Purchase advice - Canon S200 and Canon WP-DC600

[raviepoo]

I am considering buying a Canon digital elph S200 and Canon WP-DC600 housing. I can bring in the entire package at about 400$ (25$ for the camera and 150$ for the housing, not including shipping.) I am not interested in taking museum quality images. The main purpose of the camera is to help me ID fish that I do not know by sight.

I've done a search on this board and haven't come up with anything terribly negative about this camera. Can anyone out there provide any feedback? Do you have one of these? Would you buy it again? Do you know of anything in the same price range that might be a better choice?

Thanks for your help.

 

[pdoege]

The Elph series has a pretty good following.

The resolution is a bit low.

I have the Canon housing WDC-DC300 (?) for the S45. The cases are really nice if somewhat bouyant.

Anyway, I think it will be fine. Especially for the price.

Peter

Links

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/S200/S20A.HTM
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004YKDU/104-7803345-7171907?vi=glance

 

[diverguy]

I bought a S400 and the Canon housing for it and took it down to my first Flower Garden trip last weekend. Took some ok photos, with the limiting factor being the photographer...

My housing is good for 130ft while yours is only good to 100ft. Even a 2MP camera will produce good 4x6 photos. For $400 it's a pretty good bargain - especially if you can get the camera for $25...;-)
Before I bought my S400 camera I had a S100 and liked it and the relatively short zoom (2x) is not a problem underwater.
Later you can get a strobe that works with the camera/housing but they are a little bit more expensive - check the board for more info on that.

/Mike
DiverGuy.com

 

[Cabo]

I just purchased this set for < $600. I know that's 50% more than the S200 & case, but for that you get a new model camera with 4 megapixel.

The biggest advantage of the extra megapixels is that you can crop your image down and still have enough resolution to make 4x6 prints. With a 2 megapixel, you need the full image to get good 4x6 prints.

However, if $400 is your budget, I'd say you will be happy with the camera and case. That's what I wanted to spend but talked the boss(wife) into letting me drop another $200 to get more camera.

Enjoy.

 

[raviepoo]

After looking online last night I'm considering the Canon s230. With that and the accessories I want (extra battery, larger compact flash card, case) I would be spending just under 600$. That extra megapixel in the s400 is very attractive. Does that camera have better battery life or a better flash?

If you bought online could you send me a link? If you bought locally, do you have the name and phone # of the store?

 

[pdoege]

I got my S45 from adorama www.adorama.com

Pricewatch lets you search for cameras and then go to the store with the lowest price.

www.pricewatch.com

Peter

 

[Crazy_J]

Recently, I received the A40 and DC200 housing (good to 100') as a gift "the best price of all".

While I am happy with the quality, I do sometimes wish that I had 4MP rather than 2....

Here is a URL to my first UW photos with this camera. The graininess is due to my lack of experience w/ photography....I had the ISO set to high "400" and other contributing factors ;-)

http://www.scubaclicks.com/galleries/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=571&thumb=1

NOTE: I have also read reviews and reports stating that people have used their housing in > 100’ without leakage… I understand though, that at 130ish’ the buttons compress in to far and render photograph taking impossible!

Hope that helps!&#680;

Cheers,
Crazy_J

:doctor:

 

[raviepoo]

Cabo, please please please tell me where you bought yours!

Adorama doesn't have the best price I've found but they are local to me. I'm kind of worried about warranty issues buying from them because they are affiliated with Leisurepro. (Bot businesses are in the same building.) They are closed until next Monday. I think I'm going to pop down there with an old camera that I don't use anymore and see what they will give me in trade.

 

[regtech17]

I would recommend the olympus 5060 with ikelite housing, use B&H and you can get it for around 1200 canadian. When you add a strobe with the proper sync cable you can get ttl strobing.

Steve

 

[chris_b]

Unless you are constrained by above-land camera size, why not get an A-series?

You can get the 4MP A85 for ~$200 shipped (go to resellerratings.com and search, there are several reputable online shops selling them for around that, e.g. buydig.com and beachcamera.com). Pick up the WP-DC30 housing at Adorama for $170 or shop around a bit online, they're sometimes just a bit cheaper elsewhere but often not in stock. Take your leftover change and buy a set of NiMH AA's w/charger and you should still be about at your $400 budget.

The A series uses CF so memory will be cheap, plus you have more manual controls than you will get with other similarly-priced digicams. An extra set of NiMH batteries is a lot cheaper than the battery packs for most compacts, plus in a pinch you can buy alkaline AA's anywhere. If you want to knock the price down even more you could get an A75, but the price difference between the A75 and A85 seems to be shrinking as the latter's street price falls.