Underwater rental?

I know borrowlenses has a housing for my 1D3 but by the time I add the lens port and flash housing for a 2 week rental, I could actually buy a used 1D3! Not an economical choice for me at this point. What I would like to do is simply take some decent underwater shots on an upcoming Bahamas vacation I am taking with the family. I love snorkeling but have never tried to capture images other than with the $8 drugstore disposable when doing it. Is there a reasonable alternative someone could suggest to allow me to get some decent image quality while snorkeling? I am taking my DSLR gear but don't plan on using it in the water in any capacity (meaning, I'm not planning on shelling out big bucks to rent a housing for it). I was thinking one of the GoPro cameras or borrowlenses has a little Canon D20. Either of these worth doing in anyone's opinion? I want to be able to catch some of the vibrant colors of the reef fish and coral so I feel like I have to have some external light or a flash which doesn't seem part of any of the GoPro packages for rent. Anyway, I'm wide open to suggestions if any has some.

Thanks much!

What about a Go Pro?
I've got my eye on one for my 'other' hobby (Skydiving)

steved110 wrote in post #15155720
What about a Go Pro?
I've got my eye on one for my 'other' hobby (Skydiving)

looking at that for sure. I feel like I need an external light with it but if I can find one, maybe the GP is the ticket.

GoPro video comes out rather nice. Pics are so-so at best BUT the wide angle just about saves those stills.

The stock housing is blurry underwater at any distance so you'll need the dive housing to get the above.

If you can wait for the Hero 3 it comes with a flat lens housing already.

Otherwise lensrentals offers a canon d20 compact camera rental.

For me though I went with the gopro for the wide angle. I once had the sd870 underwater and even at the wide end it was too narrow.

danpass wrote in post #15155816
GoPro video comes out rather nice. Pics are so-so at best BUT the wide angle just about saves those stills.

The stock housing is blurry underwater at any distance so you'll need the dive housing to get the above.

If you can wait for the Hero 3 it comes with a flat lens housing already.

Otherwise lensrentals offers a canon d20 compact camera rental.

For me though I went with the gopro for the wide angle. I once had the sd870 underwater and even at the wide end it was too narrow.

thanks Dan, great input there. Did you use the filter with the GoPro as well? I am concerned about the WB being unfixable.

I used a canon s95 with the canon under water case.
It was very easy to carry and use under water, not heavy while on the shore. Took good pictures too!

UW housings for DSLRs are outrageously expensive, so I'm not surprised the rent is high too....

I'd suggest looking for an older point n shoot that has a housing, or a that a housing can easily be bought for separately. Maybe something like this eBay auction item: http://www.ebay.com …meras&hash=item​3f1ddec628

Canon themselves offered housings for some P&S models (as in the auction listed), but not others. If you can get one of those, they can be found for about $200 new... or a whole lot less on eBay. I think the Canon were rated to 100 feet. Third party housings are often pricier, for anything decent and better than one of those plastic bags that are only good for a few feet (if you trust 'em!).
I've got an old G5 I'd like to get a housing for, but Canon never made one and the couple third party that were made were very pricey new and are very uncommon used. A few months ago I missed one on eBay that went cheap (I was on a trip and couldn't get in a bid or it would have been MINE.... hahahahahahaha!)

On the other hand, there are some relatibely cheap "generic" plastic bag type that might be adequate for snorkeling (just pick up a cheap camera to put in it... my G5 cost me all of $40 used, and that was with the telephoto conversion lens, so I wouldn't worry too much about risking it underwater).

By the way, a real stroke of brilliance came from someone here on POTN a while ago... They use a WiFi card (eey-Fi?) in their underwater P&S, so they can download images from it to their pad or laptop without having to remove the camera from the housing. Neat idea!

I would disagree on the image quality of the GoPro's still photos - They look real nice to me, and I've had both the GoPro Hero2 and now the regular GoPro Hero

Disclaimer - I've never shot under water... but I'm assuming if the video looks good with the flat port, why wouldn't the still shots look good as well?

Here is one at like 1pm in the afternoon, not optimal light... still looks good

I did use a red filter but at 30ft and deeper it doesn't do it. Lights are needed after that.

Cineform blows out the WB when correcting for it. iMovie 11 does a much better job though not perfect.

I haven't tried the ProTune update underwater.

My Hero2 kit is for sale

Andrushka wrote in post #15155979
I would disagree on the image quality of the GoPro's still photos - They look real nice to me, and I've had both the GoPro Hero2 and now the regular GoPro Hero

Disclaimer - I've never shot under water... but I'm assuming if the video looks good with the flat port, why wouldn't the still shots look good as well?

They came out noisy for me underwater. Air shots are indeed fine.

Not enough control with stills and you have to hold steady underwater, not always the easiest thing to do even with proper buoyancy.

danpass wrote in post #15155993
They came out noisy for me underwater. Air shots are indeed fine.

Not enough control with stills and you have to hold steady underwater, not always the easiest thing to do even with proper buoyancy.

Yeah, could be... like I said, never used underwater, so I will take your word for it

Ive never used the D20 but the only Nikon I own is a Nikon AW100. Same concept. Ive used it all throughout the Caribbean while snorkeling and during slot canyon river hikes during my trip to Zion National Park.

you'll need something with a flash or strobe.

I have an older point and shoot SD550 and canon underwater case. Works great. Easy to get to all the controls. Look for a used underwater case and find a camera that goes in it. Mine setup is old but the pictures look as good or better than most of what I have seen from point and shoots that are rated for going underwater. If you do any diving most likely any of the rugged point and shoots won't be capable of the depth, canon cases are usually good to 100 feet or a little more, at that point you will need a light source that is more than the camera and case will cost.

About a year ago we rented an underwater camera from a place called Fin Photo in the Bahamas. They have a website at http://www.stuartcove.​com …sMgmt.aspx?id=5​&pageId=26. You can reserve the equipment in advance, some of which is better than a GoPro. Just a suggestion, clarify in advance what type memory card the camera uses then take some along as I recall the rental didn't have a very big card in it. Having said that I think my niece found a place that burned the images to CD anyway so in the end it didn't matter all too much.