A710 or A640

[RichKirby]

Anyone got their hands on one of these cameras yet? They both look very nice and may be my next camera purchase. I like the 6x is zoom on the A710, but the 10MP sensor on the A640 is awesome. If opting for one of these two, is their any BIG advantage for going for an Ikelite housing over a Canon?

 

[randini]

Mind you I'm a complete noob at UW photgraphy (I've yet to try it), but I'm also looking at the 710. The main reason I like it over the 640 is the optical image stabilization. I haven't seen any reviews on the 640 (HERE is one ont he 710 though), but the ones I've seen for other 10MP point and shoot type cameras have complained about the sensor being too small for such a large resolution (if I understand it correctly).

As for the housings, I think the Ike will give you more flexibility in terms of accessories that you can add onto it (lenses, strobes w/ arms, etc) but it will be much larger than the camera (at least the one for the 700 was, I haven't seen pics of the housing for the 710 yet). On the other hand the canon one should be much smaller & it'll be less cumbersome if you just want to bring it along but not necessarily spend the entire dive shooting. Also Inon has been making some add-ons for some of the other canon housings, so I suppose it's not too much to expect that thay will for this one as well.

I'd be interested to see what some of the more experienced photographers have to say about these as well.

 

[RichKirby]

I'd be interested to see what some of the more experienced photographers have to say about these as well.

Me too. I was originally leaning toward the A710 also, but the 640 is looking more and more appealing. I did see the 710 in a store the other day, but I haven't seen the 640 in person yet. Waiting for someone with hands on to chime in, but they are still very new and probably aren't out in force yet.

 

[ishbaby]

how bout the uw housing for the 710 or 640, is it still the WP-DC90? 630 looks just bout the same and cheaper than the 640. . . dont really need that big a pixel, but I MAY BE WRONG, i am a noob in photography too.

 

[RichKirby]

how bout the uw housing for the 710 or 640, is it still the WP-DC90? 630 looks just bout the same and cheaper than the 640. . . dont really need that big a pixel, but I MAY BE WRONG, i am a noob in photography too.

From Adorama's site:

Canon WP-DC8 Waterproof Housing for Powershot A630 / A640 Digital Cameras. They also show the same Ike housing for both.

 

[ishbaby]

thanks Rick, so u guys decided which camera to get, A710's image stab feature looks appealing. . . . a smaller camera like the sd700 catches my attention too.

 

[CompuDude]

thanks Rick, so u guys decided which camera to get, A710's image stab feature looks appealing. . . . a smaller camera like the sd700 catches my attention too.

The smaller cameras are awesome, but their awesome size appeal comes at the price of any and all manual controls: the SD series have NO manual controls. So it depends on what you want out of your camera.

 

[f3nikon]

The smaller cameras are awesome, but their awesome size appeal comes at the price of any and all manual controls: the SD series have NO manual controls. So it depends on what you want out of your camera.

Very good point! Its just like cell phones, the manufacturers can make a cell phone to about the size of a nickel, the only problem with this is that the distance between our ears and mouth is not getting any shorter or our fingers to which to punch in the numbers are not getting any smaller.

Small size is not always good when it comes to picture quality. Just take a look at the large Pro Video cameras that movie and TV industries use. From Beta to DV the physical size of the camera stayed about the same in order to hold the large 3 CCD chip setup and the large Pro lenses. The SLR/DSLRs are the same way, the lens opening did not get any smaller because the physics of light did not change, you still need “x” amount of light to get the proper exposure.

Making a product small is good marketing tool for the “stylish” crowd, but for the most part its really for the benefit of the company’s profits.

 

[CompuDude]

Very good point! Its just like cell phones, the manufacturers can make a cell phone to about the size of a nickel, the only problem with this is that the distance between our ears and mouth is not getting any shorter or our fingers to which to punch in the numbers are not getting any smaller.

Small size is not always good when it comes to picture quality. Just take a look at the large Pro Video cameras that movie and TV industries use. From Beta to DV the physical size of the camera stayed about the same in order to hold the large 3 CCD chip setup and the large Pro lenses. The SLR/DSLRs are the same way, the lens opening did not get any smaller because the physics of light did not change, you still need “x” amount of light to get the proper exposure.

Making a product small is good marketing tool for the “stylish” crowd, but for the most part its really for the benefit of the company’s profits.

Actually, it has nothing to do with picture quality. Both of the cameras under discussion will take equally fantastic images. dSLR could arguably take shots that are a little better, but at a HUGE cost in both dollars and convenience.

The quality between the A series and the SD series is close enough you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference. The difference is size and features... the A series is larger, bulkier, and uses AAs. It also has slower electronics and slower flash recycle time, etc., compared to the SD series, which is small and sleek, and uses a special lithium battery pack. However (and oddly) the less-expensive A series cameras all have manual controls (aperature and shutter priority + full manual), while the small and sleek SD series do not have any manual controls.

So it depends on how serious you are about u/w photos. If you plan to add a strobe, carefully set up artistic, carefully-lit shots, etc., and are prepared for a learning curve, you're going to want manual controls, which means the A series or the higher-end S80 (which is nearly impossible to find outside of eBay these days). If you just want to take some nice snapshots underwater to bring home some memories, the SD series, running in the fully-automatic underwater mode, will do a great job in a teeny tiny package.

 

[f3nikon]

Yes, those two Canons that we speak of are fine, in general I was thinking of the slim line mini lense cameras without manual control. Cannot really go wrong with a Canon.

To add to a full manual control in an ideal U/W P/S camera, is a hotshoe for a more direct strobe control and the widest lens size possible to get as close to the subject as possible yet include the entire image within the frame. High zoom range is not needed because this limits the width of the lens and the brightness. The G series Canons would have been my choice but I am not sure about the latest megapixel size on the G series.

Actually, in general photography a so called point and shoot or rangefinder camera will have a slightly better image quality overall, than the SLR/DSLRs. The advantage with the SLR is the accurate focusing in the macro range but the price that is paid for this feature, be it very small, is the loss of image quality.

The reason for this is because of the reflex mirror in the SLR/DSLR, that is occupying space between the lenses and the film or CCD sensor. More glass or lens elements are needed to make up for this space in order to focus correctly. With the rangefinders/PS there is no mirror so the film or sensor can be as close to the lenses as possible with the min. amount of lens elements.

This is more of the reason why the SLR/DSLR lense are "physically" wider than the P/S lense to let in the same amount of light. The other advantage of the SLR/DSLR are the removable lenses including non zoom lenses which have a low lens element count.

This Canon maybe the one to beat in the 10 mp P/S U/W use range:

http://web.canon.jp/Imaging/psg7/index-e.html

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0609/06091405_canon_g7.asp


Al