What's your water camera setup, cost, etc.?

Funny you post this today....I ran across my old Konica Minolta (220 film) water camera this weekend. I used it from Gromhood until the late 90s. Then, I used on a CR trip in the early 00s. I could not find a place to get film developed and had to mail it out. Last time I used.

I too am curious if you can get into it on the cheap....

 

"a lot of coin" could be mean different things....I would personally love to have a really solid water shooting setup. That could mean about $1500 for a decent Nikon or Canon DSLR (i.e D5300 or Rebel for about $500) and another $900 for a housing. Thats bare bones for getting into it for real. I'm cant justify it.

Obviously Go-Pros are one option. No idea what that costs...maybe $400? I dont like the fish-eye-lens look that much but friends of mine who have them get great and crisp shots and video from the water.

I love swimming out and shooting. I picked up a Olympus TG4 point and shoot for about $300 last a couple years ago and have gotten what i think are decent shots with it. I picked it because it gets good reviews, and shoots Raw images. You will find that shots from the water generally require post processing to look good....lighting, angle, contrast, and Raw files process much more effectively. I'll tell you though, shooting in the water with a point and shoot is frustrating. You miss a LOT of good shot opportunities for any number of reasons. These are shots with that Olympus:

 

no

no you cannot do any photography for cheap

 

well, you can do it for cheap but it will look cheap

 

dream on my dude

 

I too am curious.

id imagine the most expensive thing would be the water housing,u don't need a 1500 camera,i have a 200$ camera and it takes just as good of a picture.doesnt shoot a 1000fps but I can get some nice pics.i never did it in the water tho.

don't let anyone tell u photography is hard lol,its not,its just point and shoot.u just have to shoot with the elements on ur side,u know the sunrise,sunset,yada yada.
iv been taking pictures for literally over 20 years,not buy a disposable take a few pics a few times a year,i always had the best cheapest model every year.i got old tv boxes full of 35mm pics,waves,sunsets,accidents,forest fires,a propane explosion lol.i never claim to be a photog or anything,i just always took pics since I was a little kid,one of my hobbies.so I see some 15yr old kid with $3k worth of equipment,takin pics and sellin em for 300.dont be that guy.

I wish u well in ur photo endeavors.

ps best water shots are from the bottom of the wave lookin up as someone pulls in da toob.them side angle shots on the shoulder are out dated,stand apart from the rest

 

Surf photography is dead for me. No interest.
How many times can you view the same thing over and over and over....ad nauseum.
Same angles, same locations, same surfers. Waste of energy.
But then again, that defines morons.

 

I too have an Olympus TG-4. I had a TG-2 prior to that one and they're a pretty cool little camera. I enjoy all types of photography and have lots of cameras so when I use these it's generally for water shots, snowboarding and hiking (only when I don't want to lug around a lot of camera gear or expecting rain) They take pretty good pictures and have proven to be durable. The only negatives would be the screen scratches very easily and sometimes it's tough to keep water off the "lens". I've bought two of them so I obviously think they're worth the money and they're relatively cheap. You can purchase extra lens too, a fisheye and an extended zoom. I got the extended zoom lens for the first camera but found I didn't use it as much as I thought. If I shoot from the beach I've got other cameras that do the job much better and when you're in the water you'll find you usually shoot closer wave pics. I'll post a pic of my set up and a few sample photos.


This was my first one with the extra lens and floater

 

That's a good question! I ask myself when i read one of your posts.

 

Fuji Finepix XP90, not pro, but a decent waterproof cam

 

Literally... Just ordered this 5 minutes ago.

2017 New Version HiCool Action Camera 4K 25fps Video 12M Photo 170 Degree $80.

It's a Go Pro knock off but 1/3 the price.

Got it for my class to film music video projects but I plan on trying it out in the surf this weekend.

Then I'm going to go up north and stalk Barry. I've been good for too long.

 

I had the option of getting the new SoloShot 3 but I decided to take that money and put it toward my upcoming trip to the OBX instead. I can always get it later this year or maybe as an Xmas gift. Or maybe not at all, IDK.

 

Wow, Barry just got one subtle ***** slap.

The Liquid Eye type housings are the the way things are going. Costs are going down, even for professional rigs. I am going to purchase the Liquid Eye housing for my Sony A6000. Less then a 1K for the on hand grip and dome.

If you want top of the line shoots you do have to spend some money. Lens! Lens! Lens! is where to money shoots really pop.

Anyway, A6000 plus Liquid Eye housing and at least a $500 lens. At least $2000 total cost.

But seriously, the quality of shoots you can get with point and shoots, water proof cams as well as GoPro type devices is more then sufficient in this day and age.

A 4-5 megapixel high quality camera, point and shoot as well, can produce outstanding photos good enough to publish.

I have always been a big fan of thinking outside the box and not spending to much. But this is problematic as well, depending on what you are trying to accomplish. You do not want to waste money on a second tier product when you can save up a little and have a tier one product (longevity) that publishers wont sneer at.

 

I seen them things in Walmart unless its a different brand idk,been curious about it tho let us know if its good quality.

 

lol sounds like ur stuck in the stoneage,my current cam which I had for the past 5yrs is 16megapixel,and that's nothing to whats out there now.im lookin to upgrade to this 20mp canon I seen for 250

 

You are from the South. You probably talk funny.
You could never find me.

 

You can read?? You obviously cannot write. Read your post and find the error. If you are able.....<grin>
I prefer pictures that fl.surfdog posts.

 

Stone-Age: Sony Alpha 6000, Canon 60D, Pana 200, Canon SX10, Old Hitachi DVDCAM, Couple water-housings., And still wish I had that old PANA 4megapixel, really great shots.

Lot of wasted money in between all that, Like the the two cameras stolen way back when. Nothing is cheap. So look for biggest bag for your buck and to hell with what the Pixel peepers say.