Less is more?

Ross McLaren · Issue 146, Sep/Oct 2025 · pp. 37–40

Products mentioned: Olympus TG-6, Olympus PT-059 Housing, AOI Q1 Strobe, Sony A7CII, Sony 28-60mm, AOI UH-A7CII Housing, AOI UCL-06L Macro Wet Lens, Diving Flashlight 18000 Lumen IPX8 Scuba Dive Lights

I always joke that when I started diving, from one expensive hobby spawned another in photography… but did it have to be THAT expensive? Do you really have to spend thousands of pounds to be able to capture good underwater images? I started thinking about this when I was asked to run an underwater workshop recently and set myself a wee challenge to see if I could I put together a setup for less than £1000 that was capable of capturing images I was happy with and could “compete” with those I got with my “big rig”. I knew I would have to compromise in some areas, but would these be a deal breaker? After a bit of research and scouring the internet, I eventually put together two options: Option One, which is closest to my current setup: Olympus TG-6 (second hand ): £300 Olympus PT-059 Housing (second hand - Facebook): £200 AOI Q1 Strobe: £300 Total: £800 Option Two, which is likely the route…