Underwater Photography for Beginners: Gear That Won’t Break Your Backpacker Budget
For way too long, I told myself underwater photography was a “later” hobby, something to get into once I had more money, more diving experience, or both. What actually happened is I kept coming up from scuba dives having seen something incredible with absolutely nothing to show for it except a description that never quite landed the same way in a blog post or when I told family and friends about it. Once I actually looked into what beginner gear costs, I realized I’d been gatekeeping myself for no reason. You don’t need a serious rig to start. You need a few smart, specific purchases.
Here’s the gear breakdown I wish I’d had before spending money on the wrong things first.
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The gear tiers: what actually matters at each level
Underwater photography gear scales from “basically free if you already own a phone” to “thousands of dollars in a full mirrorless housing and strobe setup.” As a backpacker, you’re realistically choosing between three tiers, and the right one depends on how serious you already know you want to get, not how serious you think you should be as a beginner.
Tier 1: Phone + waterproof housing
This is the actual cheapest entry point, and it’s better than people give it credit for. A dedicated underwater phone housing runs a fraction of the cost of a proper camera, and modern phone cameras handle a surprising amount of the work for you in decent visibility and shallow depths. The catch: most phone housings are only rated for recreational depths, and low light past a certain depth is where phone sensors start to struggle. A lot of people really like that divevolk housing. I have not used it myself yet but I have diving friends that absolutely swear by it.
This tier makes the most sense if you’re not sure yet whether underwater photography is something you’ll stick with, and you want to test the waters before spending more. And the good thing is that you have the phone already. So all you need is the housing. If you want to commint a little more, you should definitely also buy the filters for your camera and housing. These are important to get the right colors, especially red, underwater.
Especially with newer phones you can take really good photos and videos on your dive. So if you are only diving on holidays this might be the perfect solution for you.
Tier 2: Action cameras
This is where most beginners land, and for good reason. Action cameras are compact, genuinely rugged, and easy to travel with, no separate housing to think about since most are already waterproof out of the box or with a minimal case. On the budget end, cameras like the Akaso EK7000 have built a real reputation among divers as a cheap, no-frills way to start filming dives, even if the color and stabilization can’t compete with pricier options. If you can stretch the budget slightly, a step up into GoPro’s oder DJI’s current lineup gets you noticeably better stabilization and low-light performance, which matters more underwater than almost anywhere else.
The tradeoff with any action camera: they’re built for video and wide-angle action shots first, photography second. Great for reef flyovers and dive buddy footage, less great if still photography (especially macro shots of small critters) is your actual goal.
My reccomendation: I have been using the DJI Action 5 Pro for over a year now and I absolutely love the videos that come out of this camera. The colors are already beautiful so you don’t need to do a lot of color correction after. You do need a waterproof casing when you want to take the camera deeper than 20 meters. I recommend you buy one anyway since sometimes the pressure starts pushing down buttons without the case plus you can clip the grip to your BDC so you never loose it. My only complaint so far: I do not like the pictures this Action Cam takes.
Tier 3: Rugged compact cameras (the sweet spot)
If underwater photography is turning from “curious” into “actual hobby,” this is the tier worth saving for. Rugged waterproof compacts, like the OM System TG-7 (or the older, cheaper TG-6 or TG-5, which are still very capable), are genuinely waterproof without a housing for recreational depths, and they’re built specifically with strong macro modes, which is where a lot of the most interesting underwater subjects live, from nudibranchs to tiny reef fish most divers swim right past. This tier is the one most underwater photography guides point beginners toward once phone or action-cam limitations start to show. If you do want to take it deeper than 18 meters, you need an underwatercase.
It’s a bigger upfront cost than Tier 1 or 2, but still nowhere near the mirrorless-and-strobes territory serious underwater photographers eventually move into, and it’ll last you years of travel before you outgrow it.
I just recently got the Olympus TG-7 and I am completely obsessed with it. Play around with the settings to get the best results on your pictures. If you want to level it up you need to buy some extra lightning.
The small accessories that matter more than people think
None of these are exciting purchases, but they make a bigger difference to your actual results than the camera itself in a lot of cases:
- A red filter. Water absorbs red light almost immediately as you descend, which is why unedited underwater shots often look flat and blue-green. A cheap red filter (or dive-mode setting) corrects a huge amount of this in-camera, before you even touch editing software.
- A floating hand strap or grip. Cameras sink. Losing a camera mid-dive because it slipped out of your hand is a genuinely common beginner mistake, and a floating strap is a five-minute fix.
- Extra memory cards and a spare battery. You will shoot far more than you expect once you start, and running out of storage or battery mid-dive is its own kind of heartbreak.
- A basic wrist or lanyard mount. Keeps your hands free for buoyancy control and safety, which matters more than it sounds like it would until you’re fumbling with a camera and losing your position in the water column at the same time. Especially practical for beginner divers.
What to skip until you’re not a beginner anymore
It’s tempting to buy everything at once, but a few things are genuinely not worth it yet at this stage:
- Strobes and video lights. Powerful and genuinely useful eventually, but they add real cost, bulk, and a learning curve around lighting technique that isn’t worth taking on before you’ve got your basic shooting and buoyancy down.
- Full mirrorless housings. Beautiful results, but the housing alone often costs more than an entire Tier 2 or 3 setup, and mirrorless systems have enough of a learning curve on land before you add water into the mix. Most underwater cameras are only waterproof until a certain dept, mostly ranging around 20 meters. So make sure you check the manufator recommendation first before taking it on your dive trip.
- Multiple specialty lenses. Wide-angle, macro, fisheye, all genuinely useful eventually, all unnecessary before you know which kind of underwater shooting you actually gravitate toward.
A sample starter kit at three price points
Ultra-budget: Phone housing + red filter + floating wrist strap. The cheapest way to find out if you actually enjoy this before spending more. Total: around 388 US-Dollar
Mid-range: Budget action camera + casing/floating strap + red filter + extra memory card. Solid for video-heavy content and reef footage, travels light, holds up to backpacker-level wear and tear. Total: around 469 US-Dollars
Step-up: Rugged compact camera (TG-6 or TG-7 tier) + housing including a red filter + memory card. The setup most likely to actually satisfy you as your skills improve, without needing a full upgrade a year in. Total: around 743 US-Dollars
FAQ: Underwater-Gear for Beginners
Do I need an expensive camera to start underwater photography?
No, a phone housing or budget action camera is a completely legitimate starting point. Most underwater photography guides actually recommend starting cheap specifically so you don’t sink money into gear before you know what kind of shooting you enjoy.
What’s the best beginner underwater camera on a budget?
For video and reef footage, a budget action camera is the easiest entry point. For photography specifically (especially macro shots) a rugged compact camera with strong macro modes tends to satisfy beginners longer before they feel the need to upgrade.
Do I need a red filter for underwater photography?
It’s one of the cheapest upgrades that makes the most visible difference. Without one, most underwater shots come out with a blue-green cast that’s hard to fully correct after the fact.
How deep can budget underwater cameras go?
This varies a lot by model, phone housings and some budget cameras are usually only rated for shallow, recreational depths, while rugged compacts and dedicated dive housings can handle typical recreational dive depths. Always check the specific depth rating before a dive, since exceeding it risks flooding the camera.
Is a GoPro or a compact camera better for underwater photography?
It depends on what you’re prioritizing. Action cameras like GoPro are built for video and wide-angle footage first. Rugged compact cameras tend to produce better still photography, especially macro shots, which is where a lot of underwater photography’s most rewarding subjects are found.
My name is Cory and my two favourite things in the world are traveling and scuba diving. You will either find me under the water or on top of a mountain. I have the PADI Advanced Certification and want to see as many marine animals as possible.
