Question on which camera to buy

[clive francis]

Since it sounds like you are mostly interested in the "land" performance, you may want to consider the new Olympus C-8080. It's featuring is more like the D-100, but it will have a housing available next month.

Re. taking an expensive camera UW you may want to consider DEPP flood insurance.

the c8080 is not going to produce the same quality pics as the d100 because you are stuck with the one size fits all lens.

the c8080 uses the same CCD as the sony and they are not supposed to be too good for noise (grainy effect pics).

if you are really into the land photography, then i would go for the NikonD100/D70 or the Canon 10D.

the D70 is on a par with the D100 and cheaper, so you could get the D70 and the ike housing (not much difference in the ike oly and the ike nikon housing price wise).

it might be worth looking on ebay and picking up a secondhand 4040 and a pt10 and getting the good land system, then when you have mastered the 4040 you can house the land system.

just my little input/point :54:

 

[chippy]

Thomas

I had a similar decision to make a couple of months ago.

I really enjoy my land photography, as well as my UW photography.

I was using an Oly C5050 UW and an Oly E20 topside. I decided that in the end, it was pretty pointless having two seperate systems (not to mention trying to remember the different control layouts), so I sold the lot and bought a Fuji S2, housing and a handful of Nikon lenses, the lenses being equally suited to topside use as well as UW.

I note that you didn't specify your budget - DSLR's are very expensive - it's not just the camera body you need to budget for, you've then got lenses, housing, ports, sync leads, etc to contend with. My housing alone cost almost as much as the S2 body!

 

[chippy]

P.S. Flood insurance is a MUST HAVE!

 

[THomas Marshall]

Dee,

Thanks so much for the help. Any additional information on the WA lens would be appreciated.

 

[THomas Marshall]

Clive Francis,

Thanks for the input on the 8080, I agree, the fixed lens is not acceptable. Good suggestions, I will think them over.

Chippy,

Wow, nice setup.

I'm concerned about how practical it is to use one camera, removing it from it's housing in between each dive/snorkel for land use. While on vacation I would like to use the UW unit throughout the day, leaving it in the case until the evening to download pics to a PC, is this ok?

How easy is it to remove from the Oly housing vs the Ikelite. I was thinking the more you swap it out the more chance you have to flood it, am I all wet on this assumption?

So having two cameras makes it easy, also my wife could use the land camera while my son and I are UW.

Budget: 3k - 4k, possible 5k for both cameras. UW would be only a camera and housing to start. So don't include the strobe and WA lens, ect. in that budget. The thought is to buy a nice UW camera that I can expand it's capability as I get better.

 

[THomas Marshall]

Gee wiz, I assumed I couldn't buy a housing for my (well my wife's I should say) current digital camera (Sony DSC-F717, 5.0 mega pixel). I just saw a housing for it on the Ikelite site for $950.00. However, it has some restrictions as the flash is blocked by the case and you can't use an add an on lens.

I know many favor the Olympus 5050, but how would this Sony stack up, is it worth using for my UW solution?

 

[Dee]

Gee wiz, I assumed I couldn't buy a housing for my (well my wife's I should say) current digital camera (Sony DSC-F717, 5.0 mega pixel). I just saw a housing for it on the Ikelite site for $950.00. However, it has some restrictions as the flash is blocked by the case and you can't use an add an on lens.

I know many favor the Olympus 5050, but how would this Sony stack up, is it worth using for my UW solution?

Just those two restrictions would have me choosing the the 5050. IMHO, unless your housing need to take some extra rough handling, ie., rocky shore entries, rough seas making hand ups to the boat hard, etc. or depths over 130ft, then the Ikelite housing is overkill. For that same $950 you could get the 5050/PT-15 combo.

 

[THomas Marshall]

I would agree with you Dee on the 5050 vs the Sony.

This is where I ended up after doing more research and spending more time on this forum:

The Sony isn't an option due to the price of the Ikelite case, compounded by the two issues I mentioned.

I'm going to purchase either the Nikon D-100, or the Canon D-10 for land use only, I'm still editing at press time on which one, the Canon has an added benefit to me as I have several compatible Lens from my previous EOS that I can re-use, and from what I can tell it stands head to head with the Nikon.

I decided to start with the Olympus 5050 and the PT-15 case for UW use, the price of both pieces is almost $300.00 less than the Sony Ikelite case. I will use this setup to learn the ropes and decide if UW photography is really for me. I was very impressed with the shots posted on this forum taken with this setup.

My long term strategy/logic is to continue to have two cameras, and as I upgrade the land camera every 2 or 3 years, I will then use the previous unit for UW use, probably upgrading to a better case, with strobes, lens, etc. somewhere down the road.

At some point I may switch my priorities from land to water, but for now I simply don't get enough time scuba diving to warrant it. Besides, I'm spoiled rotten now with Hawaii and other tropical areas, so diving in Southern California is loosing it's attraction for me.

Again, thanks to all, I will keep you posted on my progress, and I'm sure I will be soliciting your help in the near future.

 

[Dee]

Good thinking. Be sure to keep us posted onhow it all goes! New toys are the next best thing to diving!

 

[tie]

I'm going to purchase either the Nikon D-100, or the Canon D-10 for land use only, I'm still editing at press time on which one, the Canon has an added benefit to me as I have several compatible Lens from my previous EOS that I can re-use, and from what I can tell it stands head to head with the Nikon.

I decided to start with the Olympus 5050 and the PT-15 case for UW use, the price of both pieces is almost $300.00 less than the Sony Ikelite case. I will use this setup to learn the ropes and decide if UW photography is really for me. I was very impressed with the shots posted on this forum taken with this setup.

Just curious, why the D100 over the D70?

This sounds like a good plan. The 5050 isn't nearly as nice for above water photos as a good DSLR. But in housing a DSLR, the price, the extra complication, and the worry are all negatives.