Mustard’s Masterclass

Mustard’s

MASTERCLASS

Alex Mustard turns his attention to cameras and housings, offering sage advice to help you avoid spending your hard-earned cash on the wrong equipment set-up for your requirements

Photographs by Alex Mustard / www.amustard.com

Summarise underwater photography

equipment in one word? Expensive! Which among other things raises the stakes on selecting the right gear, because while the good stuff is costly, it is even more painful buying the wrong equipment first and then having to stump up again for correct stuff.

On top of this, the underwater world is also a highly challenging environment to create images, where poor set-ups are punished with poor images, inferior ergonomics mean missing the shots others bag, and the reliability of sub-par equipment is ruthlessly exposed. But I don’t want to come across all doom and gloom. While underwater cameras look broadly the same as a five, ten, or 20 years ago, their performance and reliability has rocketed in recent times, making it much harder to end up with a lemon.

The aim of this month’s column is not to get tangled in the arguments differentiating brand A over brand B. Instead, I want to furnish you with some guiding principles for those big system purchases of cameras and housings.

Cameras are where we all start this process, but despite these being the focus of this month’s column, I think most of us get too obsessed here at the expense of the rest of our set-up. Lenses and lighting (which I’ll cover next month) make much more of a difference to underwater images than cameras, yet time again I see photographers splashing the cash on their camera body, and looking to cut corners on the items that really matter. That said, it is still critical to get that first choice correct - just don’t blow all your budget!

The big debate currently among serious shooters is the choice between SLR and mirrorless cameras. There is no doubt that mirrorless is the future and if you are starting right now, it would be foolish not to make these your first consideration. Most cameras are great these days, but not all can take all the lenses we need below. If you are thinking of a camera that few others use underwater, then make sure you research its suitability thoroughly. For those currently invested in SLRs, the ‘upgrade or not’ arguments are more nuanced, which can be hard to hear in the barrage of industry hype about mirrorless cameras. Remember every camera company, housing company and camera shop wants us to upgrade to mirrorless, because it means buying new everything! For my money, the best SLRs still have a small edge for underwater use in important areas, like lens choice, flash synch speed, viewfinders and, arguably, autofocus. I prefer a mirrorless above the surface, but underwater the camera I choose to use is still an SLR.

The other current conundrum to get our heads around is the plateauing of tech. Since the start of digital underwater photography, cameras have routinely appeared every two to four years that made very strong cases for us to upgrade. Huge progress has been made on autofocus, megapixels, dynamic range and high ISO noise that has made staying upto-date a no-brainer. However, over the last decade the cameras have increasingly matured to a point where their specs really do exceed everyday needs underwater. Now is the time to divorce our mindset from the upgrade cycle letting us save unnecessary expense. This should also mean that we are less concerned how quickly housings come to market and instead focused on buying one that is well made to take this extended workload.

The housing is your interface with your camera, and once we’ve invested in a brand and its accessories, we’re unlikely to change. A reliable housing with refined ergonomics regularly makes the difference between coming home with a shot or with just a story. This is one of our most-important purchase commitments and one, by definition, that most make when we are starting out, rather than after years of experience. With that in mind, I believe in finding a retailer I like and trust and then buying from them, rather than simply searching for the cheapest items online. A good retailer will save you both time

Electronic viewfinders still lag behind optical viewfinders for composing typical highcontrast scenes

Underwater photography pushes gear to the limits and poor equipment will be exposed

For my money, the best SLRs still have a small edge for underwater use in important areas, like lens choice, flash synch speed, viewfinders and, arguably, autofocus

and money with their advice. Most underwater photography retailers will sell just one to four of the 20 or so housing brands that exist, which simplifies your choice too. This also ensures you have a brand with local support, should anything go wrong just before a trip. It is also sensible to choose the same brand as your buddies, so that you have a ready source of advice and can share accessories as you get going.

The most-important feature on a housing are the primary controls: shutter release, aperture and shutter speed dials. You will use these controls for almost every single shot, and you will often need to access them without looking and in a fraction of a second to keep up with the action. All three need to fall easily to your fingertips and be easy to adjust, giving a good feel of the controls beneath. Next check access to other important features, like ISO, back-button autofocus, autofocus point selection and image review. Some of us have big hands some small, some dive in thick gloves some wear no gloves. So just because someone else tells you a housing is the best, remember if it doesn’t feel right, it is not right for you. If you regularly dive in gloves, you must take them to the shop when trying out housings. n

Some subjects demand top quality autofocus, like small, darting fish, but many do not