Digital advice?

[DrSteve]

Hi All!

I currently have a Sea & Sea MX-10. My wife and I are going to Coz in 3 weeks. She would like a camera too. Any suggestions on a good digital u/w camera or a good housing/camera combo and a source? (I'm guessing B&H and LPro are a given)

Price should ideally be below $500, but I will stretch to $600 if I have to. This camera will mostly be used on land (I am guessing) and would need an add on strobe for most of the diving around here. Something which uses standard digital media would be good as well ie. not Sony! I think our Fuji digicam uses SmartMedia.

Thanks!

 

[Dee]

With your budget, my recommendation of Oly C-5050/PT-15 comes in around $578. C-5050 - $409 at BuyDig.com (good place) and the PT-15 - $169 at Seashooters.com. It uses CF, SM, XD and microdrive cards and the best thing is you can use 2 at a time! I use a large CF and SM at the same time since I have a ton of SM cards. The C-5050 is an excellent land camera and for U/W she can use it as a point and shoot in full auto or in several other modes up to full manual, it will grow with her abilities.

You may also want to check out the Canon set-ups. I know next to nothing particular about them except we have quite a few very satisfied members who use them and they are in your price range.

You won't NEED a strobe to get started. The internal flash on the C-5050 is quite strong and will work just fine until she learns the camera itself. Plus a good strobe will run you around $550! You can save it for your next stash of cash!

 

[DrSteve]

Thanks!

Do you know how the c-5050 and C-5060 compare? I've gotten the "executive approval" for an Oly and housing

 

[DBailey]

Just ordered the C-5050 (refurbished) and PT-105 from A&M Photo World (800-840-7602).

Including a 1 year warranty (I probably got suckered into it), the total was $629.99.

 

[jcclink]

Very basic but important differences -
5050 / 5060
AA batteries / Proprietary batteries
1.8 35mm equiv lens / 2.8 27mm equiv lens
Lens doesn't move / Lens moves when
when telescoping / telescoping preventing
allowing use of/ use of wetmate WAL
wetmate WAL / on housing
on housing

Most of us prefer the 5050 - faster lens, AA batteries, WAL on housing.
P.S. Keep an eye on the PT-015 mode control. Possible problem area.

 

[GERRY2153]

Might look at the OLY C-750 PT-018 ABOUT $525
I love the 10x opt and 4x dig zoom

 

[justleesa]

Hope you get the camera in time for your trip and make sure you have a couple of spare batteries so you always have one set on the charger.

 

[DrSteve]

Just ordered the C-5050 (refurbished) and PT-105 from A&M Photo World (800-840-7602).

Including a 1 year warranty (I probably got suckered into it), the total was $629.99.

Man you were royally screwed on that warranty. When I bought my camcorder they tried to sell me a Mack warranty. I hesitated and the price dropped to 80! The warranty wasn't worth much of anything as I found out - didn't cover buttons, LCD screen, lens - all it appeared to cover was the physical components which moved the tape, did the recording/play back and an "annual cleaning" at their service center "please pay to send your camera back to us for 4-6 weeks per year." If I were you I'd try and cancel that warranty through my credit card company!

 

[Wendy]

I just got the canon A70 with the underwater housing for a little less than $500 from www.walmart.com so far so good, and i think i few other people on the board have this camera as well. you can do a search on it as i know there are a few threads about this camera on here.

 

[DrSteve]

The order is in! http://www.digitaldelivered.com C-5050 for 335 + 20 shipping
I called it in and ordered an xD memory card and found them cheaper elsewhere (Amazon) so I called back and asked that part of the order to be removed. No hard sale and no hassles so far!