Guide to Underwater Photography

© 1999 Bjorn Vang Jensen – All Rights Reserved

This site was featured in the January 2000 issue of

As I ambitiously put this topic on the menu of my website, I don’t think I had really thought through how difficult it was going to be to write a reasonably short guide to this fascinating subject! I considered taking the selection off the menu again, but decided that actually writing the guide would serve two purposes. Firstly, it would hopefully provide some guidance to the many people out there who are thinking about starting the life-long quest for that perfect picture, and secondly, it would assist me in collecting all that knowledge scattered around my hard disks (both the one in the computer and the one in my head), and hopefully discover a thing or two myself.

Another reason why I decided to go ahead was that I remember all the difficulties I had when I wanted to get into underwater photography, mostly in terms of finding information on what to get and why. I hope this helps you avoid some of the lengthy research I had to go through.

This is not a guide to photography, it is a guide to underwater photography. I’m assuming that you are familiar with the basics of photography, and so I will not attempt to explain F-stops, depth-of-field, composition, exposure et cetera. Maybe some other time.

So here it is, my thoughts, experience and knowledge (what little of it there is) on underwater photography. Since it will be obvious that I don’t know it all (despite what my “friends” may say), I welcome any input that will make this page better. Factual corrections, interesting links, suggestions for additions and improvements are very welcome. Please E-mail me if you have any input at all to this guide. Thanks!

No Special Treatment. Throughout this guide, there will be references to manufacturers and people who offer services to the underwater photographic community. Where possible, there are also links to their websites and other areas where you can find further information. I have received no special treatment from any of these companies or persons, nor do I want to. I just find it ridiculous to write a guide without enabling easy access to the suppliers I write about. I have my own favorites, and they will probably be apparent in the text. So what ? If you have a service or equipment to offer, and you feel that you would like to be mentioned here, and I think you should be, then e-mail me and I will amend the text accordingly. But don’t offer me money or services (at least not for being mentioned here, all other offers are gladly entertained).

Copyright Notice: I wrote this, and it therefore belongs to me. I also took all the underwater pictures on this site, and they therefore also belong to me. If you want to use this guide (text or pictures) for anything, please ask first. Thank you!

Contents: I have a tendency to ramble, so I have decided to structure this guide into chapters with appropriate sub-headings. This way, my thoughts are kept on track, and readers get to choose what they want to learn about, without having to wade through the whole text:

1.Why underwater photography ?

2. Differences Between Underwater and Land Photography

3.Camera systems

3.1.Disposable cameras

3.2. Housings for disposable cameras

3.2.1. Ikelite Aquashot

3.2.2. Bonica Snapper

3.3. Amphibious cameras

3.3.1. The Sea & Sea Moto Marine system

3.3.2. The Nikonos System

3.3.2.1. Nikonos RS

3.3.2.2. Nikonos V

3.3.2.3. Older Nikonos models

3.4. Housed SLR Camera Systems

3.4.1.Which SLR ?

3.4.2.Which Lenses ?

3.4.3.Special Considerations

3.4.4.Housing Manufacturers

3.5.Strobes

3.5.1.Strobe Types

3.5.2.Strobe Manufacturers

3.6 Film

3.6.1 Print Vs. Slides

3.6.2 Digital Cameras

3.6.3 Film Speeds

3.6.4 Brands of Film Typically Used

4. Digital Darkroom

4.1. Software

4.2. What can I do to my pictures ?

4.3. Putting my Pictures on the Web

5. Recommended Reading

5.1. Books

5.2. The Web

1. Why Underwater Photography ?

People have all sorts of reasons for having a hobby. Some like tinkering with technology, some are driven to be the best, some like the opportunities for spending time with individuals of a like mind, some like sharing.

Underwater photography offers all of these opportunities, and many more. I got into it because I was looking for new challenges in diving, and because I wanted to share my underwater experiences with others.

If your first experience with underwater photography is like mine, you will be disgusted with the results, and you will have a strong inclination to put your camera gear up for sale and forget about it! Take a look at the very first underwater picture I took, on the right. WAIT! As you look at it, bear in mind that this picture was the distilled result of an investment of $1,200 in a Nikonos V and a Sea & Sea strobe, film, and development, not to mention a plane ticket to Singapore (to buy the camera), a boat ride to Bintan, and the cost of the dive with the shop there! Not exactly what one would call a good return on investment, was it ? The barracudas (did you even spot them ?) are too far away and washed out, the coral is out of focus, and there are none of the typical arresting underwater colors in the picture. It is also hideously overexposed. Other than that, it is a great picture…

I violated any number of rules of underwater photography to achieve that disappointing result, but I didn’t know about the rules back then. I thought all I had to do was set the camera, then shoot as if I were taking pictures on dry land. Now take a look at a picture I took a year later. The subject is pretty similar, a school of barracudas, but by this time, I had actually learned a few of the rules, and applied them.  And this picture for me represents the reason for getting into underwater photography: The exhilaration of looking at a really good picture, the excitement of re-living the dive, the boost that comes from your friends going “wow!”, the joy of sharing. I hope that you will, in time, experience the same.

2.Differences Between Underwater and Land Photography

So, now that I have hopefully demonstrated how misguided it is to think that you can just transplant your land photography skills to the underwater equivalent, let’s look at a few of the differences that you will have to contend with:

The environment. You are under water (duh), and this means that you are out of your element. You are restricted by the air supply you carry, and you are way more clumsy than you would be on land, no matter how skilled a diver you are.The equipment you carry that allows you to breathe encumbers your movements, and the camera system itself may also very well slow you down. You also have to be constantly aware of your position in the water, to avoid destroying coral or other marine structures that provide the homes for the very animals you are trying to photograph.

Light. Water absorbs light quickly and this has a devastating effect on your pictures if you assume that you can take pictures just like you do on land. If you are into photography of any kind already, chances are that you know a thing or two about light and the effect it has on film. But unlike air, water has the irritating effect of actually making colors disappear very quickly, until all you see is black, blue and green, the colors with the longest wavelengths. So unless you are taking pictures while snorkeling on a sunlit reef, you will have to bring an extra light source down with you, to restore the colors for your camera to “see”. This adds to the burden you have to carry, and also adds considerably to the cost of your equipment.

Camera system differences. Only housed SLR cameras or the Nikonos RS come close to what you are used to in land photography. The Nikonos systems and the Sea & Sea systems all incorporate some element of guesswork, especially on the focusing-side. With these cameras, you actually have to guess how far away the subject is. There is some latitude in this estimate, but that depends on which F-stop you have selected, so there is a stronger element of luck here than there is with a housed SLR system. Composition is another problem. With the exception of SLR cameras and one amphibious camera, most underwater systems have viewfinders that do not look out through the lens. Prepare for many tail-less fish pictures caused by the difference between what your lens “sees” and what you see through your viewfinder (this is called parallax), and never forget your sense of humor!

Backscatter. While it is possible to find water of astonishing clarity, this is the exception, not the rule. Usually, there is lots of matter suspended in the water, whether plankton, sand, silt or other substances.  This creates a confounding problem for the underwater photographer, a vicious circle: To get the colors right, you have to use a strobe, but the strobe highlights all the suspended particles in the water, so your picture looks like a snowstorm! There are ways around that, of course, and we shall discuss those a little bit later. For now, take a look at what backscatter looks like, on the right, so you will recognize it.  If you have difficulties seeing anything, the picture is of a gun on a shipwreck in Palau…

Distance. Unless you carry an actual lighthouse down with you (which will make you very unpopular with the Harbormaster), it is unlikely that your strobe will efficiently illuminate anything more than 2 or 3 meters away. You will, therefore, have to get much closer to your subject than you would have to on land, in order to get proper light and minimize backscatter. While on land, you may choose to put a 300mm zoom on your camera, you don’t have this option underwater. The good news is that most underwater creatures will actually let you get very close, unlike most land animals.

Camera system maintenance. If you are already discouraged, now is the time to take a Valium™. If you have ever been on a boat with underwater photographers, you will probably have noticed that they have an unfortunate tendency to consider all flat surfaces (including other peoples’ bunks) theirs to use. In no time at all, these surfaces are commandeered for use as camera cleaning tables, set-up areas, battery charging stations, and O-ring greasing pits. Pretty soon thereafter, you will also find that all containers above a certain size (with the possible exception of the toilet) have been pressed into service as camera rinse tanks. This is why boats usually put a padlock on the drinking water storage tank!

Underwater photography equipment is high-maintenance. Before a dive, it is normal to spend an hour checking the camera and the accessories, lubricating O-rings, loading film, assembling the housing or the amphibious camera, testing all controls and setting the strobe arm(s) just so. This amount of time increases if you are on a boat which is not photographer-friendly, but you will soon learn to avoid boats like that!

After the dive, the camera, regardless of what kind of camera it is, goes into a freshwater rinse tank (make sure that the boat has one before you book, or make alternative arrangements), and after half an hour or more there, the process starts all over again. Except of course that this time, you will also have to spend time drying off the camera or the housing before you can get to change film and batteries!

These time estimates do not include the time you will spend discussing gear and methods with other photographers on the boat, or with curious onlookers.

You skip some or all of these steps at your peril. Every time you take your delicate equipment underwater, salt particles stick to the O-rings, both the ones you can see and those you can’t. If they are not removed (dissolved by the fresh water in the rinse tank), salt crystals will eventually form on the O-rings, destroying their integrity, and your camera or strobe will flood. Also, the lubricant you use on O-rings attracts all kinds of other things, like hairs, dust particles and other stuff that you definitely don’t want in the way. One human hair in the wrong place is enough to break an O-ring seal!

The lubricant, by the way, is not what makes your camera watertight. The O-rings are round while on the surface, but as they are subjected to the pressure of the surrounding water, they change shape and are gradually forced deeper into the groove in which they sit, forming a tight seal that water can not penetrate. Even if you have never seen an underwater camera, as a diver you have worked with O-rings before; they also sit in underwater torches, in your tank valve and in various positions in your regulator and BCD.

There are also many O-rings in your camera setup that you can’t personally service, both further inside the amphibious camera, and in the control knobs and levers on your housing. These are not as critical or subject to as much abuse as the user-serviceable ones, and so only have to be serviced at longer intervals, usually annually. This can only be done by professionals, you should not attempt to do this yourself. Study the manual for your system carefully to find out how often the manufacturer recommends servicing, and make sure when you make your buying decision that there is a certified service center reasonably close to you.

Finally, and you might as well get used to the thought now, your camera or strobe will sooner or later flood. I know photographers who experience floods as a yearly event, and professional photographers who experience it even more often than that! I have flooded a Nikonos V and a strobe myself, on 2 different occasions, and lost another strobe to malfunction that may or may not have had something to do with a minor flood.

When that happens, you had better be prepared for the fact that repairs are very costly, sometimes (especially in the case of strobes) actually more expensive than buying new equipment! So do yourself a favor and get your equipment insured against flooding. It is inexpensive compared to the cost of a flood, and the peace of mind is invaluable. Imagine spending $2,000 on a setup and flooding it on your first dive. It has happened…You can buy a rider on your homeowner’s insurance, or you can purchase dedicated camera flooding insurance. There is a link to Divers Equipment Protection Program (DEPP) on my Links page for further information.

Safety. No picture is worth dying or getting injured for. It has been said that all underwater photographers are effectively solo-divers, and this is true to a certain extent. What is certain is that nobody can expect the same level of attention from a camera-wielding buddy as from a buddy without a camera. When you decide on a buddy for your photography dives, make sure that this buddy understands this and is prepared to deal with it. Make sure also that this person commits to being the watchful one throughout the dive. Repay the kindness with a snapshot of him or her underwater.

Although your camera is expensive, and you will have an inclination to feel very protective towards it, make sure that you can ditch it in an emergency, whether on the surface or underwater. Don’t tie it to yourself with anything that can not be released in an instant. There are many bungee-type lanyards on the market for very little money, and you should own and use one.

Don’t take foolish risks in your quest for that National Geographic cover shot. If your buddy can not go with you where you have to go, then let it slide. There will be other opportunities.

Don’t attempt underwater photography until you are a very proficient diver. The added responsibilities of extra-fine buoyancy control, handling equipment, making decisions on composition and settings, and worrying about floods, can stress you out unless you are very comfortable underwater. Make sure that you adjust your weight belt for the added bulk.

3. Camera systems

3.1. Disposable cameras

The easiest and fastest way of trying your hand at underwater photography is the increasing number of waterproof disposable cameras on the market. They are inexpensive, can be developed almost anywhere, and are generally easily obtainable in areas where diving and snorkeling is popular.

But, as you would expect from an inexpensive camera, the underwater disposable has a number of limitations. Firstly, they are viewfinder cameras, not SLRs, and this means problems with composition. Also, they are generally only reliable to depths of no more than 10 meters. While they may well be waterproof to much greater depths, the water pressure will at some point (usually below 10 meters) act on the shutter release, to the point where once you press the release, it will not pop back up, and thus your picture-taking is over until you return to the shallows where the pressure is less. Sometimes, the film winding mechanism is affected in the same manner.

Another problem with disposables is that there is no reliable outside light source, i.e. they can not be connected to a strobe. While some of them have on-board flash, having the flash so close to the lens will mean lots and lots of backscatter in the pictures, to the point where the pictures become meaningless. Also, the lens quality is poor.

Having said that, I have seen better pictures taken with disposables than my first underwater picture taken with a Nikonos V (not that it is hard to take a better picture than my first underwater shot with almost any equipment, including a pinhole camera…).

So if you just want to try your hand at underwater photography, go ahead and start with a disposable. Just be aware of its limitations. And should you encounter someone on a boat who carries a Nikon F90x in a Subal housing with dual Ikelite SS-400 strobes and all the trimmings, be sure to adopt the correct position and attitude (knees and forehead touching the deck of the boat, arms outstretched, gently intoning, “I am not worthy, I am not worthy”).

3.2. Housings for disposable and point-and-shoot cameras

Just as there are housings for surface SLRs, so there are housings for disposable and P&S land cameras. While I am sure that there are several out there that I don’t know of, I’ll touch only on three models that are getting very popular:

3.2.1. Ikelite Aquashot

The Aquashot is getting very popular with snorkelers and part-time underwater photographers, and some astonishingly good pictures are beginning to hit the Web. It is a compact, clear housing for most disposable cameras, and some models can also be used for reusable APS camera systems. Read more about the Aquashot here, on Ikelite’s home page, or click here to read Eric Marsch's well-written piece on picture-taking with this little gem.

3.2.2. Bonica Snapper

The Snapper is a system with a P&S camera, a housing and a strobe, and is reusable. Fixed aperture setting and fixed shutter speed limit its versatility to that of a disposable, though. It is primarily designed for use with ISO 200 print film, but you can load slide film in there if you feel lucky.

3.2.3. SeaLife ReefMaster

Functionally similar to the Snapper, but in a somewhat sturdier housing.

3.3. Amphibious cameras

It’s time to get serious about underwater photography! You have decided that you really want to do this, you are prepared to spend a reasonably large sum of money, but you don’t have a land camera. In fact, the only photography you really want to do is underwater.

If that description fits you, then you are like me 4 years ago! Because land photography doesn’t interest you, you have, at best, a point-and-shoot camera, not an SLR, and investing in a housed system will therefore require you to also buy the camera, a not insignificant investment.

So, off you go to look at amphibious cameras. You will have two choices, the Sea & Sea system and some form of Nikonos system.

3.3.1. The Sea & Sea Moto Marine system

Since I really am not a Sea & Sea expert (some of the above was kindly contributed by Sea & Sea owner Stefan Sarin), you are better served by getting it from the horse’s mouth by visiting the Sea & Sea home page here

But before you get the idea that the only way you can guard yourself against almost all eventualities is to get a Sea & Sea system, I will have to tell you that there are others, and we shall get to those shortly.

3.3.2. The Nikonos System

No single name in underwater photography is more recognized than Nikonos. Originally developed as the Calypso, it finally put underwater photography within reach of all who weren’t disgustingly wealthy – or so I am told. I was several years away from being a twinkle in my father’s eye at the time…

The Calypso, was the first in an incredibly successful line of steadily improving amphibious cameras, all the way up to the Nikonos V, launched in 1984, and still a favorite among underwater photographers worldwide.

In the winter of 1951/52 Jacques-Yves Cousteau and a Belgian aircraft engineer called Jean Guy Marie-Joseph de Wouters d'Oplinter (he had a very large wallet to carry his double-wide namecards in) were in the Red Sea where they discussed how handy it would be to have a small waterproof 35mm camera. La Spirotechnique (a Cousteau company) brought the camera to the market as the “Calypso”, and on 27th January, 1960 entered a patent for the camera body in Paris. A patent for the 35mm lens (called the Berthiot-Flor 3.5/35mm) was entered on 17th June, 1957. Nikon bought the system lock, stock and barrel and brought out the Nikonos in 1963. The original Nikonos did not have a number designation, but came to be known as the Nikonos I only after Nikon launched the Nikonos II.

There was little, very little, to distinguish the original Calypso from the first Nikonos, and in fact the original Berthiot-Flor lens can still be recognized in the current 35mm lens.

(Much of this history lesson kindly supplied by SCUBA-L member Christian Gerzner).

3.3.2.1.Nikonos RS

3.3.2.2.Nikonos V

3.3.2.3. Older Nikonos models

Just as there was a Nikonos I, so there was a II, III and IV. You can still find these cameras in used camera shops and on the internet if you are lucky. Especially the Nikonos III is coveted, because it was almost purely mechanical, but still a good quality camera. Because there are no electronics, the Nikonos III, if flooded, will still function after a good rinse with fresh water, until you can get it to a repair shop. The IV was widely considered a flop, and most people seem to agree that it is not really worth buying, even second hand.

3.4. Housed SLR Camera Systems

You are ready for Prime Time! While it is true (because I wrote it earlier) that a Nikonos V or an MM II in the right hands can produce stunning pictures, a housed SLR is the weapon of choice for most professionals, and a lot of very dedicated amateurs like myself.

A housed SLR is not necessarily the most expensive solution. If you have a good SLR already (which you might well have as a land photographer), then the housing need not be more expensive than, say, a Nikonos V. If. On the other hand, you don’t own an SLR, then there is no doubt that this solution is expensive. As a guideline, when I decided to switch from the Nikonos V to a housed system, I paid approximately $3,000 for the initial set-up. This consisted of:

• Nikon F70 body
• Nikkor 24-55mm lens
• +4 close-up Diopter
• Dome port
• Ikelite housing
• Ikelite SS-50 strobe with sync cord
• Ikelite TTL sensor (to avoid having to run 2 sync cords)

I already had an Ikelite SS-200 strobe from my Nikonos rig, another $850. Note that you need different ports (the part of the housing that encloses your lens) for different lenses, each of which (if you are using an Ikelite system) will set you back another $100 or so. So realistically, with a couple of ports for different lenses and 2 strobes, you are looking at $4,000. Subtract $1,000 if you already own the camera.

Now that you have an idea of the cost, and note that system prices differ widely (mine was cheap, other housings cost a lot more), let’s explore some of the advantages of a housed system that justify the much higher price tag:

Auto focus. No single feature is more important, in my opinion. While estimating distances to subjects between 3 and 10 meters from the lens may not be that complicated, auto focus shines in the close-up situations which will probably comprise more than 80% of your underwater photography. With anything other than a housed SLR or an RS, close-up photography requires so-called “framers”, little sticks that attach to your macro or close-up lens, and end in a frame that usually looks a little like a rugby goal. You must keep the subject within this frame in order to ensure proper focus. Once you have tried to get a fish to stand still inside your framer for a picture, you start thinking about an SLR and auto focus! And getting your framer around the head of a moray eel or an octopus may not be something that makes you all tingly with anticipation either…

Program settings. While the purists shun shooting in Program mode (the one where your camera does most of your thinking for you), the fact is that practically all of the pictures I have taken underwater with my housed SLR have been shot in P mode. So there! In any case, the choice is yours. The housing will give you access to most camera controls and settings, so it is up to you whether you want to use your own skills or rely on the camera to do your thinking for you.

Special lenses. While there are some awesome lenses available for the RS, the Nikonos V and the Sea & Sea models, these lenses are generally extremely expensive, especially wide-angle lenses like the 15mm for Nikonos V. In contrast, a phenomenal array of reasonably priced lenses, both originals and 3rd party, are available for the most popular SLR brands. Close-up lenses like the Nikkor 60mm Micro, which has enough latitude to handle anything from a clownfish to a manta ray (and so is the closest you’ll get to the Sea & Sea lens-switching trick), are relatively inexpensive in the big scheme of things in underwater photography, and special macro lenses like the Nikkor 105mm Micro, are simply not available for amphibious cameras. Zoom lenses, non-existent for amphibious cameras other than the RS, add versatility and ease of composition to the housed SLR system.

Note that zoom lenses in a housing generally require the attachment of a close-up lens, which screws onto the end of the lens like a filter. This so-called “Diopter" is required because the lens actually needs to focus on a “virtual image” created by the dome port, not on the actual subject. Diopters generally cost $50-70.

Also, don’t go overboard on zooms. While on land it makes sense to have a long-length zoom to “pull in” shy animals, this does not work underwater, because your strobe will never be able to project light in any meaningful quantity more than maximum 5-6 meters away anyway. 28-70mm or 24-50mm, and in some cases 28-105mm, seem to be the preferred zooms for underwater use.

Versatility. While some of the amphibious cameras take fine pictures on dry land as well as under water, they still lack the versatility of an SLR. They are still viewfinder cameras, they still don’t have auto focus, and you still can’t attach special lenses and zooms to them. With an SLR, you can, ensuring that one camera is all you need to carry on the trip to take pictures both of the clownfish and the sunsets.

WYSIWYG. What You See Is What You Get. I have mentioned the parallax problem several times. To refresh your memory, parallax is what occurs when your camera viewfinder does not show exactly what your lens “sees”. There will always be a slight difference between the viewfinder and the lens, unless you are very fastidious with adjusting your camera-mounted viewfinder (and few people are), and this results in frequent pictures of tail-less fish, headless divers, and other frustrating omissions or additions to the frame. With an SLR camera, this problem is eliminated, because what you see in the viewfinder is the picture projected in through your lens.

In some housing systems, however, actually seeing clearly through the viewfinder is complicated by the fact that you are wearing a mask underwater. Various systems deal with this in various ways, usually by incorporating a viewfinder add-on that either shrinks the view (so you can see all of it) or magnifies the view through a window in the back of the housing. This problem is, in my opinion and experience, minor.

Light Metering. Most camera systems have some type of light meter. This is true not only with housed SLRs (the Nikonos V and RS certainly both have built-in meters), but generally, topside SLRs have more sophisticated metering systems, often allowing you to select different types of metering (spot metering or matrix metering). While the pros mostly swear by carrying separate light meters, I must admit that I have never used one underwater, and the last time I did use a separate light meter topside was when I used my dad's old Kodak camera when I was about 13 years old!

3.4.1. Which SLR ?

The BIG question, the one that can destroy friendships and subject you to endless scorn and patronizing flames, is getting easier to answer by the year. Some people will tell you that Nikon “owns” the language by which cameras communicate with the strobe, especially for TTL metering, but while this may at one point have been true, it isn't anymore.

Lots of photographers use Canon, Minolta, Pentax and others under water, and they work just fine (provided you remember to put them in a housing!). I am a Nikon user, and I love my cameras. I wouldn’t dream of switching. But the brands I have just mentioned are fine cameras, and in my opinion there is no rational reason for choosing one camera body over the other for underwater photography, at least not if you are using camera functions alone as the basis for making your decision.

The fact is that for underwater photography, you will be using only a small fraction of the camera’s potential anyway. For example, whether the maximum shutter speed of a camera is 1/4000^th of a second or 1/8000^th means absolutely nothing in underwater photography, because in all likelihood you will never be using anything higher than 1/250^th. The reason is that this is the maximum shutter speed at which your camera can sync with the strobes. On most cameras, this is actually even lower, at 1/90^th of a second.

All modern SLRs have a Program mode, which as I said earlier is what I mostly use, and all of them have a Manual mode which allows you to play around to your heart’s content. Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority are also common functionalities.

No, the most important feature to evaluate when selecting a camera for an underwater housing is ease of use. By this I mean the ease with which you can switch camera settings, and in this area, not all cameras are born equal.

I still use my Nikon F70, and because I mostly use P mode, I haven’t experienced any major hassle. But it is a fact that the functions of the F70, while plentiful, are not as easy to “dial in” as, for example, the Nikon F90x, which I have since purchased and use for land photography. When I purchased my system, the F90x was too expensive for me, so I compromised and went with the F70. I have no reason to change, because of the way I use the camera, and I also like the fact that the F70 is a reasonably inexpensive camera. This allows me to have 2 cameras, so I have a backup just in case.

If you are setting out to buy the whole hog, then I would strongly advise you to go for ease of use when selecting the camera itself. Now that Nikon has released the F100, incidentally, the F90x is plummeting in price.

An extremely unscientific estimate of mine, based solely on reading internet newsgroups, magazines and websites, suggests that the Nikon F90x is by far the most popular camera for housed systems. I mean by a factor of 10!

If you go for other brands, then the same rule applies, ease of use takes precedence over anything else if the primary application is underwater photography.

Other features to consider are speed of the auto focusing (the higher the better), battery requirements (how easily can you obtain spares on the road ?), and metering system (the more metering points the better).

3.4.2. Which Lenses ?

The lenses you will use under water fall into 3 categories:

Extreme wide-angle. 14 or 15mm fixed-length lenses are used primarily for what is known as Close-Focus-Wide-Angle pictures, where there is an object in focus close to the photographer, as well as an interesting background. A common shot of this type is the often-seen picture of a sponge or a seafan close up, with a diver and some blue water in the background.

It may seem strange, but extreme wide-angle lenses are good for water with poor visibility as well, because they allow you to get very close to any subject without throwing the subject out of focus. This means you can minimize the distance light has to travel, and therefore backscatter. Note that fixed-length lenses are very expensive, mostly because they feature superior optics.

Wide-angle zooms. As I mentioned earlier, the most frequently used lengths are 28-70mm or 24-50mm, and in some cases 28-105mm. I also use a Cosina 19-35mm for very wide angle but still with zoom capability. The advantage of zooms is that they allow you to fine-tune composition without having to move yourself. Remember that you need a Diopter to use zoom lenses in housings.

Close-up and macro/micro. This is where housed SLRs really shine. Once you’ve tried to get a clownfish or a moray to stand still inside a wire framer with your Nikonos or Sea & Sea, you will start dreaming of a system that allows you to get those pictures in a non-invasive, auto focus manner! The most popular lenses here, in the Nikkor range anyway, are the 60mm Micro and the 105mm Micro. The 105mm is a fantastic lens for life-size pictures of tiny critters, but it is not an easy lens to use. Because the covered area is so tiny, and the focus so sharp, the slightest movement of the subject throws the picture out of focus.

The 60mm is much easier to use, and a favorite of many photographers, me included. Partly, this has to do with its versatility. It can do manta rays and nudibranchs equally well. the optics are fantastic, and the lens is light-weight. It is also an awesome land-lens for flower portraits and other applications where detail is important. Understand that the 105 Micro is not the same as the long end of a 28-105 zoom. The latter does not get you life-size pictures, but is still pretty good for close-up photography.

3.4.3. Special Considerations

All modern SLRs and lenses are extremely sensitive to salt water. A few drops in the wrong place may be enough to fry the electronics and render your camera useless and irreparable. An amphibious camera has an advantage here. Make sure that you provide a safe, dry storage area for your camera when it is not in the housing, and that you don't handle it with wet hands.

3.4.4. Housing Manufacturers

Ikelite. Strong housing made from clear plastic. Renowned for customer service worldwide, and far the cheapest housings available. Especially extra ports are a bargain compared to the competition.
Sea & Sea. Quality gunmetal housings for the Nikon F90x and own proprietary SLR.
Nexus. Top aluminum housing, renowned for quality. And for price.
Subal. Very high quality, very high price. One of the best housings available, but bring the big checkbook.

I’m sure there are lots of names I’ve omitted, but the above are the ones I see and hear about most frequently.

3.5. Strobes

You can take pictures underwater without a strobe, but it is exceedingly difficult to take good pictures underwater without a strobe. Because water makes colors disappear so quickly, all your pictures will be green, blue and black if you go deeper than a few meters, unless you have a strobe to light up the subject and restore color. Most divers have gone through this in their training, where they have been given a torch to shine on a patch of reef, which proceeds to light up with color that “wasn't there” a moment before.

Since strobes are not discount equipment, a lot of beginners try to get by with as few, and as small, strobes as possible. This is a serious mistake, especially trying to get by with only one strobe.

For the longest time, I had only one strobe, albeit a reasonably big one, an Ikelite SS-200. I was never happy with the lighting, and ended up discarding 95% of all the pictures I took. Then when I got my housing, I sprang for an additional strobe, just a small one, and that alone dramatically increased my keeper-ratio, to maybe 10%, up from 5%. While it may still seem absurd to you to throw away more than 90% of all the pictures one takes, I strongly believe that keeping pictures you don't even like yourself will not do you any favors with others when you try to show them off! Also, note that even the top pros get this kind of keeper ratio. In fact, they are sometimes even more critical!

The way I look at it, adding a second strobe doubled the number of pictures I keep, and that is quite something.

A second strobe gives more even lighting, eliminates shadows, and provides brighter color when required. This is irrespective of whether you are using an amphibious camera or a housed system.

3.5.1. Strobe Types and Considerations

Of the many different types of strobe on the market, it can be difficult to select the one that is just right. Some are ultra-powerful mini-lighthouses, others are mainly meant as fill-flashes or macro-strobes, where the strobe will be placed so close to the subject that even a relatively small strobe will clearly light the subject.

The one thing you definitely want to avoid is to use the flash units built into some of the cheaper underwater cameras! Because they are usually located right next to the lens, the only thing they will give you is masses of backscatter, and at best an overexposed picture.

I have seen one quite elegant way to avoid this: either buy or make a deflector that causes all the output light to be channeled away from the lens, onto a TTL slave sensor such as the one from Ikelite. This sensor can in turn be connected to a strobe, which is then triggered by the flash from the built-in unit. Voila, proper strobe coverage achieved!

Having two strobes does not necessarily mean that you must buy two of the same strobes. For example, I have an Ikelite SS-200 and an Ikelite SS-50. That will do for me for now.

What is important, however, is that the strobe you buy should have TTL capability. What this means is that the strobe is able to communicate with your camera, so that when the camera senses that it has received enough light from the strobe, it sends a signal to the strobe to stop outputting light. While this mode has its drawbacks (it works poorly if the main subject does not fill the majority of the frame), it is excellent for most close-up photography, which, as I have pointed out innumerable times already, will probably make up the majority of your shots.

It is also important to make sure that the strobe has manual settings, such as Full Power, 1/2 Power, 1/4 Power and so on, as this will allow you more control in situations where using the TTL function is not advisable.

Lastly, you may want to think about the power source for your strobe. I prefer rechargeable batteries, for several reasons: It is a more environmentally friendly way of powering your strobe, the output is generally higher, and the battery lasts longer. The downside of rechargeable batteries, is that they die instantly, not with a slow trickle. Some sort of battery indicator on the strobe, such as the one on Ikelite's SS-200, is something I find immensely useful. If you do go for rechargeable, however, make sure that you get a charger that can accept both 100 and 220V, or you are up the creek if you find yourself in a county without the same voltage as the country you normally use the strobe in.

3.5.2. Strobe Manufacturers

Ikelite. Very high quality strobes with very high output. Backed by Ikelite's world famous customer service, which I can and will personally attest to.
Sea & Sea.Excellent strobes in a variety of sizes. Note if you are buying used equipment that Sea & Sea has recently recalled some strobes due to a faulty battery compartment cap. Check their website for details.
Nikon Only 1 strobe, the SB-105, but what a great tool! As with Sea & Sea, a note of caution for those who are buying used equipment: This year, Nikon recalled ALL its old SB-103 strobes, due to a problem that, under unusual circumstances, could cause the strobe to explode! Nikon is replacing all SB-103's with the SB-105, so if you are a savvy shopper, you might just get yourself a 105 for the price of a used 103...

3.6. Film

This is another one of those subjects where the debate can quickly get very heated. Every photographer has his or her preferred film, but there are some guidelines that are pretty widely accepted.

3.6.1. Print versus slides

A very emotional subject, which generally seems to have only two camps, with little or no gray area. Which one you belong to seems to depend on whether you own, or are willing to acquire, a slide projector. My personal opinion is that for underwater photography, slide films are so vastly superior to print film that this is a no-brainer. There, I said it! If you have a different opinion, that’s your right :-)

Proponents of print film often cite the fact that the pictures are so much easier to show to friends than slides, and that print film generally has a lot more exposure latitude than slide film: If you slightly underexpose or overexpose a print film, this can be corrected in the lab. Not so slide film. Both are correct. Against these two arguments, slides projected onto a wall are so much more dazzling and detailed than any prints, the colors on some popular slide films are a lot warmer, and pictures corrected in a lab are never quite perfect anyway.

3.6.2. Digital cameras

As digital cameras become more and more powerful, seemingly by the month, an increasing number of photographers have started exploring the possibility of using digital cameras for underwater photography. Some housing manufacturers, such as Gates and Ikelite, have started offering housings for both digital still and video cameras.

I have previously written that while I have no doubt that there will be an explosion in digital underwater photography, I don’t think that the quality is quite there yet. I am about to eat some humble pie, because I recently purchased a 2.1 megapixel Nikon Coolpix 950, and I am so astonished by the quality of the pictures that I will simply have to get an Ikelite housing for it soonest!

This housing will allow me to use my Ikelite strobes with the Coolpix, something very few digital cameras can do. Also, the Coolpix 950 focuses crisply on a subject only 2 centimeters from the lens, with obvious macro implications! No other digital camera focuses that closely.

There has been lots of debate in the photographic community on the subject of "resolution", comparing digital with 35mm film. The very best digital cameras on the consumer market today offer a resolution of up to 3 megapixels (3 million “dots” making up the picture). By comparison, a 35mm film is said to have up to 80 megapixels, but this is to some extent a misleading comparison.

To begin with, "resolution" means different things in the digital vs. the photographic world. When photographers talk about resolution, they generally refer to the crispness/sharpness of an image, a subjective evalation. When digital professionals talk about it, "resolution" is a finite concept, in that it refers to the number of pixels (dots) per square inch in an image.

Unlike film, which captures an infinite level of detail, the sensor in a digital camera captures a finite number of pixels at its maximum. The number varies, and determines how large a piece of paper an image can be output to, without having to get the computer to enlarge the picture artificially. You see, adjusting an image size beyond the number of pixels native to the image requires the computer to add pixels, in effect guessing which color to give the pixels it inserts. Of course, this guess is an educated one, but inevitably the image will start deteriorating in sharpness.

By comparison, a really smooth-grained 35mm film like Velvia 50 can be enlarged very significantly without the film's grain showing in the picture. Of course at some point, the grain will start showing, and the sharpness of the picture will deteriorate.

In practical terms, with the Coolpix and other digital cameras with similar resolutions, all this babble basically means that so long as you don't have visions of enlarging your pictures to more than A3 size (and let's face it, how often do you even do that ?), I have been unable to spot any difference in quality between my Coolpix pictures and my best slide-scans. If, on the other hand, you would like to have your pictures accepted for printing by a magazine, you're out of luck with digital. Most magazines accept slides only.

Finally, in the debate about resolution in digital cameras, it is important to note that the file format used by the camera makes an enormous difference. Most digital cameras store pictures in JPG format. The JPG standard employs significant compression of images (which is why the format is so popular on the Web), but this format can be bad news if you intend to enlarge the pictures. While a small-size JPG picture prints well (depending on the compression level), the compression creates clusters of over-compressed areas, which become very visible as "noise" in the picture when enlarged. These clusters are called "artifacts", and short of major retouching in PhotoShop or a similar manipulation program, there is little you can do about them.

For this reason, it is worth considering getting a digital camera that offers the option to store the pictures in a un-compressed format such as TIFF. The resultant files are much larger (4-5MB vs. 3-400KB), but the pictures have no artifacts. Of course, you can save the TIFF files as JPG files after you have finished manipulating them.

Note that the high-end digital cameras with the aforementioned 3 megapixels currently cost $4-5,000, and compare that with the top-of-the-range land cameras such as the Nikon F-100, which clock in at around $1,000-1,500. It is possible to buy digital backs for regular SLR cameras as well, if you have $10,000 or so lying around. The Nikon Coolpix 950, by comparison, sells for around $900.

(UPDATE: On January 27th, Nikon announced the release of its CoolPix 990, a 3 Megapizel successor to the 950. The street price is unknown at this time, but I figure about $1,000. Of course, this had to happen a month after I bought the 950! Oh, well, such is life in the digital age. The good news for the rest of you is that the 950 will probably drop to somewhere around $600 on the street now)

With digital, there is a significant and obvious advantage in having the ability to throw a really large digital storage card (of whatever type) in, and suddenly be able to snap 64 or 120 shots on one card. Also, if you carry a laptop on the boat or have one i your hotel room, you get instant feed-back on the result, giving you the option of going back and re-shooting a scene you were not quite happy with.

Another way of going “digital” is to have your pictures scanned, and we will explore this later.

3.6.3. Film speeds

Firstly, high speed film is a really bad idea. You may think that shooting ISO 200 or 400 makes a lot of sense in an environment where there is little light, but you would be wrong. High speed film is way too grainy for underwater use, and since you have one or more strobes anyway, you will have plenty of light to shoot with slower film speeds.

With any film, print or slide, don't go higher than ISO 100. Go lower if you can, as the slower the film, the finer the grain. If you want to enlarge some of your pictures, you want as little grain as possible. ISO 50 is probably the most popular speed.

3.6.4. Brands of film typically used

Every film brand has its followers, and every brand has some great films. In underwater photography, however, I have found that only very few of these films are actually used. Fuji and Kodak rule the market both underwater and topside. Most popular are:

• Fujichrome Velvia 50 (slide). The most widely used pro film, underwater and topside. Gives very fine-grained pictures with exceptionally warm colors. Some say that setting the camera at ISO40 gives even better color, but I have not tried that underwater yet. Note that if you do so, you should not tell the lab, as this is not about "pushing" the film, so you don't want them to give it special treatment.

• Fujichrome Provia 100 (slide). Not quite as fine-grained as Velvia, but because of its speed it is better for wide-angle shots in situations with less light.

• Fuji Sensia 100 (print). Colors not as warm, but a good all-round print film if you must use print.

• Fuji Superia Reala 100 (print). Allegedly the closest to Velvia you can get in print. I haven’t tried it because it’s not available where I live.

• Kodachrome 64 (slide). Must be processed by central Kodak labs, but is renowned for quality and longevity of pictures.

• Kodachrome 100 EVS (slide). A recent release from Kodak, meant to challenge Fuji’s Velvia (some jokers say the VS stands for, "Velvia Slayer"). Some sing its praises, but after trying 5 rolls of it in Cozumel and comparing the results to my Velvia shots taken on the same day at the same location of the same subjects, I have seen nothing to make me switch from Velvia and Provia.

4. Digital Darkroom

When I discussed digital cameras, I briefly mentioned the possibility of having your pictures scanned. To get into digital photography, it is not necessary to have a digital camera. The benefit of scanned pictures is that you can edit them on your computer. This editing process may be as simple as cropping the picture for a better, more pleasing composition, or it may be as complicated as removing large sections of backscatter, adjusting lighting and contrast, or making creative changes to the pictures for fun or profit.

I will skip the entire debate on ethics and whether digitally altered images are “art”, because I sit on the fence. The only subject I feel strongly about in this debate is that of entering contests with photos that were digitally altered, without informing the judges of the fact. If you do that, you are an impostor, and should be barred from entering competitions for life, in my opinion. For web publishing, you will certainly need to run your pictures through some manipulator first.

There are 3 ways of getting your pictures into digital format. Either you use a digital camera, or you scan the pictures yourself, or you have someone scan them for you.

A digital camera usually lets you transfer pictures directly from the camera to your computer, ready for editing. Scanning your own pictures obviously requires an investment in a scanner, and there are many to choose from. If you shoot only print film, then virtually any flatbed scanner on the market will probably satisfy your needs, although the higher-end scanners usually have better resolution and scan quality. If, on the other hand, you shoot a mixture of slides and print, then you would be much better off buying a dedicated film scanner. Olympus, Canon and HP are the ones most frequently used, with HP currently leading the pack. These scanners don't cost more than $300 or so. The drawback is that they will not allow you to scan our child's drawing or anything else other than slides and negatives.

Some flatbed scanners offer an alternative, with a so-called transparency adapter. This is essentially a replacement lid for the scanner, incorporating a light source which is synchronized with the light source traveling in the scanner itself. The idea is that since slides require light coming from both sides before they can be scanned, this nifty accessory allows you to use your flatbed for this purpose, too. NOT! Don't do it! The quality is poor, the scans usually way too dark, unless you are only after thumbnails. If you are going to put a nail in a wall, get a hammer. If you are going to scan slides, get a slide scanner, or go to option 3:

My preference is to get someone else to scan my slides for me. Scanning is touchy-feely business, and can easily take 5 minutes per picture. Since I usually shoot 15 rolls of film on a short trip, and keep 10% of the pictures, this would mean spending a minimum of 5 hours (assuming no re-scanning required) to scan my pictures. Then I would have to burn them on to a CD (I have a lot of pictures and like that storage medium). Total probably more like 8 or 10 hours, and I am way too lazy for that. So I take my slides to a lab and have them scan the pictures for me. It costs me $50 for a CD. I choose to have the pictures saved as TIFF files rather than the Kodak Photo-CD format, because the resolution and quality is much better, in my opinion. They can also scan any other format onto the CD-ROM if you want. Is your time worth $5 per hour ? Mine is, to me!

4.1. Software

OK, so now you have your pictures in digital format, and you want to do something with them. To do that, you obviously need some software, and this choice, too, can be mind-boggling (and expensive). The star of the show is Adobe Photoshop, currently in version 5.5. If you can afford it, and don't mind the very steep learning curve, then this is the ultimate photo editing tool. But there are less expensive versions available, too, right down to the MS Picture Editor which is included in Windows 98, not to mention a plethora of shareware and freeware available for download off the World Wide Web.

4.2. What can I do to my pictures ?

A lot! You can crop them and adjust lighting, contrast, gamma, saturation and shadows. You can clone fish and make it seem like you were in a school of sharks when in fact there was only one. You can increase sharpness, decrease sharpness, make your picture look like a painting by Van Gogh, posterize and print. Dozens of filters will do weird and wonderful things to your pictures, but mostly you will be using a few simple techniques for enhancing the scan.

The first step is cropping and adjusting size. A scanned picture can be tens of megabytes large, and this may be okay for printing purposes. If, however, you just need to put them on the web, you will want to crop the picture for the best composition, then adjust the size to no more than 640x480 pixels. Both operations take about 30 seconds, and you already have a much more manageable picture. Next, adjust sharpness and lighting if required, and you're pretty much finished.

Where it gets tough is when you want to fiddle with the smaller things, like removing a bit of backscatter or a scratch or some other displeasing element. This can be agonizingly slow work, because you have to be ultra-careful with the color selection, selection of the area to work on, and you will probably go myopic if you don't have a really large screen and a very sensitive mouse or track-ball. I'm not saying it can't be done, but divest yourself of the notion that all you need is a piece of software and a scan.

I am strongly opposed to alterations of pictures that are to be used for contests, and note that most contests will not allow them. But for fun and website display, there is nothing wrong with a few cosmetic changes. For a GREAT site on digital and alterations, see Jay Torborg's homepage

4.3. Putting your Pictures on the Web

If you are brave enough, get yourself a website. You may not want to do this until you are reasonably confident, but having one is a lot of fun and can lead to a lot of interaction with people all over the world. Websites used to be expensive, but these days, there seems to be no end of ISPs that want to give you web space for free. Some you have to stay FAR away from, because they take copyright to images placed on their server! This is theft, pure and simple, and you should go out of your way to give these bastards a bad name. You can find them here.

Most free sites exact some kind of price for giving you the space. Most commonly, you "pay" by allowing the ISP to display ads on your pages, or in pop-up windows. I think this is a small price to pay, but most providers will also let you pay a small amount of real money ($6/month in my case) for getting rid of this requirement, AND getting more space.

5. Recommended Reading

A lot of books have been written on underwater photography, some naturally better than others. What you read depends on what you are looking to get out of the reading, i.e. tips and tricks, equipment reviews and recommendations, or just plain inspiration.

5.1. Books

One of the icons of underwater photography books is "Jim Church's Essential Guide to Nikonos Systems", ISBN Number 1-881652-04-1. This book is without doubt the authoritative review of the system and the best way to use it. It can be difficult to find, but it is not out of print. If your local dive shop doesn't offer it, then get it from Amazon.

Another excellent book by Jim Church is "Jim Church's Essential Guide to Composition", ISBN Number 1-881652-18-1. This is his most recent book, and a must-have for underwater photographers.

Jim also has a good website, which you can go to by clicking here. He is active on the Underwater Photography mailing list.

Annemarie and Danja Köhler's "The Underwater Photography Handbook", ISBN Number 1-85368-641-7, is one of the best books I have ever read on the subject, and sufficiently recent that all the latest stuff is pretty much there. As a bonus, the book also goes into videography, which is getting more and more popular.

Decouet, Green's "Manual of Underwater Photography", ISBN: 3925919023 comes highly recommended by fellow SCUBA-L list member Hugh Huntzinger, who claims that it is an "irreplaceable Bible"! Hugh says that this book is getting hard to find, though, but that reportedly, an updated version is in the works. It's worth keeping an eye out for.

The Köhlers have also written another great book, "The Underwater Explorer", ISBN Number 1-85368-643-5, which takes a pretty unique approach for underwater photography books, in that it seeks to teach how to interact with the critters to set up the best photo-ops. Excellent book!

Carl Roessler's book "Mastering Underwater Photography", ISBN Number 0-688-03881-6, is a classic, even if it is a bit dated by now (1984). It may be difficult to find.

Rick Sammon's "The Complete Guide to Photographing Underwater Wonders", ISBN Number 1-85310-593-7, is a great book on both technique and composition.

Phil Griffith Jones, a long-time Sea & Sea owner, highly recommends "The New Guide to Sea & Sea", by Joe Liburdi and Cara Sherman. Phil says no Sea & Sea owner should be without it. The book also features information on Sea & Sea products for the Nikonos system, and the Sea & Sea housing system for the Nikon F90x.

5.2. The Web

There are so many good websites on underwater photography that you could spend weeks on the WWW searching and reading. I know - I have! 

Start with Rodale's Scuba Diving's basic underwater photography class here

Further reading is best kicked off through one of the web portals like Yahoo!, Infoseek or AltaVista, or you can use a search crawler like Metacrawler to get a list to start with.

6. Where do I Go From Here ?

To the camera store! Then to the book store. Then home to play. Then....