Help Please the Canon A85 or the Canon S410

[zuzanne]

Which will give me the most features for a total newbie at underwater photography? I am looking at the A85 with the WP-DC 30 Housing or the S410 with the WP-DC800 Housing. I also checked out the Sony Cybershot P93 with the MPK-PEA Housing but feel the Canon is probably the better choice for a beginner.

Suzanne

 

[Burner]

I dove with a canon a series (forgot which one, maybe a80) and got decent pictures for a beginner. you will get bad pictures for a while though no matter what you choose.
recently I also tried a different canon maybe s210 (something that wasn't the a series.) I found macro worked well with it, but couldnt' get any non macro pictures.

I think a85 should have manual mode, i'm not sure about s410, but I would get a camera with manual mode.

 

[bladephotog]

I have the A85 and am very happy with it. I'm a photojournalist by trade so I know my way around a camera. I wanted a P&S that I could travel with and that I could dive with. I'm not looking to make money underwater as diving is my escape from work. However, I wanted something to record my underwater adventures. The A85 does everything I want it to. I don't like the shutter lag but they all have that. I don't know anything about the other cameras. But I can happily recommend the A85. It's a nice camera for the money. I do think I'll get a wide angle adapter eventually though.

 

[Tamas]

Go with the A85. It has a larger lens then the S410 and will give you better underwater shots and low light condition shots because of that. I have the S400, while I love it, I wish it did better in low light. The lens is very good on both but the A85 is bigger. Also it has the underwater settings, with internal digi filters already pre-set for that condition, again giving you better shots.

 

[Vtdiver2]

I also have the A85 and am impressed with the quality of pictures. I also got the chance to look at a friends Olympus WP case, and liked the functionality of the Canon case much more. The buttons seemed to be better made and overall the camera and case was more compact. I'm happy with the A85