Equipment for Underwater Photography

Let's talk about equipment for underwater photography. What are the basic equipments you need?
1. Cameras off course!
2. Camera Housing

Most if not all cameras these days comes with build-in flashes. However these flashes may not be strong enough to light up your subject. As a result you may get a greenish or blueish or underexposed image. So if you want to have a consistent exposure of your subject you will need the additional equipment.

3. Light Strobes or Flashes
4. Arm to hold your strobes.

Now cameras come in 2 types, amphibious and non-amphibious. The amphibious (See Figure 1a and 1b) are the ones where you can actually bring into the water with you without the hassle of getting an additional housing. These are the truly underwater cameras. They are basically waterproof underwater cameras. Historically before the underwater camera housing became popular and affordable; these were the type that most underwater photographers from professionals to amateurs used. The earlier amphibious underwater cameras were film based. Unlike, the digital cameras, you are unable to preview your shots. As a beginner, it could be very frustrating as your pictures could come out pitched black or blurry blue when processed.

Now the amphibious cameras are your normal cameras housed in a polycarbonate or aluminum housing fabricated specially for the particular digital camera model. These days digital cameras come with varying sophistication depending on the photographers’ needs. They ranged from the normal point-and-shoot (Figure 2a) to the prosumer (Figure 2b) down to the digital SLRs (Single Lens Reflex) (Figure 2c).

I will discuss more of the digital camera in my next blog. Till then I leave you with a parting shot of a cow fish taken during my recent trip to Lembeh.