Conspicuous Consumption(graciously helping the Japanese economy)

Ok, so maybe you didn't get that Nikon D3 with the Seacam housing. Or there wasn't a set of nice shiny Ikelite DS-125's under the tree. What's a person to do?

I've had a lot of people ask me about what underwater photo gear they should get, or upgrade to, etc. In my mind, the choice is pretty simple, despite the large number of combinations of types of gear. I'll try to categorize it for you and give you some opinion....

Let's divide the camera/housing combos into 3 separate groups:

Group I: The small P&S, generally with no strobe. Example: Canon SD1000 in Canon housing

Group II: The larger P&S with either one or two strobes. Example: Olympus C7070 in Ikelite housing

Group III: Digital SLR, two strobes. Example: Nikon D200 in Nexus Housing

My first piece of advice? Avoid the middle ground. Toss Group II (GII) out of consideration. GII has the limitations of GI and GIII combined, and few of the advantages. GI is great for a camera to take along that doesn't get in your way. Yes, it has some limitations, but you can make some great images with it. Since you can put it in your pocket or clip it to your BC, it is always there but not in your way. Once you start diving with GII or GIII sized setups, your dive becomes more about photography than diving. The camera dominates. It's a tradeoff, of course, because you can make better images with it than the GI's. But the GII's are really the worst of both worlds. Avoid the GII's, in my opinion.

Group I: The little Canon ELPH cameras, like the SD1000 or the SD850IS are amazing little machines. I am amazed at how good some of the photos from these cameras come out. The little Canon housings are a great value for the money. The downside to Canon in this range is just the shear number of offerings they have. It gets quite bewildering trying to differentiate the various models they have. I'm sure that Nikon, Sony and Olympus also have some great cameras in this range, so if you are partial to those, I'd bet you can find one that would work well.

Group III: I should probably break this group into several sub-groups, given the huge range of options here, but that'd just confuse the issue. Basically, once you commit to buying a DSLR and housing, you are in the price range of a nice little car.

To make things easier, let's not talk about dollars... let's talk about BTU's. No, not British Thermal Units, but rather, Basic Toy Units. A BTU is just a measure of money in a relative sense. For example, let's say that for skiing, a BTU is $100. So, a lift ticket and lunch would set up back about 1 BTU, and a new pair of ski boots would set you back about 5 BTU's. Now that doesn't seem so bad anymore, does it?

For underwater photography, the exchange rate is about $1000 per BTU. On the low end, a basic GIII setup is going to be about 4 BTU's once you get the camera body, a lens or 2, housing, a port, a couple of strobes. If you get away from just the kit lens and treat yourself to a couple of wide angle lenses plus a macro lens, plus lenses and extension rings, and zoom rings, and focus rings, you'll start pushing 10 BTU's. Step up to full frame body, a spare body (and you really need a spare), some more lenses, etc, and 20 - 25 BTU's is not out of the question. And the scary thing is that it could even go up from there. Ouchie.

Brand of DSLR? In my mind, there are currently only two options, Canon and Nikon. I don't think you can go wrong with either. People get attached to one brand or the other, but both are excellent. Yes, there are others (Sony, Sigma, Olympus) but I'd go straight to Nikon or Canon and not look back.

We'll talk housings and strobes another day.