Underwater Cameras

Digital camera or film camera? Point and shoot or SLR with an underwater housing? These are just a few of the questions you will need to answer before setting out to purchase your first underwater camera.

Point and shoot vs. housed SLR systems

The decision here should be based on two main factors - your level of expereince with both photography and scuba diving and your budget. While housed SLR sysytems often produce superior photographs, they are more expensive, are more complex to use and require more maintenance. They are also far more bulky and are usually best used by more experienced divers who have mastered the basic scuba skills especially bouyancy control. Todays point and shoot cameras produce very high quality photos compared to just a few years ago. So do not be discouraged by the notion of starting out with one. You can always move into a housed SLR system later on as you gain dive experience and also become more familiar with the aspects of underwater photography.

Film vs. Digital Cameras

Not long ago most serious underwater photographers shot film exclusivley and would not consider giving up the superior image quality film cameras offered over digital cameras. Lets just say that times do change rapidly and the reverse of this is certainly the normal way most serious underwater photographers presently think.

These days if you are just getting into it, I would say there is really no reason to even consider starting out with anything other than a digital camera. The ability to see yuor results in real-time has greatly reduced the learning curve and the cost of digital cameras and housings have droped dramatically. Also digital cameras in the lower price-range are now capable of producing excellent results.