Another Which Camera.

[crum]

I am in the market for my first underwater camera. I have been reading through the board on what people have said about different types of cameras and still am not sure on what I should get.

So far there are 2 cameras that I am looking at. The first is the Reefmaster 310 combo with the camera, strobe, case and 1 lens. This seems like a very good beginner camera but very limited and I read some mixed reviews about the camera.
The other is the olympus 5060 with the underwater case from olympus. My worry on this is the case. Is the case very good, the depth reading is for 131 feet and quite often I go to 130. The other is the housing has no strobe, how is it with out the strobe? Can a strobe be attached?
Another camera is the Sea&Sea AQUAPIX CAMERA- I am just starting to read on this one.

I am by no means a photographer but would like to try and take good pictures. I feel getting a strobe would help with picture quality but again I am a beginner at this.


Thanks for the help.

 

[friscuba]

No real comparison here. The Olympus will be much more versatile and potentially take higher quality images than either of the other cameras you mentioned.

You do run more risk of a flood if you are pushing recreational dive limits, get yourself some DEPP insurance. I've had my Olympus housing (different camera) down to 130 with no troubles yet, but I generally don't take it with me if I'm planning to go that deep.

The traditional recommendation seems to be to skip the strobe until you've learned the camera. It'll take great macro pics with the onboard flash. Once you've got a clue on how the camera operates then you can look into the strobe...won't be inexpensive, it'll probably cost around the same as the camera does.

There are lots of posts on the 5050 and 5060 and housing if you do a search.

Steve

I am in the market for my first underwater camera. I have been reading through the board on what people have said about different types of cameras and still am not sure on what I should get.

So far there are 2 cameras that I am looking at. The first is the Reefmaster 310 combo with the camera, strobe, case and 1 lens. This seems like a very good beginner camera but very limited and I read some mixed reviews about the camera.
The other is the olympus 5060 with the underwater case from olympus. My worry on this is the case. Is the case very good, the depth reading is for 131 feet and quite often I go to 130. The other is the housing has no strobe, how is it with out the strobe? Can a strobe be attached?
Another camera is the Sea&Sea AQUAPIX CAMERA- I am just starting to read on this one.

I am by no means a photographer but would like to try and take good pictures. I feel getting a strobe would help with picture quality but again I am a beginner at this.


Thanks for the help.

 

[scubaj]

I did the same search over last few months, I went with the 5060 with the Ikelite housing so I could get the TTL flash.

Seems you can get far better results with the olympus. In the long run you get more for you money with a regular Dig camera like Olympus, Nikon, Sony, just to name a few.

Good luck oh your searh hope you have as much fun learing about all the options as I did.

Jared