Help me choose a camera

[stuartv]

Agree with this assessment, particularly if you consider yourself a vacation diver and therefore will only be using it underwater a couple times a year.

The tg-4 is versatile; it's waterproof to 50ft without a housing for shallow dives/snorkeling when you might not need a strobe. Or you can put it in the olympus pt-056 and attach a strobe and wet lenses.

The OP said she wants something good for land photos, too. Not that the TG-4 is not good for that. But, by the time you get the TG-4 and housing, you're in for almost 650. If you can get a Sony RX100 Mk II and a housing for around $750 - 800, don't you think it would be worth the extra money?

 

[tarponchik]

With RX100 series, you'll most likely be out of her budget ($1,200)

 

[tarponchik]

I double-checked: RX100 series comes w/o the charger, you need to buy it separately if you plan to use the external charger.

 

[diver 85]

RX 100 is what I'm going with next--------when by Canon S95 dies.............



AND......skeptic14, are you the same one that fav'ed some(?1) of my pics on Flickr??--I assume so but it's hard to tell on info on both(SB & Flickr) sites.....(I go by GEAUXtiger on Flickr)

EDIT.....skeptic on Flickr I see you've got (some) with the Oly TG-4(if that helps.).....

 

[tarponchik]

RX 100 is what I'm going with next--------when by Canon S95 dies.............AND......skeptic14, are you the same one that fav'ed some(?1) of my pics on Flickr??--I assume so but it's hard to tell on info on both(SB & Flickr) sites.....

S95 isn't bad at all. Pity Canon discontinued further development in these series.

 

[diver 85]

S95 isn't bad at all. Pity Canon discontinued further development in these series.

---I think I remember this correctly---------when Canon came out with the S95, it was a video improvement over the S90(mostly)--ie still stuff was about the same---& the S90 was/is a great UW camera(I could have gotten either one then new but went with the S95 for better videoing etc......

THEN, when they came out with S100 & 110s(have no idea about the 120???), they went the other way for UW results---ie got 'worse'??/...someone correct me about this if wrong......

 

[Skeptic14]

The rx100 seems like a popular choice which the OP should consider as well with budget and usage in mind.

diver85, yeh that's me, I followed you on flickr. Yeah, my shots are with an old tg-3, my tg-4 and some of the land shots a d90... although lugging it around is a pain!

 

[stuartv]

With RX100 series, you'll most likely be out of her budget ($1,200)

The Mk IV is. That's why I suggested the Mk II. The Mk II by itself seems to be available for around $500, new. And the Mk II doesn't do as good video, but it has an advantage for Macro. At least, that's my understanding.

 

[tarponchik]

---I think I remember this correctly---------when Canon came out with the S95, it was a video improvement over the S90(mostly)--ie still stuff was about the same---& the S90 was/is a great UW camera(I could have gotten either one then new but went with the S95 for better videoing etc......

THEN, when they came out with S100 & 110s(have no idea about the 120???), they went the other way for UW results---ie got 'worse'??/...someone correct me about this if wrong......

I know that video was the only thing they officially changed, but when I switched from s90 to s95 (I flooded a couple of each in the end but I am still using my last s95) I've noticed I did not have issues with fringing anymore. With s90, fringing was bad, especially, at the long end of the zoom. With s95 it was gone, though the glass is the same. Why? I do not know.

I guess, competition with the Smartphone cameras killed this line of products. To compete, you need seriously better optics, larger sensor and lots of features. And for these you need somewhat larger bodies. So the G's survived for now but the S's did not make it.

 

[tarponchik]

The Mk IV is. That's why I suggested the Mk II. The Mk II by itself seems to be available for around $500, new. And the Mk II doesn't do as good video, but it has an advantage for Macro. At least, that's my understanding.

OK