A digital camera for underwater photography

The huge number of models, innovations and buzzwords make it difficult to choose a digital camera. And when you want to use it for underwater photography, the task is even more complex.

This article describes a number of imporant aspects to look for in a camera.

Resolution

Choose a resolution that fits your needs: a low resolution (less than 3 megapixel) is sufficient for website or background images, decent prints require higher resolutions. The usual 5 or 6 megapixel on current camera models deliver enough for enlarged prints on A4 size. These resolutions also offer sufficient headroom to crop the photo (comparable to digital zoom) without dramatic loss of resolution.

A drawback of higher resolutions is that the intervals between taking pictures may be elongated due to the time required to write the data to the storage card. The maximum number of shots that can be stored on the card is also limited at these resolutions.

Most current digital cameras provide sufficient resolutions for large prints, so don't let the megapixel hype get to you and check the camera's speed and also the lens:

Lens

Under water, the lens sits behind one or more sheets of glass or plastic of the housing and add-on lenzes. This, and the presence of particles and the blurriness of the water, will degrade the quality of the photo. A good camera lens will prevent the results from even more degradation.

The range of the lens is also important for underwater photos; the underwater conditions make telephotography useless. A good wide angle lens, preferably less than 28mm, is therefore much more of a good feature than 200mm zoom.

Variation in aperture settings is also something to look for. Smaller apertures (big F number) come in handy when using an external strobe or taking supersharp macro shots. A large aperture (small F number) are used for getting good exposures in darker conditions.

Settings and Features

Although the fully automatic mode (P or Auto) on compact cameras can give good results, only a camera that lets you control its settings (aperture, shutterspeed, exposure correction, flash level etc.) will enable the more artistic photographs or use of an external strobe.

A nice feature is the special underwater white blance, which is present on many compact camera models and corrects the lack of the color red. This option is best used shooting at reasonable depth in blue waters. But when in the sunlight on the top reef, when using an external strobe or in green waters, this option will result in incorrect colors.

Power source and Energy use

Some cameras can only be used for a short period on a full set of batteries, mainly due to the power consumption of the LCD screen. A camera that is efficient in power use or that has an option to turn of the LCD (should also be possible in the underwater housing!) will thus last you longer on a dive.

As many brands use proprietary batterypacks, you must check that a charger is included that can be used worldwide (100 - 240 volt). And a spare battery is no luxury, especially when doing multiple dives a day.

Size and Controls

Many people like to choose an ultra compact camera, but just imagine yourself controlling it during a dive. These type of camera usually require menus for many settings, which can be quite a hassle with small buttons, especially when wearing diving gloves. But then again, a compact camera and ditto housing is ideal when you want to travel and dive light, and you don't give too much about all the settings.

Underwater Housing

Many camera manufacturers, like Canon, Olympus, Fujifilm, provide their own underwater housings for their cameras. These are in general cheaper than the more specialized housings, like those by Ikelite, Sea&Sea and MediaSub. The latter are in turn more robust, but also much larger and heavier.

Many housings provide access to part of the camera's buttons, so verify that the features you require can be controlled.

If you want to extend the set with underwater strobes and lenses, the housing must have also have ways of connecting these.

Bare in mind that the maximum depth of a housing generally only shows the amount of pressure its materials can handle and not the watertightness of the seals. The biggest chance of leakage is still close to the surface, as the housing and o-rings are not squezed very tight there due to the low pressure.

Be aware that not all housing manufacturers supply or support their models in all countries. So make certain you can obtain a suitable housing before buying a camera.

Related Information

More tips for choosing a set and using it can be found on tips and tricks for digital underwater photography. Also check out the camera, underwater housing and strobe reviews to read other people's expierences.

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