Good Inexpensive Camera for Beginner??

[1amphibian]

I am looking for a good, relatively inexpensive camera for a beginner. Have been trying some very inexpensive cameras and they don't hold up for more than a dive or two.

Need your experience and advise on one that will be good to learn on and last for a little while, before we move up to a much more expensive one.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[alcina]

Canon A series...head to some of their older models to get under $200. The Canon housings are great...all are about $170ish new. I still have and use the A75.

 

[H2OSensei]

The DC500 is a nice, rugged 5.0 megapixel camera with a very nicely built housing. You can also buy the camera and add accessories as you go along. You can add an external flash, lenses, etc.

The best part....for under $500 you get an awesome digital camera and housing.

 

[Mariozi]

Canon A series...
Whenver you upgrade to a DSLR go Nikon though!!!

 

[BIGG_BUDD]

I guess it all depends on what you call inexpensive. I bought a Sony housing for my DSC-W7 digital camera off ebay for a little over $100. Granted, I already had the camera, which cost around $500 when I bout it...

 

[ScubaCatgirl]

I have the Sealife DC500 & love it! Have added the strobe & wide angle lens. It's very easy to use.

 

[rje634]

I am looking for a good, relatively inexpensive camera for a beginner. Have been trying some very inexpensive cameras and they don't hold up for more than a dive or two.

Need your experience and advise on one that will be good to learn on and last for a little while, before we move up to a much more expensive one.

Thanks,

Chris

I have a Canon S230 with a Canon underwater housing (WP-DC600) with extra CF flash cards and batteries that I'm looking to sell. It is in mint condition, I got a new Canon setup (SD550) that replaced it.
If your interested PM me...

 

[diverrick]

I am not sure there is a such thing as a "good inexpensive " dive camera. Most cheap ones are very poorly built, and have less of the options you really need, like adjustable white balance. You get what you pay for. Been there, done that, then went out and spent some cash for a nice setup, and have been happy ever after. Some times you just have to bite the bullet and spend some cash.
I once bought one of those cheap underwater cameras, that you have to send the whole camera back to get your pictures, and you don't get the camera back afterwards. All the photos were bad, junk. I threw them all away. I just wasted my money there.

 

[1amphibian]

I understand the need to spend some money and don't have a problem with it. It sounds like the cannon A series or the sea life are nice camera's and we have looked at the sea life series several times, will check out the cannon's now.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[EvilSlumLord]

After browsing SB and a couple local diving boards I landed on the Canon A520 and the Canon housing (WP-DC60) for it. I haven't used it yet (just showed up on the UPS truck a couple days ago) but I plan to use it for a trip to Tahiti and my diving around the Puget Sound area. The camera (including a big storage card, rechargeable battery package, ...) was under $200. My goal was to find something that had the right basic diving features (in this case it has an underwater setting as well as other popular features for diving) but not so expensive that I would want to eat my weights if the housing flooded and destroyed the camera. Also, as I am still a diving newbie I didn't (and have the buoyancy control of a rock ), I wanted to start inexpensive in case it ended up taking a beating...

There are more recent models (A620 I believe) that sounded good as well, have more megapixels (A520 is 4MP),... I haven't gotten a strobe yet but will see how the camera does without one first in the Sound and go from there.

Best of luck!