Ryan
Contributor
I'm interested in what you're saying about shutter lag times, since it's the one thing that has me hesitant to purchase the P5000 (I want to believe you!). I was looking at timing tests between the Nikon and the G7 ...
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikonp5000/page4.asp
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canong7/page5.asp
... and they seem to disagree with your observations. OK, it's not an SLR, and there's going to be some delay, but some sites just slam Nikon for this issue on the P5000 and others say, not that big a deal. In your work, you must have had your hands on enough different units, and you're really OK with the Nikon??
I'm aware of the DPReview timings, and in real world underwater situations haven't found them to be accurate... 10 dives now. I dived the G7 4 times in Bonaire, and while I was happy with it, I didn't find the focus to be accurate enough for my taste. If P5000 is slower in the situations I shoot in it isn't perceptibly so, and I find it to be quite accurate.
I also have a lot of experience with much slower cameras, so prefocusing then waiting for a fish to do something cute is quite natural for me. Shutter response from half press is instant.
VR is a great feature for UW use.
Not sure I agree with that, though. I drink a lot of coffee and I can hand hold this guy at really slow shutter speeds... Not that VR is a bad thing, I just don't think it is very effective in this camera, even topside.