GUIDE TO UNDERWATER

SHOOTING EQUIPMENT PURCHASE

To anybody whishing to start shooting their own fishing actions I would like to give some advices about how to buy the proper equipment and which criteria to take into account.

First of all we need to choose between cameras and video cameras on the basis of the fact that the price for a camera is much lower and even if technology contributed a lot in reducing the dimensions of video cameras they have always a greater volume and weight unless you purchase a model with  low video quality. For this reason I feel to suggest them to experienced free divers and to people who can afford a greater budget.

Please be careful and do not misunderstand the point on the economical  side I am trying to make as even for a good camera you need to spend more or less half an average monthly wage, however with the actual innovation progresses the output video shot with a camera is a real good one, for this reason the purchase of the latter must not be seen as a cheaper alternative to a more expensive good but another way to reach the aim of shooting our spearfishing actions.

The main criteria are:

1. volume/weight
2. ccd sensor
3. lenses
4. battery
5. lcd monitor
6. video format
7. waterproof case
8. price

VOLUME/WEIGHT

The volume but not less than the weight, is a very important feature since when the camera gets mounted on the speargun it can compromise the use of it, however you do not need to search the smallest camera ever as the smaller dimensions bring with them several problems.
First of all smaller lenses catch less light so it outcome is low quality picture especially in low-light environments like the sea bass. Moreover the micro lenses are  often  affected by color distortion in strong contrast situations.
The camera I use is 190gr weight (battery pack and memory card included) and its dimensions are about 8,5cm x 6cm x 2cm. The use of it does not affect anyhow the brandish of the speargun.

CCD SENSOR

There are two things to mention about  sensors: the megapixel number and its dimensions. The first feature is really easy to figure out as it is nowadays really evident on the package, instead the dimensions of the CCD can be inferred by the noise reduction capacity and by the ISO sensibility it can afford, take into account that at the moment cameras go beyond 3400 ISO.
This component also allows to modify the out coming picture by correcting the white level, the contrast level or the level of one colour in particular in order to provide a better quality picture. For example in underwater shooting the first vanishing colour is the red and the actual cameras can correct this problem providing a picture clear and balanced as it was taken out of the water.

LENSES

Lenses have a relative importance in our use of the camera since the zoom function is inhibited during shooting and you need to set it in advance. We do not have to forget that the camera we purchase  will be used for several situations different from the underwater shooting but bear in mind that the most frequent functions are portrait and landscape. For the first kind of pictures you just need a 3X zoom and for the other you would need at least a 23mm wide angle lens. For this reason please be only careful in buying a camera with optical zoom and not a digital one as the second type “interprets” the data giving a bad quality outcome.
So the suggestion is to not buy a 20X zoom camera unless you are a paparazzi.

BATTERY

There is not much to say about batteries as nowadays almost all cameras are provided with rechargeable battery packs. The average duration is about 2 hours continuous filming. The batteries of my camera, for example, last 4 hours by using it with some tricks. I leave it on for 4 hours and it records only for the time I dive. During the intervals between the dives it goes in stand by mode by turning off the lcd monitor but keeping the lenses group out. This is a very important trick as moving inside and outside the lenses group takes a lot of energy and the battery lasted half the time.

LCD MONITOR

You just need to make sure it is well illuminated and large enough as it must be visible in any condition and I can tell you that even the silliest thing in water can turn into a very difficult thing to cope with.

VIDEO FORMAT

Once the maximum resolution was 640x480 now we have gone beyond the so called HD720p (1280x720). The most evident advantage is that the video will be larger (in terms of portion of screen occupied) and high quality.
With the same pace also the codecs have developed (small softwares representing an interface for interpretation of audio and/or video data) reaching a good level of MPEG compression, optimizing the space occupied on the memory card.
The last thing to know about is the FPS, in other words frames per second. If we think  that a movie is a sequence of pictures taken rapidly and consequently the larger is the amount of pictures taken in a time unit the higher will be the quality of the video.
If you intend then to edit these videos you need to consider the compatibility of the video format with the most common softwares like final cut, adobe premiere, ecc.

WATERPROOF CASE

SONY, PANASONIC and CANON are the producers who have made larger efforts to create a product line for underwater shooting, so almost any camera from these producers has the relevant case.
The choice must be taken in consideration of two simple feature: guaranteed for max 40mt depth and full use of all controls. You can decide to order a case made to measure for any other camera but it is really expensive.

PRICE

Take into consideration that you will not spend less than 400euros for camera and case. Then you need to add about 30 euros for 16giga memory card. If you then sum everything up the outcome is that with about 500 euros you can get a very good equipment instead if you choose a video camera the price gets doubled.
My suggestion is to buy on ebay from virtual stores who can give you an invoice and a guarantee certificate and that in many cases can let you save up to 50%.

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