OLY SP350 - $200.00 At J&R

[liberato]

Someone had posted this source and when I was looking it was the best price. You get one battery with the charger. I agree with RockeyHeap that if you don't already have an AA NiMH rechargeable setup go with the Li-Ion rechargables. That way you can also avoid the risky firmware update procedure.

 

[merxlin]

I have this set up. I got two batteries, so on 3 and 4 dive days I can do two dives (usually about 70-100 pix unless I'm shooting RAW), switch batteries, then do the last two dives. Battery recharges fast.

 

[RockyHeap]

EVERY dive, I swap out batteries and 1 gig memory cards.

you never know when you want to switch to video and capture a big manta ray that comes out of no where...............(that 45 second movie is 135 meg big too), so imagine if you hadn't swapped out cards and still had dive 1 pictures clogging up your card in the middle of dive 2....

 

[occrider]

I'm looking for a very budget camera for a beginner underwater photography. Ideally I want a camera that's around $200 but has the best combination of features for its price. I've been told to get a Canon however, it looks like the price for the 350 ($180) is unbeatable. Is there a canon around the same price range that can match or beat the 350? Thanks!

 

[tsreimer]

The nice things about getting the SP-350 are:

1. Relatively Inexpensive
2. Can be very easy to use - including various different underwater pre-programed settings for the novice user
3. Decent megapixel count (8 megapixels)
4. Provides a lot of great options if you look to growing into more advanced UW photography, but dont want to spend the money to take your SLR underwater. (one of the few point and shoots that have a hotshoe, as well as full manual control and RAW)

Having said all that, canon's are great too. I love Canon. I own a 5D SLR and it is glorious! I still ended up getting the SP-350 because in my opinion is was a fantastic value and one of the best suited digital compacts for underwater photography.

 

[liberato]

...I've been told to get a Canon however, it looks like the price for the 350 ($180) is unbeatable. Is there a canon around the same price range that can match or beat the 350? Thanks!

Not really. The SP-350 with the Oly underwater enclosure is about as good as you can get for a budget starter system. It also has two features that are extremely rare with current point and shoot cameras: a hot shoe connector and RAW data format capability, neither of which are necessary for a starter system but they give you more options later if you get an external strobe or want to do any post processing in Photoshop and such. I haven't used mine underwater yet but I'm pretending and I like it more and more as I play around with it. All of my other cameras are Canon (so no agendas).

 

[N692BC]

Just to add more, the camera is $179 now, I just bought one from JR. And it really is a great camera and of course a deal.

 

[occrider]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I just bought it and I feel really good about my purchase.

 

[Jinjer]

I love my SP350. Now for the price that Costco, and others are selling them at you can't find a better option for point-and-shoot, in my opinion. Infact, we actually have 2 backup cameras that we got at Costco for $199 and a spare Olympus housing. My husband uses the Olympus too when he doesn't want to haul his D200 and Subal Housing.

If you want the Olympus housing, which I think is great, you need to find one quickly. From what I gather, they are much harder to come by than the camera at this point. If you don't get one, the only other option will be a Ikelite housing. I am sure the Ikelite works well, but I know it costs more than the Olympus housing, and appears to be bigger.

 

[nucem]

I ordered the sp-350 from JR las night. I am know looking at housings. Does anyone know if you can use the ttl on the olympus housing for strobes other that the olympus flashes?