Predive Preparation

Here is some advice to get you started with digital underwater photography. Be sure to take a look at the Instructions page for the Olympus series of housings to get an idea of step by step preparation and maintenance.

Batteries

Since you will be using the LCD as the viewfinder throughout the dive, the batteries will drain quickly. Also, in temperate/cold water, battery life will be shortened. For camera not using proprietary batteries, use high capacity (mAh) rated NiMh rechargeable AA batteries, freshly charged, or lithium batteries. Alkalines will not provide enough power and will drain quickly.

Start each dive day with a freshly charged set of batteries. Nothing is more frustrating than to line up the perfect shot just to see the LCD screen go blank when the batteries die. The battery indicator on most cameras will show a full level when you turn the camera on but then when the batteries get weaker, the camera will flash a low battery sign and then just stop working. Not a good thing to happen in the middle of a dive. This is due to the discharge characteristics of NiMh batteries. When not being charged, the batteries lose power every day in storage, so charge batteries the night before the dive.

It is a good idea to have several sets of batteries, differentiated by manufacturer for easy reference. For example, I have Toshiba, Maxell, Fujitsu, and Sony batteries. The reason to have sets of batteries from different manufacturers is so that you can easily identify the set. You'll want to keep each set separate because charging batteries takes hours using the proper trickle charger, and you should never mix fresh and discharged batteries.

These days, batteries are in the 1800 to 2000 mAh rating, available from Ansmann or GP. Also, the German made Ansmann chargers available in the U.S. from Woody Mayhew at Nexus America are probably the best solutions for the travelling diver. They are smart chargers and automatically adapt to the voltage from 90 to 260 Volts, 50 or 60 Hz. Best of all, they come with adapter plugs.

For Olympus, the ultimate in backup batteries are the lithium batteries that come with the camera since they have a reported 10 year shelf life. Then, if your rechargeable batteries go, you can use the lithiums.

Storage

With digital cameras, there is a large selection of storage media (SmartMedia for Olympus, CompactFlash for Nikon, Memory Stick for Sony, Secure Disk sD for newer Olympus cameras, etc.). Start out with a freshly formatted card (no images) and the largest memory capacity available for your camera.

If you want to choose the camera based solely upon storage capacity, you'll probably want to go with CompactFlash, because the current largest capacity of CompactFlash is larger than other types. Also, CompactFlash offers faster writing times. The Microdrive from Hitachi Global Storage Technology (formerly from IBM) is a Type II CompactFlash card with capacities of 1 and 2GB, with an announced 4GB version available in Fall 2003.

How about Memory Stick (Sony) and Secure Disk (sD) type cards? Well, my opinion is that there is a lot more competition and manufacturers offering CompactFlash and SmartMedia cards, and with this competition comes lower prices for the consumers.

Compared to the cost of a lost opportunity and per day diving expenses, buying extra cards makes a lot of sense. It is better to use 1 card per dive, putting in a fresh card at the start of the dive and using the remaining shots for above water photos after the dive.

There is a device called the DigitalWallet that is used to store the images from SmartMedia and other digital media; however, based upon the cost of such devices ($500+), you are probably better off getting several SmartMedia or CompactFlash cards. By using separate cards, you also can avoid a problem if the media becomes corrupted, i.e. you would only lose one card's worth of images if it became damaged rather than losing the entire wallet. Side note, there is recovery software for storage cards if your memory happens to become corrupted.

Resolution Settings and Compression

With the Olympus C3030/C3040, using uncompressed TIFF format, you can take only 1 photo at 2048 x 1536 resolution with a 16MB storage card. Most people do not want to be limited to taking only 1 photo (or only 4 photos with a 64MB card, etc.) per dive, so you'll need to pick a more suitable resolution to allow for more photos unless you are going for the magazine cover shot. Using SHQ (compressed approximately 4:1), you can get 6 shots, HQ (compressed 12:1) 20 shots, and a number of other permutations using other formats and resolution. Load up a 64MB card and shoot at SHQ for 24, just like a roll of film.

Tips for Good Photos-Underwater Digital Photography

The comments in this section are particular to underwater digital photography but also apply to underwater photography in general. First of all, get close. Backscatter from the flash is probably the most common mistake that beginners can make. The camera in Olympus housing without an external flash will exhibit a lot of backscatter due to the limited distance between the flash and camera lens. This can be solved by adding an additional strobe such as the Ikelite wireless TTL DS50 Substrobe or other strobes mentioned in the Accessories section.

Digital Photography Limitations - Shutter Lag

One of the biggest problems with digital cameras is the shutter lag, which is the delay between the time you press the shutter button and the time the camera trips the shutter and takes the photograph. There can be a frustrating long delay. Check on the camera review sites for the

How to overcome this shutter lag limitation? First of all, pick slow moving subjects, press the shutter halfway down to prefocus on the subject, anticipate the movement of the fish/subject, composing the picture. Sometimes this requires panning in order to follow a swimming fish, such as a ray. The only trouble is when the subject is moving towards you, or worse, away from you. Pictures of fish tails are not so interesting. Don't chase fish, let them come to you.

For macro/close up photography, this is not normally a problem unless you have a skittish or fast moving subject.

Buoyancy Skills Required

Please make sure you have the proper buoyancy skills before you start underwater photography. This means being able to hover over the reef, making sure your fin tips don't touch, and of course, having all your gear such as gauges properly secured and not dangling. For people needing a brush up in buoyancy skills, the PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy course or equivalent is highly recommended.

Insurance

For when things do go wrong, and if a flood occurs, hopefully you already purchased the necessary insurance.

Underwater camera specific insurance, Divers Equipment Protection Program (DEPP) is one of the most comprehensive plans around. They insure worldwide, and follow up very quickly on claims. They are apparently wonderful at replacing flooded gear.

An alternative is using DAN, Divers Alert Network, which offers a cash equivalent instead of replacement.

Another way to insure for camera loss is with homeowners insurance. A recommendation for getting insurance this way is to include a statement that the replacement cost will include a suitable camera housing. For example, if you happen to flood a camera that has been discontinued, you can probably get the latest model, but then that new model camera may no longer fit the older model housing.

Updated: February 16, 2003