How to choose the right professional underwater camera?
How to choose the right professional underwater camera?
Professional underwater camera: The underwater world is simply outstanding. Words alone can’t describe the beauty of the mesmerizing flora and fauna that exists in the underwater world. With the right professional underwater camera, you can capture some of the breathtaking moments and can keep them with you forever.
Consider the features of the underwater camera in order to make the right buying decision
This is the most crucial and indeed the hardest steps involved in the whole process of selecting the underwater camera. This is because there are innumerable brands and models of underwater cameras available in the market. Each model comes with unique features. Which camera is right for you or what features you should have in the camera would depend on your photography needs and objectives. It is advisable to prioritize the features that matter the most to you in order to select the right camera for yourself.
Some of the features that you must look out for in a professional underwater camera include
Manual control-on land you can shoot photographs in the automatic mode without any issue, but underwater you would need a manual control feature so as to enjoy better control over the images.
Manual white balance-Manual white balance feature becomes effective when one is shooting without strobes and is only using ambient light. Due to the unique properties of water, images that use only natural light would appear blue. Manual white balance helps remove this color cast.
Lens option-If you are interested in buying a point and shoot camera, look for a camera with external wet lenses. These wet lenses are an additional pair of optics that are placed over or in front of the port to enable the wider angle or closer macro shooting. For wide-angle shooting, you must choose a camera that can fit one of the third party fisheye wet lenses to get as close as possible to the subject. This would result in more colorful and detailed images. DSLR has high-quality lenses. Just ensure that you use the appropriate port for each lens.
RAW Files
RAW files-If you don’t plan on doing a lot of editing of your photos, then shooting images in JPEG is fine. But if you do plan on editing your images, then consider selecting a camera that produces RAW files. These are uncompressed files that preserve the most data possible when editing your images.
Video resolution-decide whether you want standard or low-quality HD on point and shoot camera or HD on a DSLR. Since movies are large files a still camera is not the best option if your main purpose is to shoot video underwater. Most good point and shoot cameras have a video mode that lets you shoot short videos. DSLRs also offer video capabilities.
Size-this is an important consideration for most people. Since you would be carrying dive equipment and clothes, you would want to go with a small, compact professional underwater camera that can fit easily inside your pocket or backpack. Thankfully, there are cameras that can fit in easily in bags and are lightweight and easy to carry around.
Look online for professional underwater cameras. You would be able to compare the features and prices of different models and be able to choose the right camera for yourself.
