Swellshots

Over the past few weeks I have been doing research on cameras and underwater housings. After the disposable underwater cameras on my trips to Fiji and the Great Barrier Reef produced (the expected) poor quality photos - I didn't even post them because they were so bad - I decided to make the jump to a better camera.

I have been using a point-and-shoot Kodak for the past few years on all of my travels and I wanted to upgrade to a DSLR.  I went to Beach Cities Scuba, the local dive shop in Newport Beach, to get some more information.  A really knowledgeable guy named Chob was their camera expert and he filled me in on all of the details.  Even if I went with the lowest level Canon (the Rebel T2i), when you add the lens(es), housing, flash and other accessories, I was looking at spending $7,000 at the very least.

The new rig

Because of the costs I started looking at "prosumer" cameras (designed with the serious amateur in mind).  Chob steered me toward the Canon Powershot G12 digital camera, Fisheye FIX G12 underwater housing and Sea & Sea YS-110a flash.  That's the one I went with and I've been pretty happy so far.


I'm still surfing a lot but have been taking time out to practice with the camera in the water.  There are many more things to take into account with this camera - aperture, white balance, ISO, shutter speed.  It makes it even tougher to adjust these controls with the knobs of the housing... and then you have to take the waves into account.  If you don't watch out you'll be slammed by a wave while you're trying to change something.  I went out the first time without any tether and just help the camera with my hands.  I quickly realized that wasn't a good idea when I had to swim out of a weak rip current so I bought a wrist leash just in case I had to let go of the rig.


The first day I went out and shot some body boarders one of them asked me how much it would cost to get prints of him.  I hadn't even thought of that, but maybe I can make my money back.  I realized that I needed a name that people would remember (like Aquabumps), so I came up with SwellShots.  I'm hoping to add more to the linked Picasa album as I spend more time in the water.  Make sure to save it as a bookmark!

Why am I doing all of this?  I have a month off from work because the project got extended.  There is a big gap in the month of May and they asked me to go on leave to save money on the budget.  I started researching surf camps and vacations and found one called Morro Negrito.  It's a full week of surfing and nothing else.  I'm going to extend it another week to see the rest of the country, though I haven't figured out the details yet.  I already got the flight (with points) and put the deposit down for the week.

But back to the photos... here are a few of the best pics I've taken so far.