Recommendations for compact camera for land and underwater

[tursiops]

The TG-6 has been discontinued. They are coming out with the TG-7 shortly.

The TG-7 is available for purchase. it is a minor upgrade to the TG-6. There is a whole thread on it here on SB.

 

[Marie13]

Yup, TG-6.

It's good on land and up for 30ft underwater without housing. If you are diving deeper, get the underwater housing.

Yes, the iPhone will do it but my phone is my life and if the underwater housing fails, it'll cost me a lot more than my TG-6 did.

Cheers!
=C=

Use an older phone that’s not your current phone.

 

[Barmaglot]

Also, fyi, one of the principal makers of housings for Canon cameras, Fantasea line, looks like it might be going out of business – their website has broken links and the phone number was not in service the last time I checked.

Isn't all their gear ODMed by AOI in Taiwan?

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

The TG-7 is available for purchase. it is a minor upgrade to the TG-6. There is a whole thread on it here on SB.

Yes, I have read it already

 

[ROUS]

I built, and regularly dive with, a Lumix LX10 rig. But, for someone starting out, there's something to be said for buying someone's used system. People upgrade or leave the hobby all the time and unload some pretty nice systems for much less work than building your own. Keep an eye on the classifieds. That's my $.02.

 

[calevans]

Use an older phone that’s not your current phone.

Yup, thought of that but I always trade my phone in on a new one. Still cheaper to get a TG-6...well, not if you include the housing, but that's a different calculation.

 

[calevans]

The TG-6 has been discontinued. They are coming out with the TG-7 shortly.

Yup, and I've read the thread and a few articles. Overall, I won't be upgrading, but I do need to change my recommendation for those buying a NEW camera.

Really disappointed that the 7 is not much of an upgrade (if any) from the 6. May look at SeaLife and see if it's any better.

 

[markloch]

Thanks for the recommendations and insights, and I'll check out the backscatter reviews. My walk-around camera is a fuji x100f (and occasionally a housing will show up on eBay) though I'd sooner my iphone get flooded. I have a lumix gx8 that these days I use almost entirely with a long telephoto for wildlife, though I have a shorter zoom and a 20mm. One thought was finding a m34 body for which housings are readily available.

I replaced an old and recently deceased lumix ts series camera with a tg-6 but the tg-6 isn't really doing it for me when on land; I'm inclined to use my iphone rather than the tg-6 when out of the water. Also am I wrong that it resets the aperture (such as it is) on power down/up? This drives me nuts. Aside from the iPhone I tend towards cameras with manual and S/A priority and readily accessible EV+/-, for which reason the idea of a good compact zoom like the lx2 and (my first digital canon g1).

All that said, I'm thinking the Oceanic housing will suit my near-term needs and waiting to hear from a friend who'll be getting one shortly, which is to say shallower dives and snorkeling.