Great discussion guys! I used Nikon gear for a very long time but switched to Olympus/OM System about 2 years ago. I wanted the animal eye focus capabilities and the ProCap feature for my topside work and a lighter camera bag. The smaller footprint of the gear also made it less costly to take underwater. I use two OM1 and an assortment of lenses of which most were purchased used. I do still have my D800 and Nikkor 16-35mm lens because nobody was interested in buying the old technology. I still use it occasionally for topside seascapes.
The road to the underwater camara kit I have now, was not a straight forward one. I started out with a used D7100, which I loved, but couldn’t get hold of a nauticam housing for the camera anymore. After some research, the D500 looked like an awesome option for underwater photography and I bought a used one on marketplace for a reasonable price. As it turned out, it had some dead pixels on the sensor, so I was not going to buy a housing for that camera either. I thought really hard about where to go from there, didn’t know if buying a new D850 in 2022 would make sense or be future proof since I wasn’t yet heavily invested in lenses at that point and I wasn’t sold on the Z6 or Z7. I decided to jump the Nikon ship and found a new home for both of cameras and the lenses. I had one of the really early Sony mirrorless cameras previously and really strongly disliked the menu, so Sony was not an option. (I heard that a lot has improved since and it is a lot better now…) The more I read, the more I liked the Canon R5 and with my previous bad experience buying used , it had to be a newer camera anyway. I do really like my camera, but looking at the camera market now, I would also be totally happy with a Z8 or a a7R5 I’m sure. Essentially when I decided to buy a mirrorless camera it was because the prices for new or even used DSLRs were still pretty high compared to the never mirrorless cameras.
I'm in the market for a new camera rig in the next year and I'd be curious what you guys think about the current market options. I'm totally open to switching vendors and buying all new gear since I'd probably use this camera for the next decade. An interesting video segment could highlight premium, mid-range, and budget mirrorless camera options along with suggested lenses, housings, and lighting for someone shooting both WA and macro. Matthew, I recommend upgrading your mic and lighting to match Alex's setup better because there's a noticeable difference in quality. The virtual background on your video feed creates distracting artifacts and your mic audio is capturing some of the room echoes. Thank you guys for your continued investment in creating new content for us.
We've long planned doing an episode comparing the big three: Z8, A7RV and R5. And also plan a sweet-spot cameras episode - our picks at different levels. But we're also trying to pace gear focused episodes with image based episodes, technique episodes and interviews. But it is all coming (slowly).
I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on the following. I had a chance to borrow Byron Conroy's Sony mirrorless setup while in Lembeh recently. I found that the color in the EVF when reviewing the images I just shot did not represent what I was actually seeing (they were more red in the viewfinder) but when I downloaded the images to my computer, the colors were correct. Could it have been some sort of configuration of the EVF? Is this something you've seen before?
Mirrorless EVFs can be adjusted both in terms of their brightness and colour balance. I leave mine as standard, maybe Byron has tweaked his. When I was last in Lembeh I was swapping between my D850 and borrowed Sony cameras and switching dive on dive definitely highlights the differences in viewing. I think seeing flash-lit review images on the same screen you were just composing on (the EVF) takes a dive or two to get used too. I would expect you to get used to this very quickly, which I am sure Byron is.
Interestingly enough, I'll be switching from my D850 to an A7RV soon both because of the things discussed in this video, as well as some of the subjects that will likely be discussed in the follow-up video: another underwater photographer was having trouble adjusting to mirrorless and wanted to switch back to DSLR, so he reached out to me to propose a trade. I'd originally planned to hold onto my D850 for a few more years because it was working fine for my photography, but with the opportunity in front of me, I figured I may as well make the jump now while someone's still interested in acquiring my current rig.
It's shame that almost all discussions, particularly within the wildlife photography community, tend to revolve solely around equipment, lenses, and technological advancements, neglecting the essence of Photography as an Art form. The only justifiable reasons for moving to mirrorless cameras are either when your existing DSLR becomes dysfunctional and no longer produces images, so you need to purchase a new camera, or having surplus money hanging in your bank account and you are determined to get rid of it because you can and you're bored, in which case your options are mainly limited to Mirrorless because all manufacturers decided to go down the mirrorless paths. Otherwise, are you truly a Photographer or merely a camera operator?
Mirrorless represents an evolutionary step in the development of cameras and when you combine that with advances in sensors, cpus, focusing, and flash sync it becomes a solution that’s hard to ignore. I shoot with a 14 year old DSLR camera which works as well as the day I bought it. However, I can see a clear difference in quality between my pictures and those coming from new cameras. And this difference in quality is something I can’t compensate for by improving my skills. My camera has limitations in terms of focusing, flash sync, cycle time, and battery life. All of these things impact my creativity and enjoyment of underwater photography.
@@jasondbaker fair enough. I understand all that but everything that you just mentioned has got nothing to do with Photography. That's all technology but Photography is an Art form. Two vastly different topics. My main camera is a 10-year-old camera and I do not see any difference between my camera and any of the new Mirrorless cameras in terms of image quality. My other camera is a 20-year-old camera that I've bought 3 of as my backups to ensure I can continue using the same camera for the rest of my life. Photography is an Art form and not a technology competition.
![HIWWHEE | OHM [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/OJJLtTLqLag/mqdefault.jpg)
Great discussion guys! I used Nikon gear for a very long time but switched to Olympus/OM System about 2 years ago. I wanted the animal eye focus capabilities and the ProCap feature for my topside work and a lighter camera bag. The smaller footprint of the gear also made it less costly to take underwater. I use two OM1 and an assortment of lenses of which most were purchased used. I do still have my D800 and Nikkor 16-35mm lens because nobody was interested in buying the old technology. I still use it occasionally for topside seascapes.
Great video, thank you.
The road to the underwater camara kit I have now, was not a straight forward one.
I started out with a used D7100, which I loved, but couldn’t get hold of a nauticam housing for the camera anymore.
After some research, the D500 looked like an awesome option for underwater photography and I bought a used one on marketplace for a reasonable price.
As it turned out, it had some dead pixels on the sensor, so I was not going to buy a housing for that camera either.
I thought really hard about where to go from there, didn’t know if buying a new D850 in 2022 would make sense or be future proof since I wasn’t yet heavily invested in lenses at that point and I wasn’t sold on the Z6 or Z7.
I decided to jump the Nikon ship and found a new home for both of cameras and the lenses.
I had one of the really early Sony mirrorless cameras previously and really strongly disliked the menu, so Sony was not an option. (I heard that a lot has improved since and it is a lot better now…)
The more I read, the more I liked the Canon R5 and with my previous bad experience buying used , it had to be a newer camera anyway.
I do really like my camera, but looking at the camera market now, I would also be totally happy with a Z8 or a a7R5 I’m sure.
Essentially when I decided to buy a mirrorless camera it was because the prices for new or even used DSLRs were still pretty high compared to the never mirrorless cameras.
Thanks for sharing. One major factor in all this is always personal - where you're coming from.
I'm in the market for a new camera rig in the next year and I'd be curious what you guys think about the current market options. I'm totally open to switching vendors and buying all new gear since I'd probably use this camera for the next decade. An interesting video segment could highlight premium, mid-range, and budget mirrorless camera options along with suggested lenses, housings, and lighting for someone shooting both WA and macro.
Matthew, I recommend upgrading your mic and lighting to match Alex's setup better because there's a noticeable difference in quality. The virtual background on your video feed creates distracting artifacts and your mic audio is capturing some of the room echoes. Thank you guys for your continued investment in creating new content for us.
We've long planned doing an episode comparing the big three: Z8, A7RV and R5. And also plan a sweet-spot cameras episode - our picks at different levels. But we're also trying to pace gear focused episodes with image based episodes, technique episodes and interviews. But it is all coming (slowly).
I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on the following. I had a chance to borrow Byron Conroy's Sony mirrorless setup while in Lembeh recently. I found that the color in the EVF when reviewing the images I just shot did not represent what I was actually seeing (they were more red in the viewfinder) but when I downloaded the images to my computer, the colors were correct. Could it have been some sort of configuration of the EVF? Is this something you've seen before?
Mirrorless EVFs can be adjusted both in terms of their brightness and colour balance. I leave mine as standard, maybe Byron has tweaked his. When I was last in Lembeh I was swapping between my D850 and borrowed Sony cameras and switching dive on dive definitely highlights the differences in viewing. I think seeing flash-lit review images on the same screen you were just composing on (the EVF) takes a dive or two to get used too. I would expect you to get used to this very quickly, which I am sure Byron is.
Do let everyone know the reasons why you switched, or why you didn’t?
Interestingly enough, I'll be switching from my D850 to an A7RV soon both because of the things discussed in this video, as well as some of the subjects that will likely be discussed in the follow-up video: another underwater photographer was having trouble adjusting to mirrorless and wanted to switch back to DSLR, so he reached out to me to propose a trade. I'd originally planned to hold onto my D850 for a few more years because it was working fine for my photography, but with the opportunity in front of me, I figured I may as well make the jump now while someone's still interested in acquiring my current rig.
It's shame that almost all discussions, particularly within the wildlife photography community, tend to revolve solely around equipment, lenses, and technological advancements, neglecting the essence of Photography as an Art form.
The only justifiable reasons for moving to mirrorless cameras are either when your existing DSLR becomes dysfunctional and no longer produces images, so you need to purchase a new camera, or having surplus money hanging in your bank account and you are determined to get rid of it because you can and you're bored, in which case your options are mainly limited to Mirrorless because all manufacturers decided to go down the mirrorless paths. Otherwise, are you truly a Photographer or merely a camera operator?
Mirrorless represents an evolutionary step in the development of cameras and when you combine that with advances in sensors, cpus, focusing, and flash sync it becomes a solution that’s hard to ignore. I shoot with a 14 year old DSLR camera which works as well as the day I bought it. However, I can see a clear difference in quality between my pictures and those coming from new cameras. And this difference in quality is something I can’t compensate for by improving my skills. My camera has limitations in terms of focusing, flash sync, cycle time, and battery life. All of these things impact my creativity and enjoyment of underwater photography.
@@jasondbaker fair enough. I understand all that but everything that you just mentioned has got nothing to do with Photography. That's all technology but Photography is an Art form. Two vastly different topics.
My main camera is a 10-year-old camera and I do not see any difference between my camera and any of the new Mirrorless cameras in terms of image quality. My other camera is a 20-year-old camera that I've bought 3 of as my backups to ensure I can continue using the same camera for the rest of my life.
Photography is an Art form and not a technology competition.