Kodak disposables

[Dewit2it]

Has anyone else played with these?

The ones I use are the Water&Sport cameras.  They are rated to 50' and loaded with 800 speed film.  I have used them in a pool with no results and then used them in Redgranite in lower light conditions with great results.  But most of the time they give a under exposed pic.  On the surface they work great.

Any ideas?

I'm waiting until HD video comes down in price.  So for now I'm stuck with these.

[Chris H]

Unless you are doing professional video, you may not want to deal with an HD camera.  They are very large in and out of the water and their size will make traveling with the camera difficult in some cases.

[Dewit2it]

I work in the entertainment industry.  Pro video shoots are just one area that I'm somewhat involved in.  I'm waiting for the FX-1 to come down from the $3K area.  I would also be able to get some rentals which could help pay for it.  But those are scarce currently.

[dfreeman]

The price of the housing and of the lights that you will want are a real killer.  Add $3-4,000 for housing and $1,500-$4,000 for lights.

If you think diving is expensive, UW photography can really get pricey.

Doug

[chuck_northrup]

If you are looking for a cheap camera to get you through your "interim" period, check out the Sea Life Shark Diver.  It is a re-loadable 35mm camera with flash that retails for $39.95 

You can choose your film speed (400 is your best bet) and you should get better pictures over all compared to disposables.  Besides at that price point it will pay for itself pretty quickly compared to those disposables 

CN3

[dean810]

I agree with the above.  Cheap underwater, reloadable film cameras are all I use until my funds recover from buying my other dive gear.  The results are hit and miss, but sometimes you surprise yourself.  Most important, they do give a visual record of where you have been.

[freediverND]

Dewet2it, take that bottom photo and in a program like photoshop or similar use the auto adjust feature and see how it looks.. sometimes you can really be surprised at what the computer can do.  I wanted to download it and try it to show you but couldn't for some reason.  Maybe someone else here could do it.

[LKunze]

Still looks pretty bad with photoshop auto adjust.

[Swimjim]

Under water faster is better.  If you get a reloadable film camera go with 800 speed.  I used that in my Nikonos cameras the last few years and it works great.  Thirty years ago the faster films were very grainey.  If your exposure is close this is no longer the case.  Attached is a photo of the pump on the deck of the Walter B. Allen.  It was taken with ASA 800 film.  Probably F4 at a 60th of a second.  Nikonos II with 17mm lense and Rube Goldburg dual flash setup. 

Jim

[Swimjim]

Heres the bow of the Northerner.  Same setup.

Jim