Archive notice: This article was originally published on September 23, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Rare marine creatures, exotic colours—floating weightlessly through tropical coral reefs and capturing the enchanting scenes with a camera. It is every diver’s dream.
In the past, however, many divers and snorkellers were disappointed by their underwater photographs when they viewed them after a holiday. Digital photography has changed this: images can be checked on the camera immediately, allowing corrections to be made. Poor shots are deleted, while good ones can be emailed to friends at home or shared with the world as videos on YouTube.
New underwater-photography technologies offer fascinating possibilities. An underwater camera with a spy mode, for example, can take continuous automatic pictures without the photographer present, perhaps to capture very shy sea creatures or photograph the diver in action. Other technical innovations address the special problems caused by underwater lighting in new ways, including the blue effect, reflections from suspended particles, blurred images, shutter lag and the overexposure of reflective fish typical of digital cameras.
At Photokina, all the new techniques, cameras and accessories for underwater photography are being demonstrated and explained by professionals for the first time in a special Underwater Imaging exhibition in Hall 5.1, stand F30. There are dozens of waterproof plastic housings for virtually every land camera, along with cameras built specifically for underwater photography and metal housings for professional SLR cameras.
On stage and in aquariums, stars of underwater photography present their best pictures—and, as teaching examples, their worst.
As an entry point, snorkellers and divers wanting to capture mysterious marine creatures can obtain a housing for their existing digital camera. Most are sold online because few retailers can stock the vast number of housings required for every camera model.
Yet digital land cameras are not always suited to unusual underwater conditions. In the dim underwater world, a camera selects a long exposure time, but everything below the surface moves: marine creatures, swaying corals, divers and especially snorkellers swimming at a rippled surface are in constant motion. Land cameras with shutter lag may capture only the tail fin of an otherwise interesting fish, while a flash positioned close to the lens illuminates suspended particles invisible to the eye and makes them appear like tennis balls. Water filters the red and yellow components of sunlight, producing the notorious blue effect. And if those problems were not enough, operating a camera’s small buttons often demands more from a diver than can be managed in the available time.
Specialist diving cameras solve these problems through dedicated programs known as firmware. Like computer software—because a digital camera is essentially a small computer—the firmware can be updated regularly over the internet. Photokina visitors can try the special technology, accessories, operation and ergonomics of diving cameras for themselves.
An entirely new dimension is being opened by compact, rubber-armoured and extremely rugged underwater cameras that are now rising from the depths onto land.
Some features developed by divers for divers are equally useful in sport and leisure photography, and a new trend appears to be emerging from underwater photography: all-round photography with extremely robust cameras for all water sports, including diving, as well as research and security services.
“I threw the camera five metres onto concrete and then took perfect pictures,” a surfer reports in a review in an American daily newspaper.
The spy mode mentioned above is already being used for wildlife photography, while kayakers use their compact diving cameras to record white-water trips.
Specialist manufacturers generally offer an external underwater flash as an accessory. It gives every diver deeper, more attractive colours and avoids reflections from suspended particles. Divers are also advised to use wide-angle or fisheye lenses because the best photographs are often taken from a distance of only a few centimetres. Manufacturers of such specialist products are frequently smaller companies focused on particular applications and are more commonly encountered at specialist fairs or dive shops than in the mass market.
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