Help needed choosing UW camera & housing

[Mel.B]

Hi,

I'm off on my first O/S diving trip in 12 weeks and would LOVE to have an UW camera to take with me. I've done a bit of research and lots of reading on here and am really confused as to what I actually need.

I'm not an expert photographer by any means and don't really understand f-stops, shutter speeds etc and how they all correlate. With this is mind, am I still better off going for something like the Oly 5050 b/c everyone seems to rave about it or something like the Sea & Sea DX3000 which I believe is more a 'compact' digitial camera.

What I like about the DX3000 is the macro capability - down to 1cm and you can screw on a wide-angle lens underwater. Can you do this with the 5050? What is the macro capabilities of the 5050 like?

Anyone with advice and suggestions as to what you think the best camera for me would be, is greatly appreiciated

Thanks!
Mel

 

[Stingray81888]

The Oly 5050 is a great camera. It has 2 macro modes: regular and super. in regular, you can get to 20 - 80 cm (7.9 - 31.5 in). In super macro mode you can get to 3 cm - 20 cm (1.2 - 7.9 in). As far as i know you can put a WAL lens onto the housing. Hope this helps.

 

[Aardal]

The 5050 can also be set to auto so you don't have to take pictures in manual. Just point and shoot basically. So, when you get around to learning f-stops and shutter speeds you can use the same camera in manual mode. It takes wonderful pictures above and below water. I would recommend this camera. WAL can be attached to the housing while underwater.

 

[Mel.B]

Thanks for the replies...I knew this was going to happen and it looks like I'm going to be swayed the oly way! Has anybody ever brought a refurbished 5050? What were your impressions? I can see some good deals on ebay at the moment that even when converted to OZ dollars isn't too expensive. The cost of getting the 5050 and housing in OZ is just out of my price range at the moment, even though I feel like i should be loyal to my local LDS who I do lots and lots of diving with (and that's who the trip O/S is with).

With regards to the WAL for the Oly, is it just a standard WAL? Or is there a special one that is needed for U/W. It doesn't require a special housing or anything? Excuse my ignorance!

Thanks again,
Mel

 

[justleesa]

I bought both of my 5050's off ebay. Happy with both.

 

[Kim]

With regards to the WAL for the Oly, is it just a standard WAL? Or is there a special one that is needed for U/W. It doesn't require a special housing or anything?
Mel

There are a few choices in WAL - Inon, Sea and Sea, and Epoque - to name the ones I know. I'm not sure but I thought that you could only use the Sea&Sea one U/W - the others you can also use on land - HOWEVER! they ALL fit to the U/W case - NOT to the camera directly.

 

[StingRob]

There are few places on the net where you can find tons of info about this. I found www.digideep.com a very good one which provides match for your camera. Best thing is to look for camera first knowing what housings are on the market.

StingRob