lemurs2
Contributor
Okay, I know I need to get a camera with RAW format but I'm on a budget. Any recommendations? Do the Sea and Sea have RAW? I'm guessing they don't
Any good budget cameras w/ RAW?
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Best deal you can get right now would be a leftover SP-350. $179 for the Camera, about the same for the housing and it's fully manual capable with RAW and a hotshoe. This is a smokin' deal. About half the original price. Not a perfect camera, but quite capable and top bang for the buck.
DesertEagle
Contributor
The Olympus SP-350 is a great little machine. What's nice is that there are so many options for it. There are two housings, choice of hard-wired or slave strobe, full lens support (wide angle & macro). It takes AA batteries. xD cards aren't my favorite, but they are cheap now. I use the SP-310 which is the 7MP sister camera.
A nice feature in the SP-350 is in-camera RAW editing. While no match for Photoshop, it will let you change the white balance, contrast and saturation inside the camera. The result is saved as a JPEG. So if you're on vacation and want to get prints at a minilab, no problem. Try that with other cameras.
The Sea & Sea cameras do not have RAW.
A nice feature in the SP-350 is in-camera RAW editing. While no match for Photoshop, it will let you change the white balance, contrast and saturation inside the camera. The result is saved as a JPEG. So if you're on vacation and want to get prints at a minilab, no problem. Try that with other cameras.
The Sea & Sea cameras do not have RAW.
AndyT
Contributor
Also look at athe Fuji E-900 with an Ikelite housing, no hotshoe though.
OP
lemurs2
Contributor
Thanks all. Yes, from what I've read the Fugi E900 and OlySP350 seem to be the way to grow and it sounds like the Oly might be better since it does have a hotshoe and room to grow
Thanks
Thanks
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Look around, they just discontinued the SP350. I've seen them under $200. I have one, it's a solid little camera. About 96 shots on a 1GB card in Raw mode - 500+ in high-res .jpg...
OP
lemurs2
Contributor
okay I went for the OlySP 350 and got it from Reef photo w/ ikelite housing. I went to my local dive store and they said it would take about 3 weeks before they could get it in because they only order at certain times. Reef photo said they already had it in stock and I could get it by Wed next week. We are leaving for the Maldives on Jan 19 so I should have lots of fishies to shoot for lots of practice.
Thanks for all the suggestions
Thanks for all the suggestions
Happy shooting! Spend a few hours on the SP-350 thread by Wannabedivin and you'll find lots of good info to help you get the hang of your new camera. If you're shooting RAW, get several gigs of H type xD, they're down to about $30 a gig now. You'll probably want to quickly invest in a couple of Rechargeable CRV-3's and a charger for them as well. If you've got a laptop, you might be able to save some memory by downloading them in the evening to clear room for the next day's dives. Warning: taking pictures underwater is addictive. 91 shots on a gig will seem like a lot, but I've gone through it in one dive and ended up switching to JPEG at the end to squeeze out those last few shots.
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