Yay!!! Got my Panasonic TZ1 underwater housing.

[fuzzybabybunny]

I had to order this housing from the UK because there are no merchants in the US with this in stock. It was shipped on the 25th... and it got to me on the 28th... Yay for EMS shipping!

Anyway, here are the pics:

http://fuzzybabybunny.smugmug.com/gallery/2774920#147737393

Pics underwater:

http://fuzzybabybunny.smugmug.com/gallery/2776720#147862647

Total cost was about $350. $100 for the camera ($200 - $100 circuit city gift card from when I bought my Canon 30D (check out overclock's post) and $250 for the housing.

I took it to the diving well today, and, well, it's disappointing. Not because of the housing but because of the stupid camera.

RANT
I don't know what in God's name Panasonic thinks it's accomplishing with its Venus III engine. Anything over ISO200 it just blurs to hell and back because it tries to remove the noise but instead nukes a lot of the image detail along with it. My 4-year-old 4MP Olympus C-750 has better ISO400 than this thing. I really want someone to just hack Panasonic's firmware and allow people to turn noise reduction off. Picture taking is absolutely pointless with this thing in all but the most well-lit places.

The lens on the TZ1 is not wide enough for underwater stuff. Not even close. 35mm is the widest. When held at arm's length, one human head fits the screen, perhaps two if they are cheek to cheek. I just realized today just how important wideangle is for underwater stuff.

You want to shoot as close as you can to your subject. The reasons are:

1. As you increase distance from your subject, the murkiness of the water will cut down on sharpness. There is no such thing as telephoto underwater photography for this reason.

2. As you increase distance from your subject, the water cuts down on the amount of light from your subject that reaches your camera, meaning you'll need to shoot at slower shutter speeds to compensate AND/OR your flash will be unable to reach that far.

3. Longer focal lengths magnify camera shake, which is prevalent if you are snorkeling.

With a wide, you can get as close to your subject as possible, minimizing 1, 2, and 3, while squeezing in as much into the frame as possible. I can tell right now that I'm going to have some serious trouble shooting things like schools of fish and my friends unless I'm a good 20 feet back, whereas with a wide I might be able to float only 10 feet back or even closer.

Shooting underwater is hard! Buoyancy is a serious issue. When you shoot pictures you want to be as steady as possible. Even the slightest upwards float or downwards sink can blur a picture and screw up framing, and this is only magnified by the longer focal length.

Filming underwater is also hard! Again, it's buoyancy, but it's also hard to hold the camera steady as you're kicking with your flippers. Image Stabilization really helps here.

GRRR I wish there was a camera out there that had a wide lens and could zoom during movie mode! The TZ3, the successor to my TZ1, has a nice 28mm lens, but it doesn't zoom during movie mode :|

BTW, anyone know where I can host some videos that I took underwater? They're 848x480 @ 30fps.

 

[eplebnista]

Congrats! :beer:

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

bump for some afternoon peeps!

 

[mercanucaribe]

Why are housings like that more expensive than the camera?

 

[Jahee]

How deep is the housing rated to go?

 

[OulOat]

I have the same camera and notice the same issues. The camera works great in daylight conditions, but in low light it takes a second (which is a long time) to focus and compute the aperture/ shutter speed. And the shutter speed sucks in indoor lighting, so expect a lot of blurring.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Why are housings like that more expensive than the camera?

I may be wrong, but probably because they're kind of a niche product. Cameras are sold to everyone from every walk of life. These are sold to people who specifically want to take their cameras underwater, which probably accounts for a very small percentage of digital camera users.

Not to mention they often have to be custom-made for each new model of digicam that is released onto the market.

Digicam 2000 gets released by XYZ company, XYZ company has to make a housing for it.
Scarcely a year later, Digicam 3000 gets released as the update to Digicam 2000, complete with different button positions, etc.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: Jahee
How deep is the housing rated to go?

130ft

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: OulOat
I have the same camera and notice the same issues. The camera works great in daylight conditions, but in low light it takes a second (which is a long time) to focus and compute the aperture/ shutter speed. And the shutter speed sucks in indoor lighting, so expect a lot of blurring.

Yup. I really don't understand why it's so hard to make a decent digicam these days.

Back in the day Olympus even made an f/1.8 digicam! I feel that all things are possible, but marketing departments are deliberately limiting the things that are put on digicams to maximize profits.

 

[funboy6942]

I thought you were getting the TZ3 with the 28mm lens??? Oh Im so disappointed, I was hoping you were getting that one for it was the one I want to get and was hoping to hear good news about that camera.

I take you didnt go with the TZ3 because it didnt zoom in movie mode. As for the weight problem underwater, what about using work out weights, the small 1-5 lb ones till you find the happy place that will keep you in one spot, but not keep you from coming back to the surface? The ones that attach to the ankles and wrists with velcro perhaps? Shouldnt need to much to keep you floating in the middle without falling to the bottom, just to make up for what air is in your lungs making you float back to the top.

Other then that, if you didnt go buy the TZ1, Id be asking you to let me know when your ready to sell the TZ1, still LMK, if the price is right for it I still may take it off your hands if you get to a point you cannot stand it anymore. Just wish you had gotten the TZ3, was looking forward to seeing some pics out of it to compare to my FZ5.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: funboy42
I thought you were getting the TZ3 with the 28mm lens??? Oh Im so disappointed, I was hoping you were getting that one for it was the one I want to get and was hoping to hear good news about that camera.

I take you didnt go with the TZ3 because it didnt zoom in movie mode. As for the weight problem underwater, what about using work out weights, the small 1-5 lb ones till you find the happy place that will keep you in one spot, but not keep you from coming back to the surface? The ones that attach to the ankles and wrists with velcro perhaps? Shouldnt need to much to keep you floating in the middle without falling to the bottom, just to make up for what air is in your lungs making you float back to the top.

Other then that, if you didnt go buy the TZ1, Id be asking you to let me know when your ready to sell the TZ1, still LMK, if the price is right for it I still may take it off your hands if you get to a point you cannot stand it anymore. Just wish you had gotten the TZ3, was looking forward to seeing some pics out of it to compare to my FZ5.

I had a really hard time deciding between the TZ3 and the TZ1. It was a decision between two critical factors:

1. Zooming during movie mode.
2. Wide lens.

The camera is going to be used for general travel videography, so I really really felt a zooming lens was necessary. I was angry the whole time while making this decision because it shouldn't be that hard to get a camera that has both, ESPECIALLY zooming during movie mode, and ESPECIALLY since this limit is probably easily lifted by a simple firmware change.

Believe me, I was not happy making such a judgment call.

As for the weight, it's tricky. The housing has a tripod mounting hole that I can screw weights into, but buoyancy is really determined by the amount of air in my lungs. More often than not I sink with a full breath, but sometimes I float slowly upwards. It all depends on my last breath, which varies.

When I want wide and have no reason to zoom, I'll be wishing I had the TZ3 (probably about 40% of the time). When I want the zoom, I'll be glad that I have the TZ1 (probably about 60% of the time). When I want a photo engine that wasn't programmed by idiots (Venus III), I'll grab my DSLR or cry if it's not available.

 

[mrrman]

that looks neat