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  • Super User
Posted

I need to buy a water resistant camera to get some shots for my book. I'm thinking maybe a GoPro, because they fit the bill and are fairly small and there's a ton of mounts, but do the photographers in this group have any other recommendations?

  • Global Moderator
Posted

iPhone. I’m not a photographer but I live with one haha

  • Super User
Posted

Because I was nervous about dropping my $1,200 iPhone and loosing it to the bottom of a lake, I bought a Minolta MN40WP, 48 mega pixel camera. You can get this waterproof camera for $85-$90. 

  • Like 3
  • Super User
Posted

Waterproof?  iPhone. Take pictures underwater without a housing?  Olympus tg series. I don’t think you want to do diving cameras in a housing, but if you do we can talk.

  • Like 1
Posted

Water resistant... iPhone is fine. Mine (11 pro) has been dunked a few times this year and is fine. Granted it's only been in the water/submerged 5-10 seconds but still...

 

Idk if the GoPro would be good for pics. Idk that much about them but it seems like they are defaulted to a wider angle lens and stuff starts to look fish bowly...

 

What @casts_by_fly said about the Olympus TG series.

  • Super User
Posted
On 1/10/2025 at 12:17 AM, casts_by_fly said:

Waterproof?  iPhone. Take pictures underwater without a housing?  Olympus tg series. I don’t think you want to do diving cameras in a housing, but if you do we can talk.

Just water resistant, so no harm if it gets some splashes.

  • Super User
Posted
1 hour ago, Boomstick said:

Just water resistant, so no harm if it gets some splashes.


in that case, just use your phone camera. Anything from the past five years or so will be fully submergible to shallow depth and short time. Splashes are no problem.  

  • Like 1
  • Super User
Posted
3 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:


in that case, just use your phone camera. Anything from the past five years or so will be fully submergible to shallow depth and short time. Splashes are no problem.  

 

I do have a few great shots on my phone I want to use already, it's not a bad camera.

 

I was just thinking I wanted the best quality shots possible. Maybe I'll rent a higher end camera with a waterproof lens for a day, go light on fishing gear and just focus on getting potential cover shots with that.

 

Another perk for another camera would be I could have my kid take shots of me on my kayak from his kayak.

  • Super User
Posted
2 hours ago, Boomstick said:

 

I do have a few great shots on my phone I want to use already, it's not a bad camera.

 

I was just thinking I wanted the best quality shots possible. Maybe I'll rent a higher end camera with a waterproof lens for a day, go light on fishing gear and just focus on getting potential cover shots with that.

 

Another perk for another camera would be I could have my kid take shots of me on my kayak from his kayak.


Not sure what camera you have, but an iPhone 14 or 15 pro will do just about everything that a compact camera will. If you are an iPhone user, take what you’d spend on a new camera and upgrade your phone. You get the benefit of the camera AND a newer phone. I have a standard 13 and the pictures are okay. Equivalent to a compact camera from a couple years ago. My wifes 15 pro will take candids which are equal to my dslr. Depending where you are in the phone cycle, your phone will be better than so many cameras and soooo much more convenient 

  • Like 1
  • Super User
Posted
On 1/16/2025 at 11:56 PM, casts_by_fly said:


Not sure what camera you have, but an iPhone 14 or 15 pro will do just about everything that a compact camera will. If you are an iPhone user, take what you’d spend on a new camera and upgrade your phone. You get the benefit of the camera AND a newer phone. I have a standard 13 and the pictures are okay. Equivalent to a compact camera from a couple years ago. My wifes 15 pro will take candids which are equal to my dslr. Depending where you are in the phone cycle, your phone will be better than so many cameras and soooo much more convenient 

I have an iPhone 12. The camera isn’t too bad but nowhere near the lighting of a dslr

  • Super User
Posted
On 1/16/2025 at 10:56 PM, casts_by_fly said:


Not sure what camera you have, but an iPhone 14 or 15 pro will do just about everything that a compact camera will. If you are an iPhone user, take what you’d spend on a new camera and upgrade your phone. You get the benefit of the camera AND a newer phone. I have a standard 13 and the pictures are okay. Equivalent to a compact camera from a couple years ago. My wifes 15 pro will take candids which are equal to my dslr. Depending where you are in the phone cycle, your phone will be better than so many cameras and soooo much more convenient 

I’ve got an iPhone 15 Pro Max and although they are waterproof, if it falls overboard in 10 feet of water, it’s good as lost. That’s not a risk I’m willing to take for a fish picture. That camera I posted about above takes great fish pictures and if I lose it over the side, it’s not such a major loss.

  • Super User
Posted
44 minutes ago, Boomstick said:

I have an iPhone 12. The camera isn’t too bad but nowhere near the lighting of a dslr


well, a new 16 pro is about $1k. Trade in on yours is $170. So $830 gets you a brand new phone plus a camera that is pretty phenomenal. The pro adds a third lens/camera which makes such a difference in low light and also for clarity/visual acuity. For me, having the upgraded phone in addition to the camera would be a lot more useful than adding a camera alone.

 

what are you trying to take pictures of?  If it’s a moving animal/plane/etc then, ok, a dslr equivalent is probably the right answer.  Still or mostly still things?  A pro 16 would do it. 

  • Super User
Posted
17 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:


well, a new 16 pro is about $1k. Trade in on yours is $170. So $830 gets you a brand new phone plus a camera that is pretty phenomenal. The pro adds a third lens/camera which makes such a difference in low light and also for clarity/visual acuity. For me, having the upgraded phone in addition to the camera would be a lot more useful than adding a camera alone.

 

what are you trying to take pictures of?  If it’s a moving animal/plane/etc then, ok, a dslr equivalent is probably the right answer.  Still or mostly still things?  A pro 16 would do it. 

Fish, lake scenery and trailheads and vistas on trails.

  • Super User
Posted
1 hour ago, Boomstick said:

Fish, lake scenery and trailheads and vistas on trails.


and your planning to print them in a physical book or into an ebook?  I ask because for print purposes you need a certain pixel density and quality to allow for retouching, crops, enlargement, etc.  If you are doing a coffee table book with double page prints of vistas, then I’d suggest you need a dslr level for that. An iPhone panorama would be good, but you’re only going to hike said vistas once if it’s a big one or a specific lighting you’re getting. A bigger sensor will give you more room for error. 
 

If you want to look at an interchangeable lens camera, the Olympus em5 series are weatherproof so just fine for splash and rain resistance. I have a mark 2 and it will take phenomenal, print worthy pictures.  A used but great condition one will run about $400-$450 without a lens and then add the lens to do what you want. The Olympus 17 1.8 is a pancake like lens wide angle which would be great for vistas and fish at close range. An excellent used one would be about $300. 

  • Like 1
  • Super User
Posted
On 1/19/2025 at 12:23 PM, casts_by_fly said:


and your planning to print them in a physical book or into an ebook?  I ask because for print purposes you need a certain pixel density and quality to allow for retouching, crops, enlargement, etc.  If you are doing a coffee table book with double page prints of vistas, then I’d suggest you need a dslr level for that. An iPhone panorama would be good, but you’re only going to hike said vistas once if it’s a big one or a specific lighting you’re getting. A bigger sensor will give you more room for error. 
 

If you want to look at an interchangeable lens camera, the Olympus em5 series are weatherproof so just fine for splash and rain resistance. I have a mark 2 and it will take phenomenal, print worthy pictures.  A used but great condition one will run about $400-$450 without a lens and then add the lens to do what you want. The Olympus 17 1.8 is a pancake like lens wide angle which would be great for vistas and fish at close range. An excellent used one would be about $300. 

 

I'm honestly not 100% sure on format. It will be a physical book but I imagine a lot of images can be a page in size, so some images I got on my phone may be totally serviceable.

 

I might just want to get a cover photo, or a full-size picture for each chapter (which is generally a lake), but that could even be half page pictures with a chapter title above it. So I might be able to rent a DSLR camera.

 

It's not a picture book by any means, but I'd like to include some decent photos. But it's in my control how I do.

 

 

 

  • Super User
Posted
13 hours ago, Boomstick said:

 

I'm honestly not 100% sure on format. It will be a physical book but I imagine a lot of images can be a page in size, so some images I got on my phone may be totally serviceable.

 

I might just want to get a cover photo, or a full-size picture for each chapter (which is generally a lake), but that could even be half page pictures with a chapter title above it. So I might be able to rent a DSLR camera.

 

It's not a picture book by any means, but I'd like to include some decent photos. But it's in my control how I do.

 

 

 

 

ok.  In that case, I would recommend a DSLR/mirrorless camera.  For print, you will want more pixels on target and a higher quality sensor.  That will give you much better flexibility for print options later.  If you need to crop, you need to have the pixels on target in the first place.  Digital crop/zoom doesn't help you.  A new iphone pro 16 would still probably do it, but when you start pushing it to extremes (lower light panos, higher zooms, etc) that tiny sensor will start to reveal itself.  And in this case you might only get one shot of the thing you're taking a picture of so it has to be right.

 

I checked, and my EM5 is a generation 1.  It prints well. With a decent to good lens on it you can do some amazing things.  It's my underwater camera (in a housing) and I also just took it on safari (plus candids while touring around).  Happy to share examples here if that's a route you want to consider.  

 

Also in your case, I'd do a couple test shots and print them.  Either with your phone or whatever you have.  Print them up to the max size you think you'll need and see where you are.  That will tell you just how much you need to upgrade on the camera end.

 

 

 

 

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