Thinking about upgrading my digital camera

[ajrbrown]

Hi

Would welcome a little advice on upgrading my digital camera.

I'm currently using a Sony P9 (4m pix) in a sony marinepak housing, with a 16mm Sea & Sea MMII Wide Angle Lens (which attachs via a Bayonet mount). I also have an epoque strobe but as this is as much use as a chocolate fireguard we'll discount that for the moment. The cameras about 3 years old and takes ok pics but i feel it's now becoming a bit limiting (esp the 128mb limit on the memory sticks and the slow shutter response) It would (unfortunately) still be used more on land than underwater.

So it looks like it might be time for an upgrade and I'm looking for recommendations. I'm still looking at a P&S - I shoot with a Canon 350d on land but don't think i can justify the expense or the worry if it flooded to go down the DSLR Housing route.

Things i like about the sony P9 (which i'd like in the new camera):
1) As a land camera it's nice and small, but not too small (I find the Sony T1 etc too small to handle). The 'just fits in a shirt pocket' is a good size. It would be the family 2nd camera - on land there's always places where it's not appropriate to whip out the SLR. The P9 takes great land shots and ok underwater.

2) Underwater, in it's housing it's still very small and manageable. (and afterwards is easy to travel the world with in a backpack)

3) The ability to attach the WAL is a godsend. As i've got the S&S Lens i'd like to be able to keep using this. I think the bayonet mount might only be available for sonys now (obviously i've already got the mount - would it fit any other housings?

4) Video is nice to have (though it's a bit limited on the P9)

Additional things i'd like in the new camera:

a) Big memory - obviously this wouldn't be a problem with any new camera. As i have compact flash for the 350d, keeping this the same would be nice.

b) Fast shutter response time - my biggest wish

c) Flash recycle - takes about 3 days on the sony which can be frustrating.

d) Manual/better White Balance. The sonys not great for this and does tend to like green. Would be prepared to forego this for a fast shutter response. Can always photoshop colours.

e) Macro on the P9 isn't fantastic, though again i guess most new P&S will deliver true close range shots.

f) a bigger lcd screen - P9 is a big postage stamp.

g) World Peace - though this might be a bit much to ask for with a p&s. Maybe if i went for the DSLR...


Budget would be about £300 ($500?) for the camera and £200 ($300?) for the housing. Cheaper would be great but would also consider a bit more for the right bit of kit.

Would be grateful for anyone's advice and experiences.

Thanks

Andrew

 

[Cecil]

An interesting problem that I just went through myself. I have been using the P5 for the last 5 years, no strobe or WA lens. I had all the same problems and concerns as yourself, with one major exception. I had to have small and compact so I got a P150 and Sony housing.

Some intial opinions, the camera is much faster at everything (On time, shutter lag, and recycle time), much better and more controls, much better battery life and the UW housing is much better (the lens and LCD have black shrouds). On the other hand, I was looking at some pictures yesterday with the P150, it still shifts everything green underwater.

I have learned to deal with this (Photoshop magic) and my desire for a camera I can store under a BCD strap underwater or a pants pocket while dry is more important to me.

Price wise, I got the camera for $280 and the UW housing for $160, both new and both on E-bay.

The other options are Olympus, Canon, Fuji and Pentax, all make nice small cameras and UW cases.

 

[dbh]

I picked up a Fuji E-900 for a backup. I paid $374 for the camera. Ikelite sells a housing http://www.reefphoto.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3_34&products_id=898 for $300. You can add external macro or wide angle lenses with this housing (you may need an adaptor ring).

The camera is 9 MP and has virtually no shutter lag. I have not had mine underwater yet but have seen some nice pics from them. Only downside is that they use xD cards only. Go to digitaldiver.net and do a search on the Fuji E-900 and you can read for hours.

HTH,
Dave

 

[BC-ing U]

I just bought a sony DSC-N1 for 349 and a sony marine pack housing for 149. I wanted a small digital camera that had a larger screen 3" touch screen and high mega pixals (8.1). I think the recycle time is supposed to be fairly quick as is the processing time...but I'm not a camera techie so I don't know what's good and what's not. Small and clear was my goal that would work for close up underwater and great on land.

Heading out to Little Cayman in two weeks so I'm looking forward trying this out.

Any helpful hints would be appreciated...the last underwater camera I had was a Nikonos IV (for about 20 years...oops showing my age)

 

[ajrbrown]

Thanks for the replies

Whilst the Sony N1 looks a nice little camera, i assume you can't use the touch screen whilst it's in the housing so you might be limited on features.

Cecil, I would consider the p150 esp if i could get a good price off ebay. But would be slightly concerned by the fact its already discontinued. The p200 looks very nice and i think you can manually whitye balance on it. So, in their wisdom its the one P-range camera Sony haven't made a housing for! Ikelite do, but then i'd have to scrap the S&S wide angle.

On a separate note, do you have any specific tips on using photoshop to improve sony underwater shots.

Thanks again

Andrew

 

[Cecil]

Andrew

Go in to Image, Adjust, Colors. You should get three slide bars for adjusting the colors. I normally start with +8 Red, -8 Magenta and +8 Blue, you need to do that adjustment on all three levels, high lights, mid tones and background. What you are looking for is the whites to be white, not green. The amount of adjustment is dependant on how much white light you got from the flash. It will make a marked difference in your pictures.

My normal procedure is to adjust brightness/contrast, then color, then saturation, then sharpness, then remove backscatter and then resize/save as.

Never save over an original.

 

[BC-ing U]

i assume you can't use the touch screen whilst it's in the housing so you might be limited on features

You are correct about not being able to use the touch screen but can still scroll through photos, switch from still shotsto video. Good point about not being able to adjust other settings underwater...need to learn how to use my camera and housing before the end of next week.
Thanks

 

[ajrbrown]

OK, a weekend of further research has led me to reckon I’m going to have to face up to losing the S&S WAL. Other than the Sony P150, the only other new(ish) camera which has an adapter is the Nikon 7900. Looks a nice camera – so obviously Nikon have discontinued making the housing for it (which accepts the adapter). In the process of trying out the 7900 at the camera shop, Mrs B also got her hands on the Nikon P1 which she’s raved about. It seems to have a lot going for it:

- 8.0 Megapixels – I’m not obsessed by this – I know you can take great shots with less – but will certainly be a step up from my 4 megapixel Sony P9

- It’s similar to the 7900 in size, ie nice and small for a land camera. I found the 7900 fits in my paws very comfortably (I had difficulty getting to grips with some of the smaller Canon and Olympus models – yes small is good but it is usefully to actually have somewhere to put your fingers)

- The P1 has a nice big 2.5inch LCD. No optical viewfinder (but Mrs B will be using it on land and tends not to use a P&S viewfinder, and obviously that’s fairly irrelevant underwater.)

- The equivalent of a 36-126mm lens which is comparable to other compacts. (Would still want a WAL on the front though .

- Macro focuses at 4cm

- It would appear that as well as having a whole host of preset options you can also manually white balance which is a real plus.

- On video – the P1 can record at 640x 480, 30fps. It also has an option to record video in B&W which could actually be a nice gimmick on an atmospheric wreck.

- Shutter Lag seems pretty good. About 2/3 second for autofocus but only 0.074 seconds for a pre-focused (half pressed) shot.

- Wifi Data Transfer. Sounds very nice, but not a huge issue for me – my technical know how on this sort of thing being fairly non-existent.

Further details on the camera can be found at:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/CPP1/CPP1A.HTM

Does anyone have any experience with this camera? (underwater or on land)

Nikon don’t make a housing but Ikelite do. This would mean I’d lose my S&S MMII WAL. Does anyone know if there is an adapter (or adapted adapter!) to connect the two?

Thanks again

Andrew

 

[Tobagoman]

Look at the sony DSC-W7. I just upgraded to that 7.2 mp model from my DSC-p10 5 megapixel camera. Haven't had it in the water yet, but will in about two weeks.
Check out the features of this camera, really excellent. It cost me around $280.00 from digitalfotoclub.com along with the housing for ~$130.00.

 

[Cecil]

Andrew one issue with the Ikelite housing you might not be aware off, the lens shroud blocks the internal flash on a lot of macro stuff. This forces you to also buy a strobe and is no longer compact UW. More money, more bulk.