• Sea & Sea MX-5. No optional accessories available. $189.
• Ikelite Auto 35. Includes camera, housing, A35 strobe, arm assembly and macro kit. $400.
• Pioneer SeaLife Reefmaster RC--Pro Set. Includes camera, 3X close-up lens and SeaLife external flash ($419.95), plus Macro Wand Kit ($129.95). $549.90.

Ikelite Auto 35	Pioneer SeaLife Reefmaster RC	Spot, the bottlenose dolphin of Cayman Brac. Taken with the SeaLife Reefmaster RC, 3X close-up lens, and auxiliary strobe. The off-camera strobe on the Reefmaster RC allows superior lighting for this dolphin shot, and the 3X lens brings the subject in sharp focus from two to four feet.
Sea & Sea MX-5
Street Prices vs. Retail All prices are approximate "street" prices as opposed to "list" prices. You may find dealers offering these products for slightly more or less, but the numbers provided here should be reasonable pricing guidelines.

Tip 1: Minimize Backscatter

• Work in the clearest possible water.
• If the water is dirty, find a busy, visually confusing background that may hide particles.
• Avoid shooting into the open water column, which will accentuate particles.
• Don't make backscatter worse with poor buoyancy skills. Avoid stirring the sand on the bottom or dislodging the silt on a sponge.
• Use off-camera strobes (those mounted on arms), if possible. Among the cameras tested, both the Ikelite Auto 35 and the SeaLife Reefmaster RC have articulated strobe arms and a secondary slaved strobe triggered by the deflected light from the camera's built-in flash. An advantage of off-camera strobes is that when particles are illuminated, it is with rim-light rather than front-light, and the backscatter effect is minimized.
• Position your strobe high and to the side, pointing down to the subject.

When trying to photograph larger subjects from a distance, point-and-shoot cameras are challenged by the increased size of the water column. The colors are somewhat less intense and backscatter is apparent in the blue water at the top of the image.

Tip 2: Find the Sweet Spot

• The Ikelite Auto 35 and the MX-5 work well in the two- to four-foot range.
• The Reefmaster RC requires the addition of the 3X lens to work in the two- to four-foot range, but fortunately it is an easy friction-fit optic that slips on and off under water.
• Beyond four or five feet, none of these cameras delivers good sharpness, color or resolution, but that is generally true of underwater photography, not a flaw of these systems.

Tip 3: Shrink the Water Column

• Use artificial light (a strobe).
• Work close. Choose a point-and-shoot that focuses to at least two feet with a primary lens, or has an easy system of adding supplemental lenses to get close.

The cameras tested have considered the essential axiom of "get close": The MX-5 uses a close-focusing primary lens. The Ikelite Auto 35 and Reefmaster RC offer accessories for working progressively closer to the subject.

However, only the Sea & Sea MX-10 offers a wide-angle lens. So, if you intend to shoot divers, shipwrecks, reef scenics or large marine mammals, the MX-10 permits working close yet still captures the large view.

Tip 4: Read the Owner's Manual

Tip 5: Know Your Accessories

Tip 6: Choose the Right Subject

A cluster of Christmas tree worms is too small for the normal lens with the Ikelite Auto 35. Trying to get close enough to fill the frame will not help, and out-of-focus pictures will result. However, the simple addition of the macro lens and framer will allow sharp focus and stunning color of coral reef macro life.

Tip 7: Know Your Limitations

Tip 8: Use Quality Processing

Tip 9: Make Yourself Heard

Tip 10: Use Print Film

Point-and-Shoot Workshop

This series of four photos taken with the SeaLife Reefmaster RC camera and external flash shows the tremendous effect water has on color saturation. In the first photo (above left), no close-up lens was used and the subject is approximately five feet away. Note the dull, muted colors. In the second photo (above right), the 3X close-up lens allowed the subject to be captured in sharp focus from only two feet away.
The progressively closer third and fourth photos were taken with the 8X and 16X macro lenses.

This series of three photographs taken with the Ikelite Auto 35 illustrates how important proper print processing can be to the final result. The lighter photos were the result of standard machine prints, but when asked, the lab technician was happy to reprint to make them darker. You should expect a reprint at no charge for improperly exposed prints. If the detail is there on the negative, there is no reason not to expect a good print. Exposure latitude on color negative films is very forgiving, so be suspicious if you see poorly printed results.
Standard processing ... hmmmm, not quite.
Reprints made darker ... that's more like it.

I Just Want to Try Underwater Photography--How Much Should I Spend?

It all depends on your goal:

Goal -- Souvenir snapshots.
Option -- Single-use cameras.

If you only want to shoot a couple of rolls on your dive holiday, and really want little more than souvenir snapshots, maybe a $20 disposable ("single-use") camera is all you need. Depth restrictions on these cameras are usually around 20 feet, so these are for shallow reef and snorkeling only.

For deeper water, the Ikelite Aquashot 3 ($60) is an excellent choice. This clever housing accommodates Kodak, Fuji or Ikelite single-use 35mm flash cameras or the Kodak single-use Funsaver APS camera and makes very basic underwater photography affordable and reasonably hassle-free.

Goal -- Quality underwater photos of small to mid-sized subjects.
Option -- A simple point-and-shoot camera.

One of the best values is the Sea & Sea MX-5: for about $189, you get a sharp glass 28mm lens, built-in motor drive, built-in flash, depth capability to 120 feet, and clever ergonomic features like a viewfinder that folds down to be a lens protector and automatic rewind (plus mid-roll rewind). This camera is the epitome of point-and-shoot simplicity. Yet the MX-5 does not pretend to be an advanced system camera. It has no macro or wide-angle accessories, nor does it offer a supplementary strobe. What it does, it does very well. It gives good pictures of small to medium-sized reef creatures from an optimal distance of two to four feet, ideally in clear water.

Goal -- Quality underwater photos of a variety of subjects.
Option -- The point-and-shoot camera systems.

In this test, both the SeaLife Reefmaster RC and Ikelite Auto 35 have the possibility of adding an external strobe and close-up capability.

Only the Sea & Sea MX-10 gives you the choice of a wide-angle lens as well as macro and a standard lens (total system price of $798).