Fishing Photography Gear For Any Budget
By Tim Romando
Photography and fishing have been intrinsically linked throughout history. Anglers traveling to beautiful places have documented their surroundings and trophy catches for years. And everyone knows that bragging rights must be accompanied by photographic proof. Digital cameras have gotten faster, cheaper, and a whole lot more powerful. Almost everyone owns a camera and, therefore, everyone can be a photographer. Here are 11 items that should help you on your conquest to prove that you did indeed catch that fish of a lifetime no matter what your budget.
Go Pro 6
GoPro basically invented the “action camera” mark and the 6 is their latest and greatest. An amazingly versatile camera for fishy subjects, it’s waterproof to 10 meters, shoots 4K video at 60 frames per second, still images at 12 megapixels and has a battery life up to 3 hours. It’s got a 2-inch touch screen, voice commands, and coupled with GoPro’s latest app, you automatically transfer footage remotely or edit while you’re still on the river.
Fusion
This camera isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, as spherical shoot unique footage and this one isn’t exactly cheap. But if you’re interested in showing someone a 360-degree view of your favorite honey hole, this camera is pretty sweet. The Fusion boats insane in-camera stabilization, spherical surround sound capture, and a next-level 5.2K recording setting at 30 frames per second.
DJI’s Spark
Always wanted to get that epic shot of yourself setting the hook from above, but didn’t have the coin to rent a helicopter? DJI’s Spark is your solution. It’s fairly inexpensive, very tiny, and can fly for 16 minutes a charge. It’s got a 2-axis gimbal for stabilization, shoots 12 megapixel stills, and can be controlled simply by using hand gestures for basic maneuvering. The miniature drone can also follow you at speeds up to 31 miles an hour. So get on that glitter boat and let’er rip.
LifeProof’s NUUD Case
Smart phones have pretty darn impressive cameras these days, and if you make yours waterproof it becomes a perfect companion for all your fishing endeavors. LifeProof’s NUUD series of cases are still amongst the best for this. The case is super slim, unobtrusive, and gaskets straight to the glass, giving you a screen-less waterproof phone case that can be submerged up to two meters for 1 hour and survive drops from heights of 2 meters. You’ll be texting those underwater release shots like crazy.
EWA Marine Bags
Ever have that itch to shoot underwater shots of the fish you just landed, but don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on an underwater housing for your camera? Enter EWA Marine Bags, “the economical, flexible underwater housings for photo cameras and video camcorders.” Basically, these are rugged PVC plastic bags with a hard lens port. The company claims to have a bag for almost every camera on the market and says they’ll allows to you submerge most cameras up to 30 feet.
This article was first published in Field and Stream.