Choosing a good, well priced, underwater digital camera

[Rinoxus]

I am going to go to Yap as a Student Missionary and have been told there is good diving there. I've been wanting to get a better digital camera for a while and thought of this was a good occasion. I have been searching the internet for a while, trying to find the perfect one. The CANON S50 5.0 MEGAPIXEL DIGITAL CAMERA AND HOUSING, OLYMPUS C-5050 AND HOUSING, or SONY CYBERSHOT DSC-P8 CAMERA AND HOUSING are some good packages that I have found. I have mainly been looking at getting the Canon because of the 5 megapixels, but the only problem I see is that the housing only goes down to 100 ft. Do you guys know of another camera that's the same quality and price, as the Canon, but has a better housing and maybe has the ability to attach a strobe. Any assistance is very appriciated. Also, it is kinda URGENT, I am leaving in a week.

Thanks,
Bill

And speaking of strobes at what depth do you usually need one?

 

[TheAvatar]

What religion do I have to join to get a trip to Yap????

Strobes become usefull by the time you are head deep.

 

[Dee]

Rinoxus once bubbled...
I am going to go to Yap as a Student Missionary and have been told there is good diving there. I've been wanting to get a better digital camera for a while and thought of this was a good occasion. I have been searching the internet for a while, trying to find the perfect one. The CANON S50 5.0 MEGAPIXEL DIGITAL CAMERA AND HOUSING, OLYMPUS C-5050 AND HOUSING, or SONY CYBERSHOT DSC-P8 CAMERA AND HOUSING are some good packages that I have found. I have mainly been looking at getting the Canon because of the 5 megapixels, but the only problem I see is that the housing only goes down to 100 ft. Do you guys know of another camera that's the same quality and price, as the Canon, but has a better housing and maybe has the ability to attach a strobe. Any assistance is very appriciated. Also, it is kinda URGENT, I am leaving in a week.

Thanks,
Bill

And speaking of strobes at what depth do you usually need one?

The Olympus would be my first choice, mainly because I already did my research and have been using one for a couple of years.
I've been expremely happy with my Oly PT-10 housing that only has a 90ft depth limit, although I've had it below that several times with no trouble. If depth is a big requirement for you, it will cost you more to go to an Ikelite housing which has a deeper depth limit...exactly what I'm not sure.

To be fair, I must mention that if you plan to add a strobe, the Ikelite housing isn't so much more expensive as first thought because it includes a tray and handle. You'll have a choice of several types of strobe arms. I prefer the simpler manual S&S YS90DX strobe but if you have the money and prefer the more complex TTL features and all that intails and/or a hot wired strobe, the Ike would be your best choice.

One place I can highly recommend to purchase everything you'll need if you go with Olympus or Ikelite, is Underwater Camera Pro


My other choice would be the Canon.

 

[conchnclyde]

Hey Rinoxus,

I have been doing my homework for the last month on purchasing a 5MPix camera for starting U/W photo and the best advice I can give you is to scroll down to the bottom of the page and do a search for specific topics of choice. There are numerous, educational threads posted on just about any information that you may need to educate yourself toward a purchase. You will also get alot of info on where to buy your new equipment.

If you are interested in purchasing items over the internet, I recommend doing a price grabber. I bought all my Equipment (Olympus 5050, Olympus PT-015, 2 256 Cards, Moisture Munchers and Warranty from 17th Street Photo). They have the best price on the Housings (PT-015 for $149.50, as well as 5 yr warranty for $65.00, Camera was $569.00 a bit higher than some stores, but service/sales were great, and if you are going to buy extra cards or accessories, they dont have them inflated above market value).

You can find the camera for much less, and they will try to sell you everything under the sun, and after several declined to sell me the camera after finding out all I wanted was the camera, I decided to approach with a different angle and pay a bit more for better rated company who I felt comfortable with doing business.

Have a great time in Yap, and safe diving.

Clyde=-)

 

[Rinoxus]

I just went to some shops today, and they said that the MPEG videos that you can record are worthless. What do you guys think that have had them? I am still leaning to the Olympus, but I went to several diveshops, and camera shop, and they said that the Sea Life DC-310 would be a better better. Something about the angle of view? Does anyone have an opinion or experience? Does the Sealife perform descent above ground?

Bill

 

[Dee]

Rinoxus once bubbled...
I just went to some shops today, and they said that the MPEG videos that you can record are worthless. What do you guys think that have had them? I am still leaning to the Olympus, but I went to several diveshops, and camera shop, and they said that the Sea Life DC-310 would be a better better. Something about the angle of view? Does anyone have an opinion or experience? Does the Sealife perform descent above ground?

Bill

What would you expect them to say? They sell Sea Life products, not Olympus! Angle of view? Horse puckey...that's my opinion and experience talking.

The short video clips that my Oly C-4040 records are good for the purpose they serve. Recorded in Quicktime format isn't my favorite but it'll work fine. Don't buy the Oly for the video, you'll be disappointed but if you're hunting for short video clips to capture those not-to-be-missed moments below, then it works great.

I don't know how the Sea Life performs topside. I do know that underwater it's a point and shoot quality from the results I've seen.