Underwater Advice

[Ron Kruger]

I ordered a Pentax Optio W80 and plan to use it for underwater shots in a very clear Ozark river. Plan to photograph fish and fishing scenes.
Will I need to concentrate on quiet water? Will moving water distort the image like it does from above?
Any advice concerning any aspect of this appreciated.

[MatsP]

I have never taken photos with the camera actually under water, but I have taken pictures of fish in aquarium, and to my knowledge water movement appear to not matter for the clarity of the image. This is as long as the water is clear in itself, and of course, there is no air bubbles or some other "stuff" moving in the water - if you have lots of air-bubbles, they will leave traces in flowing (or still) water if the shutter speed is short.

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Mats

[skagitswimmer]

As long as the water is all of the same temp and salinity there isn't any distortion because of water movement. Distortion does occur when you get mixing of water that has different density. Scuba diving you see that where you pass through layers of water on the way down. The layers can be either different temerature or different salinity. When you get that it looks like heat waves on a hot highway in the distance.

I have used the pentax optio under water a bit. It works well as a point and shoot but not much more than that. I wouldn't take it more than a few feet down. I don't think it is rated for very deep.

Good luck.
Stephen

[Ron Kruger]

Thanks, both of you. I got it yesterday, did a few test shots in a creek by my home and took a bunch of pics in the Black River this morning. In a fast riffle, there were some streaks from bubbles, but that didn't detract from the shot (subject was a smallmouth bass close up). In fact, I think it added the sense of current flow.
The Black is a very clear river, but it is not like the ocean. Looks like the closer the subject the better. I'm also learning how to process these images. I've been shooting for about 40 years, but this is a whole other world, and I'm on a learning curve. It's cool, though.