The Ongoing "Which Camera for a Newbie?" Question

[scubajunkee]

Lori,

I have the Canon Powershot S40 digital camera with the WPDC300 housing. It's an older model 4MP camera. Canon is now up to the S70 (7MP). Its a great camera and has a lot of the features you're looking for: Manual, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and movie mode. It's great with and without a strobe. I got my camera, used, off http://www.craigslist.org for under $200, the housing was also under $200 on eBay. It has decent battery life with the LCD screen on, and saves images in RAW or Jpeg on a compact flash card. Check out, my photo gallery for sample shots.

Ericson

Ok so after everyone's posts, I've been poking around at various digital cameras. Pretty much, the criteria have been: 4+ mp, canon or oly (I have no clue where else to look), and price. Ideally, I'd love to find a cam that also has manual/aperture priority/shutter priority settings, but it seems those are out of my price range. Here's what I've found, I'd love comments on the cameras below:

Canon A80: 4mp, 3.6x dig zoom, 38-114 mm optical zoom. Camera & housing average price on ebay: $225-325

Canon A85: 4mp, 3.6x dz, 35-105mm oz. Av. Price: $250-350

Oly C-460Z/D-580Z (why is this listed on digideep.com as the same camera?):
4mp, 4x dz, 35-105 o.z. Av. price $160-260


Notes:
-The A95 and housing average about $450, too high for me. Ditto for the Oly C-4000, C-4040 and C-5000. Particularly because the housing for the 4000/4040 was not available on ebay, so I would be buying it at an MSRP of $280. Camera itself was only about $200 on ebay.
-I've heard the C-series of Oly's are good, so what is the C-460/D-580 thing?

I'd love recommendations on the above cameras based on ease of use, ability to grow, and quality of pictures. Of course, I still welcome comments on the film cameras too, and anything else I should know!!!

Thanks again...
Lori

 

[Snarffy]

Thanks scubajunkee... What are the differences between the A-series and the S-series Canon? Their tech specs look the same...

Anyone use the Oly C-460Z/D-580Z? Thoughts on that one? It's agreeing most with my wallet... ;-)

 

[alcina]

Compare cameras side by side here
www.dpreview.com

 

[scubajunkee]

Another site that I used for side by side comparisons and great in-depth reviews is:

www.stevesdigicams.com

Ericson

 

[reubenray]

I am looking for a camera also to use on land and underwater. Just how good of a picture will the camera take if you zoom 10x? In other words will a camera with maximun of 3x to 4x work just as good as one with a 10x zoom?

 

[reubenray]

I second the first two post, in addition for UW use, get a camera with a HOTSHOE! Also very important, manual aperture and shutter control . Skip the strobe for now, but when you do, you'll be glad you have a hotshoe.

Olympus 5000 series, Nikon Coolpix or Canon...as long as they have a hotshoe.

New guy here. What is a Hotshoe?

 

[Chad_Ordelheide]

Hotshoe is the metal "shoe" on the top of more advanced cameras that you can slip a flash into. Or in this case, you can use it to sync you strobe.

Personally, I don't know how big a factor the hotshoe would be. I don't use a strobe, but If I wanted one. There are plenty strobes made that work perfectly fine with todays digitals! Its a nice feature, but not a necessity unless you going big!! I do agree that manual functions are a great thing to have on your camera! Good luck!

 

[reubenray]

Hotshoe is the metal "shoe" on the top of more advanced cameras that you can slip a flash into. Or in this case, you can use it to sync you strobe.

Personally, I don't know how big a factor the hotshoe would be. I don't use a strobe, but If I wanted one. There are plenty strobes made that work perfectly fine with todays digitals! Its a nice feature, but not a necessity unless you going big!! I do agree that manual functions are a great thing to have on your camera! Good luck!

Great pictures and this is with you camera's flash?

 

[dbg40]

Anyone tell me if the reefmaster rc cameras are any good? 30 years diving and never took a pic. Just want a basic, but what should I look at?

 

[Chad_Ordelheide]

Great pictures and this is with you camera's flash?

Yeah, no strobe. Although a strobe would be nice, most of the time I get good enough pictures I would rather not tote a large strobe around. In fact the last place I dove was in Palau...Amazing. Anyway, we found some critters, Nudibranch, Lionfish,etc in little caves. I could just put my arm in with the little camera to get closer, where the guys with the large flashes could only get 3-4 feet away. In the end I think I ended up with the best shots. Anyway, I'll post some of the Palau pics soon Happy Diving
Chad