Camera purchase decisiom

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Pyroscuba

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Location
Australia
# of dives
25 - 49
I am currently looking getting an underwater camera setup and have a few options available. Trying to weigh up cost vs effectiveness. Any feedback on these options would be great..
Option 1)
I currently have an Olympus mju 8000. Option being that I purchase the pt-048 housing and the UFO-01 strobe.
Cost around $800

Option 2)
Sea life dc1200 kit
Probably get the elite pack but open to other kits
Cost $950

Option 3)
Ikelite housing for my d5000
This is what I would like to do so I had more options but with the limited amount of diving I am doing currently finding it hard to justify
Cost $3000 and up

Probably leaning towards sea life at the moment
Any feedback would be great
Thanks in advance
 
Hi Pyroscuba,

Let me add another option to your list that will give you excellent results at the price of your lowest option.

The Nikon P7000 with a Fantasea housing

For 849$ you can get a very compact housing with a camera that shoots Raw , has x7.1 zoom and excellent Nikon optics. It also shoots 720p HD video.

You can read about the Nikon P7000 at the Nikon website.
 
pyroscuba, if you're used to shooting RAW on your D5000 then I would say count the Sealife out as it doesn't have a RAW function. Other than that I love mine. I haven't gotten clear info on whether the Olympus shoots RAW or not.

Mozaik's suggestion for the Nikon may be a good option.

I'm assuming the prices you listed are in Australian dollars? If not, they are a bit high...
 
I see that the ikelite housing for the 8000 is around 100 us dollars cheaper here... not a bad case, and with the UHL-1, and a reasonable tray and arms (and fiber optic cable...one would be around $800 US....the cost here of the 1200 is around that same price... I would much rather have the Oly system... particularly the strobe.. as it has an isolated battery compartment...it leaks and you still have a strobe.
 
I think I am going to wait till I return to the states next month and get it then. And just hire a camera for my live aboard next week. Not ideal but is a lot cheaper especially with the foreign exchange rate at the moment
 

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