Things to Consider When Buying a Camera
The choice in buying a digital compact camera, especially
for underwater use, is both huge and sometimes difficult
to understand all the different options that can be offered
when new to underwater photography.
After numerous requests by many course guests recently,
I have put together some of the points which I consider
to be important to consider when buying a compact camera
for underwater photography use. If there are any points
which you would like me to answer personally, then simply
drop me an email to maria@oceanvisions.co.uk
and I'll be happy to do just that!
1. How Many Megapixels Do I Need?
 Probably
not as many as you think necessary! A 3 megapixel camera
will usually give you a great colour A4 print or a nice
20 x 16 inch print on canvas, but this quality will depend
on the kind of chip which your camera has. A 6 megapixel
camera will give you a great colour A3 print or a whopping
2 metre x 1.5 metre print on canvas. Needless to say, the
recent 10 megapixel cameras will give you larger prints,
but an important consideration to be made is whether the
increase in megapixels will affect 'noise/grain' in your
image when taking photographs with a higher film speed/ISO.
What can happen in some compact cameras as the chip is so
small, that the increase in megapixels and more information
packed onto the same size chip can result in a decrease
in image quality.
2. What are the most important things
that I need to be looking for when I buy a Camera for Underwater
Use?
The most important controls that you need to be looking
for in a compact camera for underwater use is the ability
to change the following:-
Battery Life
How many photos can the camera take before having to recharge
the battery? This is especially important when considering
how much you will use the built-in flash on the camera,
and using this frequently will use the battery power a lot
quicker than if most of your photos are taken using the
Manual White Balance Feature alone.
Film Speed/ISO
Ideally you would want to have a range from at least 100
to 400 or maybe 800. A higher film speed than 800 does not
necessarily increase the quality of images, the chip simply
allows more light in to be able to take a picture of a subject
in poor lighting conditions, i.e. a wreck, but the trade-off
can be in some models that noise/grain/degradation of the
photograph will start to occur.
White Balance
Sometimes it is nice to have the ability to calibrate the
white balance of a camera to bring out the colours of subjects
underwater by using a white slate or neutrally coloured
object, i.e. a rock/hand etc. However, if you currently
have an external flash, then this duplicates the job of
a Custom White Balance Feature on a camera and a photograph
taken with Manual White Balance will not have the same colours,
depth, punch or textures that an external flash will provide.
Therefore owners of camera models which do not have a Custom/Manual
White Balance Feature can use the Cloudy setting to help
warm up their underwater images and alter the photograph
later in post-processing.
Exposure Value/EV +/-
 This
is a great feature to use underwater with a white angle
lens to get close to wrecks and keep the sea in the background
looking a nice, deep rich blue.
Macro/Close-Up Mode and the Built-In Flash
These two controls go hand-in-hand to get fantastic well-lit
results of small subjects such as Anemonefish, Stonefish,
Scorpionfish and give great results both during the day
and night as long as you are within a foot of the subject
with no particles in the water. See Point 4 for more information
on the use of the Built-In Flash in Particular Housings.
Accessing the Playback Mode
How easy is it to review the photographs underwater? Is
it through a quick switch, or do you have to trawl through
menus to get to it.
3. Do I Need a Compact Camera with
RAW Capability?
If you are shooting images for personal use, then the answer
is probably not. This will depend on whether you will be
doing a lot of post-processing work on your image in Photoshop.
This again will help to keep the highest quality of your
image possible during heavy graphic work. If you will not
be doing this, then taking pictures on the highest quality
JPEG setting will be absolutely fine.
4. Choosing an Underwater Housing
for Your Camera
 This
can be one of the most important things to double-check
before purchasing, as it can be a very expensive mistake
if whilst trying out the controls whilst diving, you come
to realise that your favourite controls cannot be accessed
by the outer buttons of the housing.
a) Visibility of the Camera Controls - How easy is it to
see the functions of each button underwater? Are they individually
labelled or coloured to help identity these at depth. If
you wear glasses, will these buttons be large enough to
see if you don't use a prescription mask. Can you access
each button individually without hitting another button
by accident?
b) Location of the Camera Controls - Is there an individual
button for each of the important controls of the camera?
This is especially important for those compact cameras which
have full manual control - is it possible to change both
the Aperture and the Shutter Speed underwater individually
and easily at depth? Also think about the Exposure Value/Compensation
Mode (EV +/-) can this be accessed by the controls on your
underwater housing.
c)
Location of the Built-In Flash - Where is it on your camera
and how far away will this be from the diffuser on your
housing when it is placed in it's respective housing? When
taking Macro Images underwater, if the built-in flash is
too far away or too small, a shadow to the right-hand side
of your image can be seen and can be very distracting from
the subject. However, for those that already have this housing,
by increasing your film speed/ISO to a higher number, this
can help the camera's flash to be more powerful and can
help to get rid of this shadow by lighting the subject more
evenly.
d) Wide Angle Lens Accessory - Can an adaptor fit on the
port of the housing to add on an wide angle lens if necessary
in the future? For anyone who loves taking pictures of wrecks
or big animals on holiday, this is a real must-have as it
will reduce the water-column between yourself and your subject
and stop your photos looking so blue and washed-out.
Use of an External Strobe
Will it emit enough light to cover the subject which you
want to light? For example, a small strobe will be great
for Macro/Close-Up Photography, but if you choose to use
a wide-angle lens for those reef/wreck shots, remember that
small strobes don't work well with these large lenses and
will cause either backscatter (lighting up small particles
in the water) or a hot spot (choosing to illuminate a particular
part of the subject in front of you).
Sometimes, although more expensive, it is best to invest
in a strobe which will cover a larger area, and then this
will save you the need to upgrade at a later date.
I hope that these tips will help you in your choice of
an underwater camera and housing, but remember, if in any
doubt, always ask and that includes me as well! Happy, safe
shooting and I look forward to hearing about your adventures
very soon!
Best Underwater Fishes
Maria
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