Gearhead

I'm not a big gearhead when if comes to camera equipment. I'd much rather be underwater shooting than stressing about buying new gear. My focus (now look what you made me do, a pun) is not so much on the gear but on the image. But, I will say that having decent to good gear sure makes getting a great shot easier.

I've gone through 4 different iterations (generations) of underwater digital gear. I've never shot film underwater, though until digital came out, I always had a Nikon SLR. While I do miss that camera, I don't miss film. Digital has some significant advantages underwater. We can get into that in a different post.

So here's what I shoot underwater with now:
Cameras: Canon 5D DSLR
Lenses: Canon 17-35, Canon 24-70, Canon 100 macro, Sigma 15 fisheye, would like to add the Sigma 150 macro
Housing: Subal
Ports: Subal FPS120/3 macro and DP-FE2 dome, plus various extensions and some duct tape
Strobes: Dual Inon Z220s

It's an awesome setup - Canon stuff is great, but I would be just as happy with a Nikon D3 or D200 in a Nexus housing. After all it is just a tool. When I play my guitar, it sounds ok. Sometimes, I think I need a new one. But if Joe Satriani, or Joe Walsh, or Joe Perry (or Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, or Jimmy Something) were to pick up my guitar they could make it wail. So I really just need to forget about a new guitar and play the one I have. Likewise with a camera setup, I'd be happy with just about anything as long as I can take pictures with it underwater. If I take a crappy image, it is almost never the camera's fault, it is mine. Luckily, with digital, I just hit the trash button and shoot again....

Cp