Reasonable quality Underwater(UW) Photograpy / Videography on a budget?

NOV 26, 2022

As mentioned in the title, we are aiming to produce reasonabe quality photos or video footage on a budget.

If image/video quality is not a concern, then just purchase the cheapest camera you can find in the market

and read no further.

If you are starting out or simply don't have sugar mummy/daddy to sponsor those expensive gears,

here are my recommendation to have a relatively inexpensive setup.

A. UW Photography (Macro/Supermacro) with price estimation in USD

1. Get a Seafrog brand UW camera housing. Cheaper than big brands but totally useable. [~USD200]

2. Get a compact camera. Make sure Seafrog has the UW housing for the compact camera brand/model. [~USD400]

3. A narrow beam torch light(min 1200 Lumens)[~USD100]

4. A macro wet lens /diopter. (+10)[~USD200] *Not required if you are using Olympus TG-4/5/6

5. Any cheapest UW strobe(flash) that you can find. Enough power for macro.[~USD200] *Start with one pc, two would be better.

6. A budget UW camera tray with arms,clamps, fibre optic cable. [~USD200]

With the above setup recommendation, you will definitely capable of achieving competition level photo quality for macro/supermacro. A highly "professional photographer" setup usually costs at least 3-6 times more. See setup example below.

Setup example below : UW Photography (Macro/Supermacro)

B. UW Photography (WA - Wide Angle) with price estimation in USD

1.A compact camera with a Seafrog UW housing.[~USD700]

2.A UW wide angle wet lens. (min 120 deg UW) [~USD400]

3.A good/mid range UW strobe. You need as much light as possible for WA. [~USD600]

*Start with a single strobe. Can get another later of if you can afford it.

4.A budget UW camera tray with arms,clamps, fibre optic cable. [~USD200]

With the above setup recommendation, you will definitely capable of achieving competition level photo quality for wide angle.

A highly "professional photographer" setup usually costs at least 3-6 times more. See setup example below.

Setup example below : UW Photography (Wide Angle)

C. UW Videography (Wide angle and close-up macro) with price estimation in USD

1.A mid range action camera with UW housing.(min 4k30fps) [~USD350]

2.A bright UW video light. (min 5000 Lumens)[~USD500]

*Buy the brightest video light that you can afford. Its never enough.

3.An UW wide angle lens for action camera. [~USD350]

*Only available for GoPro at the time of writing this. Helps with close-up focus as well.

4.A budget UW camera tray with arms,clamps, fibre optic cable. [~USD200]

5.Red filter (for blue waters) / Magenta filter (for green waters) [~USD30]

With the above setup recommendation, you will definitely capable of achieving social media quality videos.

A highly "professional photographer" setup usually costs at least 5-10 times more. See setup example below.

Setup example below : UW Videography (Wide Angle/Macro)

To reduce the setup cost, consider purchasing older models / used gears. (no more than 5 years old)

Bear in mind that a proper underwater photography/videography gears is just a starting point to produce a reasonable quality outcome. It does not guarantee the result. You have to learn how to utilize the gears to get the result.

Someone who knows how to utilize a USD5000 setup will still produce better quality videos/photos than someone who has no idea how to handle a USD50,000 setup.

Final tips :

1.If you want to shoot everything, Macro/Supermacro + Wide Angle Photos + Videos with minimum investment. SETUP B is the best option (add a couple of cheap no brand video lights).

2.Almost all amazing photos/videos that you have come across have been post-processed.

Learn how to post-process image/video and you will get stunning outcomes.

Happy shooting !