Investing in Digital Camera and Expensive Strobes?

In the days when cameras used film, you could buy a top quality camera that would satisfy your needs for many years. Then came the digital revolution.

People assumed that they would save a fortune on film and processing, as well as see their results instantly. This second benefit was extremely useful to underwater photographers. There was nothing worse than returning with bags of unprocessed film, only to discover you hadn't got the results you were expecting.

The snag is that digital cameras are constantly evolving, and the camera you bought yesterday has quickly become obsolete by the model that replaced it today. The savings from not buying and processing film is soon eliminated by the depreciation of the hardware.

Many of us got hooked on pursuing higher-quality images and went for the next best product. I was one of them. Of course, this meant replacing the custom-made underwater camera housing, too.

Today, you can easily spend $12,000 on a good quality (full-frame 60-megapixel) camera, lenses, and housing with both macro and wide-angle ports. Add to that the cost of underwater strobes and mounting. Alex Tattersall, a well-known British underwater photographer, tells Undercurrent his investment in the kit he travels with is in excess of $35,000. We all like to spend money pursuing our underwater photography passion, and part of the passion is owning impressive hardware. What's wrong with that? Never mind that we probably only look at the pictures we take on a 72 dpi computer monitor.

Meanwhile enthusiasts argue the merits of the latest DSLRs versus mirrorless cameras, and camera store owners rub their hands in glee. We want the latest and best.

Thankfully, camera models don't change as they once did (probably due to the current chip shortage). But you might now find difficulty tracking down a housing for an older camera. Housing manufacturers tend to make very short production runs.

But reality hits when we want to sell our old equipment and find that it's probably worth a lot less than half what we paid. That's because everyone else wants the latest and best, too.

The flip side is that a lucky person can probably pick up an obsolete yet fully serviceable digital photography rig of several previous years' top quality for little money.

For example, a comprehensive kit comprising Canon 7D Mark II with Nauticam 7D Mk II housing in excellent condition with three lenses and appropriate ports, two Sea & Sea YS-D2 strobes, and Light & Motion Sola 1200 Focus light, was recently advertised in Utah for only $3000 when the buyer originally paid $15,898. (email: rmnolljr@gmail.com)

Massive depreciation has become the new reality with other technology. Ask anyone who's traded in an electric vehicle.

As a victim of this, I can tell you my underwater photographs have cost me a fortune, even though I worked as a full-time professional and made at least 15 dive trips annually. How many dive trips do you make? How many keepers do you file away for future use? I'm bemused to take photographs from my extensive library stored as 100-megabyte processed files and reduce them to a few kilobytes (1000 times smaller) for Undercurrent's newsletter or mid-month emails!

However, don't calculate what your underwater photographs have cost you. It will break your heart. The development of technology is unstoppable. Bear in mind that when trying to dispose of your expensive rig on the second-hand market, the latest little GoPro 27 megapixel submersible camera that can record 4k video can be bought for less than $400. It seems few will want the older model you purchased just a couple of years ago. It's the story of consumer electronics.

As for land photos, the latest smartphone will take beautiful quality pictures that you can post instantly on the Internet - and you can get an underwater housing for that, too.

John Bantin