Vandit Kalia, 6 March 2025

One of the most common questions budding underwater photographers have is - what camera should I get for underwater photography?   Should I get a compact camera or go for a housed interchangeable lens camera (ILC) set up? The obvious answer is:  ILC systems, whether a DSLR or a Mirrorless camera in a housing, take better photos.    You get lenses that are optimised for each use case.   You get a bigger sensor for more dynamic range.   You get faster autofocus.     In short, the technical superiority of ILC systems is not really in dispute:  that's why you see professional camera humping all the gear on flights, boats and in currents. But the reality isn't as black-and-white as that. While it is true that ILC systems do take better images, there are a few factors that you need to keep in mind about using them:

• You are generally limited to one choice of subject based on the lens that you use on the dive:  wide-angle for big stuff, or macro for small stuff.   These days, there are add-on wet lenses that you can use to increase the versatility of your setup and let you shoot both macro and wide angle, but they do affect the image quality to a fair bit and also add to the cost/bulk
• That stuff is expensive.     The housing alone typically costs more than the camera.   Then you need ports for each lens you will use, strobes, cables, arms, tray, clips, floats and more.       You can spend up to the cost of a compact SUV on a set up.
• That stuff is heavy and a pain to travel with, especially with a 7kg carry-on baggage allowance.   It's a pain on the dive boat, what with needing to check o-rings, change batteries regularly, making sure it doesn't get bumped on the way out to the dive site and back, etc.   It is also a pain to deal with on the dive, as its size and drag makes swimming harder, especially when you are fighting a current.    It's also a pain to position and shoot.    And dealing with it underwater also task-loads you as a diver, which can increase the risk of something going wrong.   In other words, it's basically a pain all around.

As you can see, ILC housings are fairly high maintenance pieces of kit, worse even than that one ex you are trying to pretend never happened.   Only the output from them makes it worth dealing with their drama. And speaking of end results, to realise that improved output, you need to change the way you dive.    You can't simply swim around and take a shot here and a shot there, and hope to get great images.   To start with, you have to decide on your choice of subject (wide angle, fish portraits or macro) and pick a lens accordingly.   Then you need to find a subject and really spend time on it to get the best images:  simply taking a snapshot here or there won't get you good photos.   Eg, I have spent up to 30-40 minutes in one location to get the perfect shot.     It's basically a change in approach:  you are no longer a scuba diver with a camera.   You are a photographer who happens to be on scuba.   Are you willing to dedicate your dive to making photos? Second, even if you are willing to do the above, CAN you do so - both in terms of your buddy and the rest of the dive group?       Will you be holding up the entire group or not giving your buddy the attention s/he deserves? Lastly, are your personal dive skills ready for this?    Managing that big-ass setup in the water is non-trivial, in terms of effort needed to push it in the water, air consumption and also ensuring you do not kick any fragile coral while carefully composing your the shot.   Further, that gear also makes it harder for you to handle any problem that should occur. In other words, while ILC systems may be technically superior to compact camera systems, do you, the diver, have the capability (in terms of dedication, logistics and skills) of realising these technical benefits? If the answer to the three questions above is all "yes", then an ILC system is indeed the best option for you. However, for most divers, especially those who are starting out, this is often not the case.     They are better off starting out with a compact camera. The benefits of doing so:

• Easy to transport and easy to use in the water - can shoot single-handed, at a pinch
• More versatile - can shoot everything from fish portraits to macro to even wide angle, especially with appropriate wet lenses
• Great way to develop your technical and aesthetic skills without getting too bogged down with unwieldy gear
• More group-friendly than a big-ass setup

Of course, there are some downsides to compact setups - but mainly they have to do with versatility.   The autofocus is a little slower underwater, making it harder to photograph moving subjects.   And because the lenses usually cover a generalist range of focal lengths, you need to use add-on wet lenses to shoot larger or smaller subjects, which adds costs and slightly affects image quality. But within the scope of what they ARE able to shoot, compact cameras generally do a fantastic job that comes very close to ILC systems - in fact, that flexibility in range means that sometimes you are more likely to get images that someone with an ILC setup was not able to, because they had the wrong lens attached for the scene.   Eg, if I have my fisheye lens attached to my mirrorless camera, I can take much better photos of the tiger shark that comes to within 2 feet of me - but for anything that is smaller or some distance away, I got nothing whereas the person with the compact camera can get a decent shot of the close-by tiger shark, as well as the school of 8 hammerheads swimming 5-6m away (this example is, sadly, not hypothetical) In other words, spending time learning how to use a compact camera and understanding its strengths and weaknesses gives you the ability to take very good images with a compact camera as well.  In fact, unless you already are an experienced photographer, I generally suggest that most people start with a compact camera based system and grow it as their skills develop - and upgrade to an ILC setup only when they reach the limit of what the existing system is capable of.