Photography in Indian Ocean - Need box

[dpatte]

Im getting married early January in Kenya, and will be spending a week on the coast on the Indian Ocean. I intend to take at least a day on the reef.

I was wondering about a box for my camera so I can take a few underwater pics.

What does anyone recommend, and is it possible I can borrow something until the end of January?

[Tsukiyomi-sakura]

I would not use a box, The preassure might smash your camera, I would rent one, also for just normal shallow water picture taking buy the clearest non lubricated condoms you can find, put two around the camera tight over the lens and seal each tie with water tight glue.

[kennyman]

The only box I ever looked at was for a specific model of camera. I dont know if they are generically made for common models, but It might depend on the camera you have as to what box you need. A friend was letting me borrow his for a dive trip I took a few years ago, but the rechargeable battery for the camera died and It took a week for the owner to get a new battery ordered. The joy of living in the islands he said 

Also concider lights. Everything below 20feet looks blue or black to a camera without lighting. If you are snorkeling the disposable ones are not too bad but they are only rated for 20 feet or so. Here is a pic I took with a disposable at around 25'




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[groan]

For the price of a waterproof box for your camera you can purchase an olympus compact that will do a fantastic job and doubles as a land compact camera.
http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_digital_sw.asp
Some of these are rated to 33 feet!

I've sold cameras for a long time and for the price, these are fantastic.
Olympus was always one of our best sellers when it came to compacts.

[Hookup]

There is only one way to do this "safely" and that is to get the properly mfg'd housings.  Henry's can order whatever you need and make the right choices with you.  However, these are very expensive, for a reason, they work. 

I would love one myself, but cannot afford it for the few times I would use it.  They are often times more expensive than the cameras themselves.

I would recommend to go with the waterproof point-and-shoot that Groan listed below, or something similar.  Works well enough for underwater snaps.. if you want to recreate "art" and do wall-hangings, you'll need a pro solution.  And I would love to borrow it from you one day if you go that route..lol.

[kennyman]

For the price of a waterproof box for your camera you can purchase an olympus compact that will do a fantastic job and doubles as a land compact camera.
http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_digital_sw.asp
Some of these are rated to 33 feet!

I've sold cameras for a long time and for the price, these are fantastic.
Olympus was always one of our best sellers when it came to compacts.

Great info Groan! If he's going snorkling or on a shallow dive one of those would be simple and easy. I just looked up the box for the nikon D100 I use. $1,100 us for a cheep one! The disposables I ended up using were not digital so everything had to be scanned and that hurt the quality even more. Also I had trouble advancing the film a few times. But mostly it was limited to wide shots like that one I posted. I took shots of a Coral Banded Shrimp, a sea snake and Parrot Fish that I thought were close up. The images turned out very poor. I cant even spot the subject in half those photos. That Olympus looks pretty neat and would take far far better shots than what I used. It might even have a flash so you get some color.

Where I have dived though most reefs were in the 20'-100' depth range. That shot posted above was an exception because it was the piling of a pier. Thats what made it such a great spot. You can go forever on a tank of air when you are shallow like that too  

[groan]

if you want to recreate "art" and do wall-hangings, you'll need a pro solution.  And I would love to borrow it from you one day if you go that route..lol.

Dont sell the olympus short, i've seen some awsome shots from them.
This camera
http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1314
took this shot
http://flickr.com/photos/lukewarmnolonger/1803210091/

id hang that on my wall in an instant!

[stardrop]

Another option, if your not looking for poster quality, are the disposable underwater cameras.  I took three to Turkey with me in September and got some nice shots.  Now the only thing is I have to scan the pics in to put them on the puter.

[rockgarden]

Here is a link to my son's photos taken with an older Canon P&S in a custom case three years ago.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gkhay/sets/72157603629374047/

I expect that any of the newer P&S cameras with a case would work equally well at snorkelling depths but, as some have noted, getting the case takes both time and money since no one stocks them in Ottawa as far as I am aware.

BTW - My son ordered a case for a Canon Powershot SD1100IS Elph through Kanata Henry's hoping it would arrive before he left on his recent trip to Cuba but it didn't arrive in time so they might still have it there as a stock item. I expect it would work with most similar Elph models. Sorry, don't know the price.  I never asked.

Unless water clarity is near perfect, a flash will probably be beneficial at more than about 10-15 feet below the surface.

Haven't tried the Olympus but seems to be favoured in that class of camera over some of the competitors.