Photo & Video Equipment

The 2012 Backscatter Digital Shootout was not to be missed. Held June 16-23 at the Little Cayman Beach Resort, Scuba Diving Magazine's photo editor, Katy Danca Galli, dubbed it the "ultimate summer camp for for underwater photography nuts" and blogged about her experiences.

Subgear’s new Apnea 1 five-mil is a unique wetsuit designed specifically for free diving. It comes with a nylon-lined interior so it’s comfortable against the skin plus easy to climb in and out of. However, its exterior surface is slick to repel water. The suit features a 360-degree O-ring-style neck seal and stretch panels under the arms and in the lower-back area to enhance range of motion. Even better, the back zipper runs diagonally rather than straight up and down the spine, which makes self-donning easy—those days of needing zip-up help from your dive buddy are gone forever.

Here are nine models above that will empower you to take your underwater photography and video to the next level — and four trends to consider before making upgrading your system.

It used to be so easy to get to distant dive locations with virtually any amount of camera gear needed to do the job. Now, airline restrictions on baggage weight have made traveling with camera gear expensive. Here are our tips for avoiding those fees.