Camera

[mole02]

Hi all,
Can you please recommend a digital camera for underground photos. I'm a complete novice to photography, so nothing expensive please.
I've been using an old 2Mill Olympus C120, which is bulky and I always get loads of moisture spots which ruins the shot?
I have asked about this before, but I know people are using ordinary digitals with built in flash and getting great results??
Many thanks, Mark

 

[Rob]

Good to hear your interested in underground photography. Cheap and good is not an easy one for this though! It depends entirely upon your budget (is ?200 too much?) and how well you treat your gear.

For cheapish and fully controllable look up old Canon Powershot G-Series on eBay, like the G5 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Canon-G5-PowerShot-Digital-Camera-Great-Condition_W0QQitemZ290271008376. Good quality optics and full manual mode will let you play for hours with great results. However it will not cope with getting very wet.

For that you can go to the "shockproof, freezeproof, waterproof" Olympus MJU SW range http://www.purelygadgets.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=22034, but you will loose some controllability.

I have to say though, using the onboard flash you will almost always get moisture spots or misting, especially in wet caves. You either have to use off-the-camera flashes (one is enough) or buy a very bright light!

Good luck...

 

[Dear Noel Axle]

I think getting decent results without a separate flash is quite rare. I would recommend sticking with your current camera for the time being and buying a cheap flash to go with it. This is likely to give you better results than a better camera but using built in flash IMO.

If you really want to use a built in flash then you need to be very close to your subject and hold your breath!

Alexander

 

[Brains]

All our pics have been taken with a cheap(ish) digital compact. No need to tell me - it shows! By taking loads, and playing around underground some reasonable pics can be obtained. For merely recording the day and certain features this is adequate.
For quality artwork, or large scale depth shots, etc. a digital slr with full control is the way to go.
I miss the B setting the most as I cant use fill in or off the camera flash.
Oh well, when I drop the lottery....

 

[Cave_Troll]

Brains, does your compact let you do 1 , 5 or 10 sec exposures? thats often enough to let off some flashes rather than needing B

 

[mole02]

Thanks for all your help guys. I will peruse what you've said, though I don't know what IMO is? or how to set up a seperate flash?
I'm sure someone will tell me somewhere.
Thank you all once again. Hope to let you see the results before too long!
Mark

 

[Dear Noel Axle]

IMO = In my opinion. 

 

[Brains]

Brains, does your compact let you do 1 , 5 or 10 sec exposures? thats often enough to let off some flashes rather than needing B

Sadly no, very basic point and snap. The up side is when I do drop it and drown it, it wont cost me the earth...

 

[ogofmole]

how to set up a seperate flash?
I'm sure someone will tell me somewhere.
Thank you all once again. Hope to let you see the results before too long!
Mark

You need a flash slave, and idealy for a compact I would recommend the Firefly 3 which although costs ?60, it will give you great results without the fog. Plus of course a seperate remote flashgun (these can be picked up on ebay for about ?10).

http://www.fireflyelectronics.co.uk/

 

[mole02]

Brilliant! Many thanks again. I'll give that a try. Mark

 

[ttxela]

I bought my camera from an ebay site specialising in re-conditioned returns etc. I just checked and they don't seem to be around anymore but I'm sure other people are in the same game. I'm very pleased with what I got for the price. Might be worth considering....

 

[paull]

i use a cheap samsung d860 and a firefly 3 with a secondhand flash , as the photos get better i will upgrade the camera