Bring on the yellow sub! (Sea and Sea MX-10)

Name: pipefish

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Product:	Sea and Sea MX-10
Date:	04/09/03 (1185 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Relatively simple to use, Small for a diving camera, Good pictures

Disadvantages: Rewind / wind setting, backscatter at low vis, battery consumption

I have owned this camera for nearly 5 years, during which it has seen service over many diving sites around the world and given good pictures. I like to take a lot of underwater photographs, which have all been taken with the MX10 from the first batch with mainly pictures of bannerfish (big deal) to later getting hammerheads and whale sharks (now you're talking proper fish).
I chose the MX10 because
(a) it's an automatic camera so there's no need to learn about aperture settings, field depths and exposure settings and shutter speeds
(b) I want to be be able to take photographs quickly underwater so it is 'look there's a shark...click' rather than 'look there's a shark well let's see given the vis today I would suggest an aperture setting of this and shutter speed of this, let's just check the exposure meter OK I'll set it up to take the photo...oh it's gone'
(c) it packs up pretty small and so it easy to get past weight restrictions on planes and stow in hand luggage.

If any non-divers are reading this I should point out that instead or the normal sane reaction of running or swimming away from sharks scuba divers usually tend to chase after them like lunatics and scare them away trying to get pictures of them. Call it revenge for Jaws.

I would like to think that my photography skills have improved over this period although really most of this is taken care of by the automatic camera - I now have a better idea of what is likely to come out as a better photo rather than just half a fin sticking in front of the lens or an out of focus diver. A lot of this is down to experience although on the first trip the camera did produce some very good pictures, especially when taking pictures of small groups of fish right in front of a reef.

The MX10 is an automatic 35mm camera for use up to 45m depth underwater (although it can work and be pressure tested deeper than this). It has a 32
mm focal length lens and although it is automatic it does carry some aperature settings on a wheel - two of these are for underwater with flash and 6 settings between 4.5 and 22 for on land. I haven't seen much difference between the 2 underwater aperature settings and tend to leave it on 4.5 all the time. It takes normal 35mm film at either 24 or 36 exposures.
The MX10 is perfectly capable of taking photographs on land although it is fairly large (100x159mm) and does not have a lens cover so it is not really suitable for sight-seeing although it does have its use when you want to take a few group photos or some shots to finish a film.
Underwater it is rated as taking shots at a distance of about 1 metre. Any closer than this and things become out of focus - any further and subjects quickly lose their colour and vanish into the blue. Most of my shots of sharks, rays etc are in the distance and hence came out blue on blue when using the camera.
The camera takes 2 AA batteries - the manual says use Alkaline only. I find these tend to last a long time, about 8 to 10 36exp films.

However for best use of the MX10 it is best to get its strobe companion the YS40A which is specially designed to accompany it. This is another yellow unit which clips onto the side of the MX10 and then an optical port lines up and connects it to the camera and synchronises the flash with the MX10.
The YS40A can be switched between manual and automatic modes. It also carries a confirmation light which switches on when the subject is is effective range. In auto the strobe automatically adjusts the output depending on the distance of the subject.
The strobe effectively increases the depth you can take pictures at.

The MX10 it has its own built in flash but I found that this offers little illumination and it was unsuitable for any photos which are not right next to the surface facing upwards unless you want completely blue and green pictures (although it i
s a very strong flash if you use it on land). With the YS40A I can take pictures at any depth.
The strobe takes four AA batteries, either alkali or Ni-Cad. I tend to change these over after 5 36x films - this eats batteries!
If your strobe runs out of juice halfway through you will be stuck with blue and green pictures. It also takes a few seconds to charge the flash up too so quickly taking pictures will also give blue and green only.

Although the camera on its own floats the strobe or the strobe plus the camera are negatively buoyant. Fortunately the camera comes with a lanyard and the strobe is just about the right size to be held in one hand while diving. I have not used the camera on night dives because I haven't been on many of these and want to have a hand spare but you can get a coiled lanyard to clip the camera to your BCD and free a hand up. Fingers crossed but I haven't dropped the camera yet.

The camera is easy to use underwater. There is a large shutter leaf trigger on the right of the camera with a safety catch cam below it to unlock the shutter trigger. The viewfinder is fairly small but easy to use with some practice - it is always harder to use this especially if you have a large diving mask getting in the way. There is also a film counter which is easy to read underwater - the camera automatically switches to rewind, whirring loudly when a film has finished to rewind it all.

It also has an indicator window that shakes if a photo is taken and the film is sucessfully winding on. This is very useful. I have ruined several batches of films which did not actually wind on in the camera and was not best pleased when I collected the photos afterwards and got blank pictures instead of sparkling reefs ands shoals of fish. To avoid this, when you load a new film into the camera do not forget to switch the winder from Rewind to Load. If this is not done the film counter will still advance but actually the film is not
winding on at all so check that the indicator window shakes when you take a picture. It seems daft that the camera cannot automatically do this and it is easy to potentially lose pictures from a whole dive as you will have to get out of the water again to open the back of the camera to switch it to Wind.

Also when you open the back of the camera there is an ISO selector switch to go between ISO 400 or 100 film. 100 is recommended for underwater photos as it is less grainy than 400 for these shots. I have found that ISO 200 on the 100 setting is just as effective though.
There is a huge amount of debate over what films to use for underwater photography. I have found Kodak films better at showing the reds, yellows and oranges while Fuji films bring out the blues and greens more (and hence are less warm or bright). However maybe this is because I tend to get the photos developed at a high street specialist Kodak processing lab (don't use the mail order Kodak processing service unless you don't want to see your pictures again).
Several sites particulary recommend Kodak Royal Gold (now renamed Kodak Supra) although I have found Kodak Gold and plain Kodak films good too.
ISO 100 film is becoming harder to find now although Jessops usually stock it in multipacks. Film is also a lot cheaper and easier to select if you buy over the internet.

After nearly five years and several diving holidays the camera is still going strong. I have found that some of the writing on the front has smeared off but I have never had any trouble with the o-rings or leaks although the camera has recently jammed a few times and neaded some percussive maintenance underwater to get it going again. I tend to get the camera serviced every year or so as recommended - this costs about £50.
It is fairly easy to clean and re-grease the O-rings on the camera and spares are easy to get.

The MX10 sells for about £230 and the YS40A for £170 now - however buyi
ng both together will save you some money. You can also buy a range of accessories including a macro lens and wide angle lens, colour filters, viewfinder and caddy which clips over the top of the strobe and holds your spare lens. As the MX10 allows changing of lens underwater you can take and swap around lens as wanted.
You can usually shop around and get a good bargain on them as the cameras are so popular and in ready supply - most dive shops or internet dive sites stock them or can order them.

I find the picture quality can vary considerably - the best pictures I have taken have tended to be of reef with one or two fish as subjects at any distances within 1 or 2 metres which have returned superb colours with strong contrast and sharp focus on everything. I have also got similar effects taking pictures of shoals of small fish in clear water pointing slightly upwards. These were comparable in quality with pictures from much more expensive cameras. However on longer shots (e.g. sharks or larger fish) I found that although the strobe is powerful it does not illuminate enough and these distance shots tend to come out in blue on blue only. Also as the strobe is mounted right next to the camera you get some bad backscatter if the vis is low or there is any disturbance in the water - a series of photos I took at Kenya where water visibility was down to 10 to 15m were full of dark pictures or blurred shots with large white blobs all over them.
However this tends to improve with experience and I think I can pretty much get sharp pictures with good colour most times now - it helps to read up on how to frame your subjects (no, not fitting them up for crimes), close the distance between them and try to point upwards when taking pictures.
I believe there is a fibre-optic cable switch to go with the MX10 and YS40A so that you can mount it on a standard strobe frame and put it at 45 degrees to the camera and reduce backscatter on photos but thereagain if you
do this you may be better off buying a more powerful strobe anyway.

So overall its an easy camera to use and lets you take some impressive pictures if you are good or lucky. More importantly I find it quick to take the pictures so you can still enjoy the dive without having to hand around adjusting camera settings all the time. Althoug
h it is not quite entry level it is the best automatic camera around and extremely popular - I have often found another one or two in the fresh water bucket after the dive! It also packs up fairly small so can just about fit in your hand luggage for the flight (they weight 1.2 kg in total without batteries). You will need a lot of batteries for a weeks diving - bring at least 12.
However it is certainly a lot better than the cheap £70 underwater cameras or disposables with the tiny flash units that hardly illuminate anything - this will give you all the colours of the rainbow provided you get close enough when taking your photos.

So if you can't afford a serious underwater camera or don't have the time to learn to use one and have a few hundred quid I would recommend this as the camera of choice - you might even get some good pictures from it but don't expect whalesharks and turtles on your first dive!

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