Cameras; price vs quality

[divemed06]

What would you recommend for a newbie u/w digital camera (cost vs quality; value) from these cameras? I shoot film SLR on land but would prefer getting a digital for u/w. Not sure what price range I'm looking at yet).


Olympus c 4000 vs Nikon 4300 vs Olympus c 4040

Olympus c 5050 vs Nikon 5400 vs Canon G5

Thanks

 

[DesertEagle]

For the money I would probably get the Olympus 5050 and the Ikelite housing. The reason I recommend the Ikelite over the Olympus PT-015 housing is the ability to use a strobe synch cord. If the $500 price of the Ikelite is too high, you can use the PT-015 with an Ikelite manual strobe controller.

The Nikon 5400 has the best choice of housings. Ikelite, Aquatica and Sea & Sea make housings that allow for dome ports. They are expensive.

The Nikon 4300 has a few housings available. Fantasea makes one that is similar to the Canon and Olympus housings. The 4300 uses a rechargeable lithium battery which would probably be expensive to replace. You can also use the 2CR5 battery. Personally I prefer AA batteries.

The Cheapest option would be the Olympus C-4000. Not a bad camera at all. In the PT-010 housing you could get some nice results.