Which camera?

[10barpics]

Looking at digital cameras. But there is too many to choose from. Can any recommend an all round digital camera that is both good underwater and above water.

jim

[dave]

Found this site by accident.

http://www.digideep.com

Dave

[nordic]

What price range (incl. housing ?) and how deep are you planing on using the camera ?

Jan

[10barpics]

What I would like to do for now is just get the camera and play around with it over the winter on land. So for the right camera now I do not mind spending arount €1000. Alls well next spring the housing. I have been searcing the web and seems hard to get an all around housing that is not too bulky for shallows and depth (90m "ish"). Unless there is some manufacture not is hiding somewhere and not on the web. All help is most apprecitated.

Jim

[Ron Mahoney]

Jim,

It is a little "cart before the horse" but your depth you want to use your system at and the housings available are really going to dictate the camera you go for. Looking at your budget for the camera, you'd be looking at the likes of the Olympus 5060, Nikon Coolpix 995, Canon PowerShot G5 cameras housed in either Aquatica, Light & Motion, Subal or Sealux housings. The housings are quite small and rated to 100m (though the Subal states 70m I'd be confident of taking it to 100). The housings take wide angle lenses and strobes to build up a decent system. We've been using the Olympus 5050 in a light & Motion Tetra housing for the past twelve months and have been very happy with the system as a replacement for the Nikonos V system, something it isn't much bigger than.

Check out the following sites:

http://www.subal.com
http://www.sealux.de
http://www.uwimaging.com
http://www.aquatica.ca

Hope this helps

Ron

[GlennaMaddy]

I was speaking to an experienced u/w photographer on a dive in Dubai earlier this year, he said the most critical thing for u/w cameras is the time the camera takes to take the picture. He tried out a Fujitsu (don't have model no) and was frustrated by the time it took to take a pic and display it on screen, especially when taking pictures of u/w life. He has no gone back to using his 35mm SLR!

[Ron Mahoney]

Glenn,

what your saying is certainly true at the camera-end that Jim would be considering. I take it yer man in the Red Sea was trying to catch marine life as it was scattin' around. The problem arises from the time it takes for the shutter to fire to the information to be processed. The shutter will still freeze the subject but it might take a few seconds to display this back into the LCD screen. The higher the resolution and quality of the image; the longer this takes. However you will get to "see" the shot and know that it is well composed, exposed etc afterwards. I think that is the big advantage digital has over still, it gives someone knew to U/W photography the chance to see what they are doing wrong (and right) without waiting days for the disappointment of a set of naff prints.

[nordic]

Jim

If i was in the market for a non DSLR camera i would have taken a serious look at the new Nikon Coolpix 8400. This small unit may be just what compact underwater camera users are looking for as a replacement for the 5 megapixel Oly 5050 and Coolpix 5000. With a lens from 24mm! The 24mm end gives you the same angle of coverage as the classic Nikonos 20 mm lens. Considered by many to be the best angle of coverage for UW shooting, it also have macro mode. And by the time the spring is here you will have a few housings alternatives to buy.

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/nikoncp8400

Jan

[10barpics]

Has anyone experenice with Ikelite housing's are they 60m full stop. Or would I far better investing with one Ron's list.

Jim

[nordic]

For a year ago i wouldn’t consider the Ikelite housing because they was so big and bulky compared to the aluminium housings out there but now they have come out with some brilliant housings. I have bought the Ikelite housing for my Nikon D70 and am using it with the 10.5mm for daylight wreck exposures and it gives me a very compact unit that handles very well underwater.

I would not push my Ikelite to much over the 60m mark, love my new digital camera to much for that.

For compact underwater cameras there are not so many housing choices for deep diving, think there was an article about this in issue 1 or 2 of the Beyond The Blue magazine?

As you can se below the camera choice is not too big on compact cameras for deep diving:

Subal :            
Nikon Coolpix 5400
                   Nikon Coolpix 5000
                   Canon PowerShot G5

Sealux:            
Nikon Coolpix 5400
                   Nikon Coolpix 5000
                   Nikon Coolpix 995 and 990

Light &
Motion:            
Olympus 5050
                   Olympus 5060
                   CanonPowerShot S400 (Digital IXUS 400)
                   Nikon Coolpix 5000

Aquatica:          
Nikon Coolpix 5000
                   Nikon Coolpix  995

Bruder:            
Nikon Coolpix 8700
                   Nikon Coolpix 5700
                   Nikon Coolpix 5000
                   Nikon Coolpix 5400
                   Konica Minolta  DiMAGE 5,7,7Hi,7i
                   Canon PowerShot G2,G3,G5

http://www.bruder-uw-technik.com

Jan

[10barpics]

Hi all,
          I checked out the coolpix 8400 seems good. Very wide angle lens. Put a tele port lens on land and you could have the best of both worlds. It is new to the market.  It could be the way to go. No housing for it yet. But all manufacture's do nikon so they will come on the market. (Thanks Jan)

Question-- Coolpix 8400  v  Coolpix 8700

How much more can be fitted in to frame because of the wide angle lens.


Jim

[nordic]

Forget the 8700, i had the 5700 (same camera with 5 megapixel) and had to ditch it because the lens travel so far. Top camera above water no use underwater.

Jan

[nordic]

Here are some reading for you Jim.

http://www.wetpixel.com
http://www.digitaldiver.net
And a free web based magzine you can download
http://www.uwpmag.com

Jan

[Jack]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com for ALL your camera/video needs.

[Paule]

Hi. Thinking of buying a camera plus housing. Saw the Intova IC-10 (10M) for around 220 euro mark. Has anyone used one? If not can someone recommend one in the 200 to 300 euro range? Thanks Paul