Excellent info
My photographer instructor was a National Geographic photographer before he retired and he spends a good amount of time with his expensive gear on the water. That makes me squeamish but he says it’s the best way to get the best photos. I found that my Fuji waterproof camera takes pretty good photos. If I was to drop it in the water, it has a neon-colored floatie wrist strap so there is no danger of it sinking. I use a D ring to hook it to my PFD and unclip it when I want to take a photo. There are waterproof cases for phones too. I don’t like the quality of the photos through the plastic, so I just get it out when I want to take a photo. (But don’t get Carapace brand. That case only lasted 3 kayaking trips and one of the snaps broke off.)
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I’ve yet to see a cell phone image that looks good when zoomed or cropped too far. I used to take my Nikon D7000 out with me kayaking, but I wasn’t on the ocean in a touring kayak. I was working on being able to video my kayaking adventures and bought an action cam, which also took very good stills. I had the SJCam - SJ-5000x it was a very impressive performer. It can utilize Go-Pro mounts including the waterproof case. I made a floating, PVC boom with a mount that would fit into one of the rod holders I had installed in my kayak. This would allow me to stick it under water if I wanted to. Good luck in your quest to take a camera out on the ocean…
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I went to the Broken Group Islands in BC Canada last year. I didn’t want to keep my Nikon Cool
Pix 42x zoom out all the time, so I got a Ricoh WG-70 waterproof camera. It took good pictures - only a 5x zoom, but I took out the Nikon for long shots. I could take pictures on a rainy day, and not worry about it getting wet. I have included a couple of pictures - one on a rainy day.
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I did a lot of U/W photography when I was diving so I’ve used both a Nikonos and Ikelite cases in my day. The sport diver looks really interesting and it was difficult to pass on it but I didn’t want to spend $350. I already have a bag housing for my Canon EOS R6 if I feel like I have to have it out for really good shots.
Wound up with a Ghostek waterproof housing for $50. While I’ve not dunked it for prolonged periods, it has been underwater during surfing and for those cool half in/half out shots. The company claims it’s waterproof to 20 feet. I use a carabiner to tether it to my PFD and tuck it in at my neck. The housing is sleek enough to fit in a PFD pocket if preferred.
This case is easy to use once you master the seating technique and you have to use a coin or something similar to pry the two halves of the case back open. The phone’s screen is as visible in bright light as you would expect and the touch screen is fully useable. Unlike the sport diver you have access to all apps for navigation or data tracking if that’s your thing. You can charge the phone in the case if you want.
VHF and InReach are my primary emergency devices but the phone is my back up so it’s important that it is usable while in the case. I don’t think you can make calls with the sport diver. Something to consider.
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Photography used to distract from my pleasure of kayaking. It broke my rhythm when I had to stow the paddle and get the camera out, and the kayak would often drift from the desired direction. I stopped photographing from the yak for a few years. Then one day I asked what would make this pleasurable, and the answer was a head-mounted voice-activated camara. That led to a GoPro Hero 8, that produces stikingly good photos in still mode, but only with a wide-angle lens. There is an article on Paddling.com describing GoPro use when paddling.
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I’ve been using an Olympus TG1 since 2012. The same 12 M as the TG6. A fast lens (f 2.0) for a point and shoot and fully immersible (rated for underwater use). I’ve been very happy with it. The TG 6 is about the same but I never updated because I’d never use Bluetooth or any of the newer gimmicks. I’d recommend going with a dedicated kayaking camera as opposed to compromising with housings, etc. You grab it and go.
Yes.
Post must be at least 5 characters so I added this message to meet that requirement.
My S10 has full aperture and ISO control in Pro mode (all Samsung cameras after S7 do i believe) Obviously focal length and lens size limit overall quality, but pro mode allows full exposure and focus control.
Also if splash protection or shallow immersion is all youre worried about, I took my S10 for a 10 minute fresh water swim unintentionally and another time the plastic phone pouch leaked once so it was soaking for 60+mins.
Phone had no problems as I type on it now. The new waterproof phones are indeed waterproof and are more than adequate for paddling.
So in general I just recommend a water proof phone and cheap plastic waterproof phone pouch.
Thanks for the vote of confidence to using a phone on the water. Mine is modern and waterproof too, but since I have access to other options, prefer to keep it at less risk and use them.
Cheers!
I have been heavily into photography and sea kayaking. A good while ago I went with waterproof point-and-shoots. Took one along for a 35 mile paddle offshore in the Atlantic. Wore it around my neck, it was handy to grab, but found the quality of the images unsatisfying. I then bought a Sony RX-100 perhaps the best quality point-and-shoot you can buy short of a Leica, but I had to use it with a waterproof housing and found it bulky, but it takes wonderful RAW images. Eventually I might buy an Aquatech water housing for my Nikon Z7II mirrorless. It’s very expensive, but designed for water surface use, but can go 30ft underwater. It has interchangeable lens ports for different size lenses, up to 70-200. I do pack my Nikon in waterproof bags, but normally stow it in my hatch for shore use.
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This thread has migrated away from the OPs original specific questions, and has become more about various photography options. I’ll join in by showing a typical picture from my Pentax Optio WS80 waterproof point and shoot. It’s an older, low-end point and shoot. It’s soooo old, the date defaults to 2009 if I let the battery die and have to reset the date and time. But it does fine for my purpose of capturing my adventures. I do have to caution that the seals on a camera this old might not be water tight anymore.
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Part of my original question was what other options people might suggest, so I don’t feel we’ve drifted at all! Thanks for the input and the lovely photo!
Great advice, thank you! And you’re quite right about the SportDiver. They recommend using airplane mode, turning off WiFi, and going into Do Not Disturb to preserve battery life, but even if you don’t follow this advice, you have no way of interacting directly with your phone to make or reply to a call or text. For me this is a deal-breaker. The SportDiver is a great unit and if I ever seriously get into underwater photography I think I may pick one up, but for paddling it seems like overkill. I think I will take a look at the Ghostek. Thanks again!
This is off topic, but I’ve got to ask about your screen name. I’m an avid fountain pen user and of course ink pots are part of the package. Don’t feel like you have to share, I’m just curious.
Hi! I could not find this message!
The name is from Mohave Arizona where I took flying lessons and my husband has a YT channel where he posts float plane flights so his mom and dad can see. It was the just the first thing that popped into my head😆
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The housing is heavy so I usually wear this Hill People pack. Sometimes I get the shot with an iPhone and then my husband comes behind me in the canoe with the big camera and gets the shot I am after.
You could insure your camera and just realize you eventually lose equipment. We have lost drones and underwater cameras but usually have replacement insurance as it’s reasonable.
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Of course tether the cell phone or the big camera.
I’m still trying to work this out as well so happy to see the post.
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You can insure your camera with DAN I think. They replaced my flooded underwater camera and I had a good experience for a reasonable cost.
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Recent generations of smart phones (At one point, Samsung Galaxy was the best, and now G-phone seems to fair better, I have an iphone 13 pro, it does the job but I am not too impressed with it after I saw the picture quality of my brother-in-law’s G-phone 6) with a waterproof casing and floating handle is good enough for most of your photography needs, except wildlife photography that requires long zoom focal length, especially for photos taken either at dusk or dawn.
There is one problem is common to both smart phone or dslr/mirrorless camera when shooting from a kayak on salt water - splashed salt water drop on your case in front of your lens will crystalize and block part of your view.