Decisions, Decisions

[Cecil]

I'm actually thinking of retiring the P5 (hard to believe, I know). I'm torn between the DSC-P150 or the P200. They seem identical except for the larger LCD on the P200.

Side-by-side

The prices are real close (maybe $50 delta), now the down side. There is not an UW housing for the P200, yet. As it stands right now, the P150 wins.

Opinions? (all offers to join the cult are to be dismissed out of hand).

 

[XJae]

yeah, they look pretty close,
but no choice with no housing.

the 1/2000 shutter speed on the 200 probably won't help much underwater.

hmm. there are more pixels on the smaller viewfinder???

i wonder how much better the zeiss lens is
compared to the one i have on the p10.

for all i know the p10 could be a zeiss, rebranded.

 

[Jetwrench]

No housing would do it for me. One thing I'm sure of is the next camera I get must have plenty of support in that catagory. I wonder if Sony will even make one for the P200. None of the other mfg's are even bothering to come out with housings for Sony stills.

Jet

 

[MacHeath]

Well I just did almost exactly this. Upgraded from P9 to P150, seems there is still no case for the P200. I've only tried it in the pool so far, but the results seem great. Makes the P9 look awful.

Resolution is obviously better (~x1.36 as you would expect 4MP to 7MP).
Shutter lag is much less, also there is a mode called focus monitor which continually auto focuses, so focus lag is much much shorter.
Battery life is x2
Flash cycle time is about half
Min macro distance is shorter
Screen is a bit bigger
Camera is smaller and lighter
Video is much better.

And then of course there is the manual shutter and aperture. This changes everything for those of us with external strobes.

I can't find any down sides yet, except I had to get a much bigger memory stick....

 

[Cecil]

Thank you very much for the update. Father's day is coming up along with a Bonaire trip. Sure would be nice to have some more pixels to play with.

 

[Jetwrench]

Thank you very much for the update. Father's day is coming up along with a Bonaire trip. Sure would be nice to have some more pixels to play with.

You're going to Bonaire without me? I'm telling Tom! Cecil, you're in BIG trouble!

 

[Cecil]

Hey you went without me, but you did tell Tom.

 

[Cecil]

Speaking of Tom, the oceans getting warmer, you guys should come on down and we'll get wet. That's assuming you can get a border crossing pass to leave the People's Republic.