For my serious underwater camera rig, I had based it around a SeaLife DC2000 camera, and the strobes it came with. Sadly, this rig has, for lack of any other words, "fallen apart."

First, the camera went. Literally. It sank to the bottom of a deep part of Lake Travis, never to be seen again. It happened while I was out on a boat taking some casual pictures, without the strobes. I just had the camera by itself. It slipped out of my hands while I was handing it to my friend with me, and down it went. Being a scuba diver, I took some fellow divers out to the area I was in to try and recover it to no avail.

I then upgraded the camera to a Sony RX-100V and matching Sony housing (which wasn't very good), with the same strobe setup. This camera was great both in and out of the water; it made for a great travel camera as well as underwater, until recently. The camera no longer triggered the strobes, and was no longer functional when inside the housing. I could take a picture, but couldn't manipulate any of the other controls when it was in the housing.

Oh, I should also mention there were limitations in the camera's manual controls and the housing's corresponding buttons. Didn't realize that until after I bought it. Lesson learned: Do your research!

So, in summary, I've got strobes that don't fire, a housing without all the functionality I need, and a camera that doesn't work when in the housing for use underwater. Something had to change.

My recent underwater pictures were taken with a Samsung Galaxy S10 in an underwater housing; not a long-term solution for a solid rig, but fun to bring under during fun dives.

I opted to trade in the Sony and upgrade to a better solution for travel photography and underwater use. Enter the Panasonic LX100 II.

I have to start from scratch building my underwater rig, but I'm starting with a better camera and have a better idea of a direction to go. I can't use the camera underwater yet, since I don't have the housing for it. I opted to get used to the camera's function outside of the water and took a little stroll around my apartment complex, challenging myself to get creative. It's not the most visually stunning area; it's a pleasant place to live, but nothing overly photographically inspiring.

I was quite happy with the overall shooting experience. It has a lot more manual controls on it, and the available underwater housings grant access to all of these controls. Before I invest in the housing, I'd like to have a good understanding of the camera hence I'll be taking it out on a few photo walks to get used to it.

The camera has an impressive macro focusing mode for up-close shooting.

I'm a bit of a sucker for sunburst pictures, so humor me... :-)

I'll post some more pictures in the future, but for my first foray with it, I'm pretty happy.