AVG Loc: Pittsburgh

I hesitate to ask another question so soon but I get such great help I'll test the boundaries of nuisance.

My brother has never been a photographer but I'd like to get him interested as a new hobby when he retires in a few months. He's a skier, a scuba diver, a golfer and cruises on a nice motorcycle....and he's single. The places he visits are ideal for a budding amateur.

So my best bet to bring him "into the fold" is to buy him a retirement gift of a small underwater camera. Maybe wreck diving or reef diving will remind him to bring home a photo instead of a description.

Suggestions are always appreciated.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

The Olympus Tough TG-5 is a rugged underwater camera.

danniepolley

I also have the Olympus Tough TG-5 and recommend.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Buy him a GoPro Hero Black 5 or 6 depending on your budget. They are between 300-400 but you can buy accessories that might cost another 100-200. Sounds like he'd benefit more from a video camera than a still camera anyway. But the GoPro does do stills as well and are almost completely automatic.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Get him a GoPro, a great place to start.

wrangler5 Loc: Missouri

I'm not a scuba diver, so this may not be a problem, but the Olympus TG-5 is good to a depth of 50 feet. I do know that at some point the light pretty much disappears, so maybe the 50 foot limit is enough, but to go below that you'd need the underwater housing, which goes down to 147 feet.

AVG Loc: Pittsburgh

I know he's certified to at least 100 ft but I know nothing about light down there. I'll check out both and discuss it with him because it certainly doesn't have to be a surprise gift.

Thanks to all!!

wrangler5 Loc: Missouri

The TG-5 is actually the central piece of a vast array of stuff that Olympus offers for underwater photography. Even though I don't dive I've thought about getting one just to walk around with in non-ideal environments - just wash the sand and dirt off under a faucet when you get back to civilization. And as a "starter" underwater camera (down to 50 feet) it looks like a real gem, given the ability to trick it out almost to your heart's content if you want to do more underwater than its basic features allow. (All at a price, of course.) There's a lot of info about it here https://www.getolympus.com/us/en/tough , including somewhere down one of the links a 2-minute or so video that shows a VERY tricked out version being used underwater - but I couldn't find the path when I just went back to look for it.

mudduck

I've shot underwater and at any depth a flash make better pics, although I was using a film camera at the time, without the flash it seems everything is washed out and kind of flat.

Al Freeedman

Buy him an Olympus TG-5. A perfect camera for someone as active as your brother.
Takes great photo's too. Selling for only $379.00 directly from Olympus.
You cab also see the video on the TG-5 camera on Olympus web site.

Captain Al

ianw1951

The Olympus TG5 is a great value camera, and I got some satisfying photos while snorkelling at Galapagos and on the Great Barrier Reef. At snorkelling depths, light and colour are not a problem. The only problem with using the in-built flash where light is poor is that if there are particles floating in the water, those close to the camera lens may be brightly illuminated and will detract from what you are trying to photograph. That happened to me a couple of times in shaded situations when I had forgotten to disable the automatic flash.

gutdoc

Check out the sealife dc2000 system. I own one and it is very versatile. It can be as easy as you want or as flexible and creative like a dslr

LouV Loc: Juno Beach, FL

I am a diver. The TG-5 is a nice camera but a camera rated to 50 feet is really not suitable for a scuba diver. The recreational dive limit is 130’. Of course, he could choose to limit his dives to 50’ but that’s not as simple as it sounds.

First of all, many new divers have difficulty controlling their bouyancy and may end up going deeper than planned, even if for a brief time. I’m sure there is a fudge factor built into the camera specs and it would survive a deeper plunge for a brief period but....?

Secondly, most dives are done with a group on a commercial dive boat. The operator chooses the dive sites and the profile. Most boat trips comprise 2 dives. For technical reasons, the first is always deeper; the second is more shallow. So, for the first dive he’d either have to leave his camera on the boat or, while the rest of the group is on the reef, he would have to hover far above them where there is nothing to see or photograph. And in low visibility he risks getting separated.

Thirdly, many dive trips include wreck dives and shipwrecks are often very photogenic. Obviously they are always on the bottom of the ocean. Of course there are some shallow wrecks but most would be off limits to him with that camera.

For a relatively inexpensive camera for a casual dive photographer, I’d suggest the Nikon Coolpix W300 which has a depth rating of 100’. If he becomes really serious about dive photography he’ll still outgrow it but, in the meantime, he has a camera he can use for the vast majority of dives he’ll take.

Dik

Color goes away rapidly with distance in water, so by the time you reach 30', only the blue end of the spectrum is available from natural light. Best color is right up near the surface.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I would suggest an Olympus Tough model.