dive shop in your area, they should be able to you find a case, and may even be able to offer an underwater photography course .

[Rontography]

I've used one of the DiCAPac bags with good results. Not as handy as a true underwater case and a little bulky, but they work nicely in a pinch.

[gerberjr]

thanks guys i looked into what untamedspirit said and those cases are perrty pricey

[nbanjogal]

I noticed that Borrowlenses rents out some underwater gear. If it's not something you plan to do regularly, perhaps a rental would be the way to go. Even the rentals are pricey though...egads.

[UntamedSpirit]

It depends on how deep you want to go.  About every 33 feet, the pressure will increase by 1 atm. So at 33 feet, the pressure of the water is about twice what it is on land, at 66 feet, 3x, 99 ft 4x... and so on. So as you go deeper, the build quality needs to go up. The DiCap bags look pretty cool, they are however limited to about 30ft, and it looks like they don't have a way to hook up an external flash (Strobe). 

As you go deeper more and more light is filtered out, also red colors are filtered out more. Sometimes the internal flash in your camera is not enough, so you'll need to look at using underwater strobe lights, which is where things start to get tricky, and a good underwater photography course comes in handy, that will cover color calibratoins and light angles.

[ogs123]

For snorkeling you might consider the Outex system ( www.outex.com). Provided you make sure that everything is tight, it works pretty well and it's relatively inexpensive. I took this picture at Stingray City in the Cayman Is using the Outex case.

[ATXG8R]

I have found that underwater cases can be very valuable to get amazing photos... thanks for posting this. 

[Long Exposure]

OK, here we go.  Yes, the Nauticam and Ikelite case are that good.  The cameras are a fraction the cost of the underwater case and lens housing.  A cost in the range of $3,500US for the case, lens housing, etc. is what should be thought about.  Therefore, if you are shooting DX format, as I said the housing is several times the camera cost.

 

Underwater photogrpahy is all about lighting.  Thus if you plan to go very deep or are in unclear water you will need underwater strobes, etc.

 

If you are to be a shallow water underwater camera user (surf, snorkling to say 20 feet, fishing, etc. there are "spash" housings a good one is made by Aquatica.  It is about $1,800US.

 

Personally, for the casual user, I think a better and more inexpenive way to go is waiting for the underwater Nikon 1.  For a grand you can go fairly deep and probably get 80 percent of the shots you would get with a DSLR and housing, for a fraction of the cost.

[rocknrumble]

I've been looking at the Aquatech case. Curious if anyone has used it?
http://www.aquatech.net