Help - need suggestions of a good / decent $300 price range camera!

[bruehlt]

I have been doing some research on new models - MAN, I can't believe the lack of features they have! I have an olympus 3040, which has a boatload of manual settings (F1.8 - F10, manual ISO selection, manual white balance, etc) - I can't believe some of the newer cameras, they hardly have any of these features.

I am considering this a gift to my GF for christmas, and I'd like something that ikelite or another manufacture makes a housing for.

Let the opinions begin!!

 

[bruehlt]

Anyone have any opinions on the Sony DSC-W7 - it looks like a nice solid camera!

 

[Shoreliner11]

I currently have a canon powershot s1 IS. It only has 3.2 megapixels but with 10x optical zoom it makes up for it with out having to crop photos. There is a newer model the s2 out, with 5 mp and 12x zoom I believe but its around $500 or so. I really like the camera, manual mode is the way to go where you can adjust the same as your camera posted but the f-stop only goes up to around 8 I believe. Great camer imo. I'm planning on buying the underwater housing for it in a month or so. Good luck with the search. It seems like all the cameras I want are all above $900 or so for just the housing :11:
Aaron

 

[Jamdiver]

I hate just recommending brands without any reason, but these are all within your price range and seem to get good reviews and have a nice mix of manual controls.

Canon A610, canon manufacturer housing available.
Fuji E510? I think there's a housing for this.
Olympus SP-310, housing available. However the camera is just over $300 I think.

Brue, take a look around these forums or do a search, you'll find a ton of info!

 

[bruehlt]

Actually - I found a killer deal yesterday. Dell was offering about $100 worth of rebates on the A620 - so I bought that! Got it for $299.20, what an amazing deal!!

 

[Jamdiver]

Wow! I'm going to have to keep a lookout on the dell site, i'd love to get that sort of rebate.

 

[bruehlt]

http://www.justdiscounted.com/live_...rentPage=610&gclid=CPqMkvX22YECFUgLOAodxAZMLg

Here is the link - except the deal of the day is only $309.....

 

[Jamdiver]

Thanks brue , I'll be ordering it before the deal ends!
Oh wait, do you think there's any chance that a better deal might come around before Christmas?

 

[bruehlt]

Not sure - I just stumbled across the site after searching. Than I looked at ebay - heh, people on ebay don't understand that you can save so much more money by looking on the net....heh...

 

[cinder4320]

For the A620 I would recheck the Dell price. Someone posted two different coupon codes on here and I got it for $279.25.
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=120759
Their post says you have to use paypal for the $20 coupon code but I did not have to. They have free shipping now also. The only downside is its backordered so it will not ship until the beginning of January. The coupons are only good until the 6th though.

Miranda