I'm in the market for a new camera and housing (possibly two!) and would appreciate any comments and advice.
At the moment, I use an Olympus C-770 with the Olympus housing. There are things I like about this, and things I don't like.
Dislikes: A bit bulky for the size of the camera, battery life is abysmal (maybe 30 shots with flash), only 4MP
Likes: Feature rich (for example, A/S/M and also nice white balance adjustment), internal flash usable and offset from lens
I think that the C-770 is a bit niether here nor there, so I'm probably going to look at getting two new systems. Initially, a nice small system that I can slip in my drysuit pocket on every dive. Secondly, a decent housing+strobe for when I want to just take photos.
I've got a completely open mind on both systems - I do like the Olympus interface whilst underwater, but can learn to cope with anything. For both systems the main requirements are more than 4MP (6-8MP ideal) and great battery life - I want the storage medium limit the number of photos I take on a dive, not the battery!
A lot of friends use the Sony P150 and get some great shots with it - so this is a contender for the smaller system. Any observations? Any thoughts as to a similar camera in terms of size and features?
The "serious" system is going to wait a while, but something along the lines of an Olympus 8080 with Ikelite DS125 strobe is currently top of the list. Again, any thoughts or recommendations of other things to consider?
EDIT Ooops, forgot to mention. Another requirement is for the housings to be rated to 40m at least, 60m preferably for the "serious" system.
At the moment, I use an Olympus C-770 with the Olympus housing. There are things I like about this, and things I don't like.
Dislikes: A bit bulky for the size of the camera, battery life is abysmal (maybe 30 shots with flash), only 4MP
Likes: Feature rich (for example, A/S/M and also nice white balance adjustment), internal flash usable and offset from lens
I think that the C-770 is a bit niether here nor there, so I'm probably going to look at getting two new systems. Initially, a nice small system that I can slip in my drysuit pocket on every dive. Secondly, a decent housing+strobe for when I want to just take photos.
I've got a completely open mind on both systems - I do like the Olympus interface whilst underwater, but can learn to cope with anything. For both systems the main requirements are more than 4MP (6-8MP ideal) and great battery life - I want the storage medium limit the number of photos I take on a dive, not the battery!
A lot of friends use the Sony P150 and get some great shots with it - so this is a contender for the smaller system. Any observations? Any thoughts as to a similar camera in terms of size and features?
The "serious" system is going to wait a while, but something along the lines of an Olympus 8080 with Ikelite DS125 strobe is currently top of the list. Again, any thoughts or recommendations of other things to consider?
EDIT Ooops, forgot to mention. Another requirement is for the housings to be rated to 40m at least, 60m preferably for the "serious" system.
