Time to start thinking about an upgrade ...

[MXGratefulDiver]

Well, after six months and a couple thousand pictures, I’m starting to think about upgrading to a better camera. The Fuji F10 is a great starter camera, but I'm starting to realize its limitations.

For starters, the strength and position of the built-in flash make it pretty much useless for anything except macro in our dark northwestern waters. It does an exceptional job with macro … but I’d like to branch out to taking pictures of things bigger than 3 or 4 inches. Comparing my pics to those taken by friends with an A620 or Pentax Optio, I can see a noticeable difference in the quality of lighting and the decreased backscatter in their pictures. I’m not into committing for a stobe at this point … but I would like a camera that offers a bit more powerful flash, and one that is offset a bit more than mine to reduce backscatter (like the A620).

Then there’s the whole “manual vs auto” thing … the F10 is purely an auto point-n-shoot … I think it’s time for me to start playing with aperture and shutter settings.

Now, I’m not totally dissatisfied with this camera … in fact, there are things I absolutely LOVE about it that I’d like to retain. So here’s a “wish list” of features … perhaps y’all can suggest some models I might want to take a closer look at.

Large LCD – these old eyes love the 2.5” screen on the F10
Reasonably small size – both camera and housing need to be small enough for me to clip onto a D-ring when not in use
6 megapixel or larger – I want the crisp, sharp images
Reasonably long battery life – I want something that won’t crap out on me halfway through a 70-minute dive, where I might take 100 pictures (I can get two or three of those out of the F10)
Excellent macro capability – I love the fact that I can get in REAALLLL close with the F10 … sometimes even to the point of touching the subject with the housing lens … and still get a well-focused shot
Reasonably short shutter lag – obviously, I want the fish to still be there by the time the flash goes off

There’s a lot of talk about RAW … is it really necessary?

Also, with this camera, I’ve been storing my pics in JPEG. Perhaps going to a different format would be helpful ???

What else should I be thinking about?

I know there are a lot of threads in here that discuss some of these topics. I really don’t have the time to search through them all … but pointers to particularly helpful threads would be most appreciated.

Thanks … I’ll probably research for a month or two before making a decision … I can budget up to $1000, so there should be some decent choices out there for me.

… Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[hvulin]

There’s a lot of talk about RAW … is it really necessary?

… Bob (Grateful Diver)

No, but it helps... If you're shooting with natural light (without flash) than I'd call it a must (because of WB). If you're shooting with flash it will give you a bigger error margin (shoot to underexpose a little and fix it later on comp) and greater chance to postprocess as you like it...

Since you're upgrading don't forget that new camera should use the same memory cards (so you can reuse them)... If you don't use RAW then stick to JPEG but use the highest quality available...

 

[JeffG]

What else should I be thinking about?

Strobe

 

[diveski01]

Then there’s the whole “manual vs auto” thing … the F10 is purely an auto point-n-shoot … I think it’s time for me to start playing with aperture and shutter settings.
… Bob (Grateful Diver)

After another couple of thousand frames of framing and fiddling with multiple settings you'll start to miss your point-n-shoot system eyebrow

 

[Warren_L]

What else should I be thinking about?

I know there are a lot of threads in here that discuss some of these topics. I really don’t have the time to search through them all … but pointers to particularly helpful threads would be most appreciated.

Thanks … I’ll probably research for a month or two before making a decision … I can budget up to $1000, so there should be some decent choices out there for me.

… Bob (Grateful Diver)

Boy Bob, that's opening up a whole new can 'o worms, for sure. My one comment is that you're on top of a very slippery slope. I was standing where you are right now about 2 years ago. Not having dove PNW, but having seen some pictures and such, I would hazard a guess that the conditions might be similar to what I have around here - minus the salt water. The viz can be pretty variable - lots of stuff in the water, typical viz around 20 -30 feet. A good day would be 40+ feet. Lots of wrecks.

For these conditions, shooting anything of any sort of distance, there are two absolute musts for me. First is a good wide angle lens or wide angle capability. This is huge. This allows you to get closer than with the standard lens and makes lighting much better. Second is a good powerful strobe with good angle of coverage. Not all strobes are built equally - I would recommend getting one with good power that you can upgrade your camera with and has decent angle of coverage.

The condundrum, however, is fitting this all in the price range you want. I would submit to you that unless you're going to be shooting clear waters most of the time, an onboard flash, no matter how powerful, is not going to serve you well in conditions where viz is limited. You may want to consider a decent inexpensive strobe that you can sell off later on if you upgrade, but any new system you get now I would make sure that you have a wide enough angle on the lens and at least the capability to add a strobe.

Check out what my rig has become in 2 years: http://www.warrenlophotography.com/technology.htm I started with an Oly 5050 and housing in 2003.

 

[Monkey Knife-fight]

Fuji E900 should be on your short list. It's got manual controls, RAW if you want, no shutter lag, long battery life, very sharp pics (especially macro). I dunno if the F10 uses xd cards but if so those will be compatable with the E900.

That said internal flash is pretty much only going to be good for macro pics no matter what camera you get. They're just too small and too close to the lens. 3' is going to be stretching any internal flash...i like to stay within 1' when i don't have my strobe. Of course available light pics are always an option which makes RAW format pretty darn useful (whitebalance).

I dive in dark murky waters too and had lots of success with only an internal flash (until i broke down and got a strobe) with the predessessor of the E900.

Chris

 

[Peter Guy]

Bob, I still think it is between the Olympus SP-350 (RAW but minimal Wide Angle - 38mm -- uses xD cards) vs. Canon S80 (no RAW but good Wide Angle -- 28mm -- uses SD cards).

Why don't you get the Olympus and we can trade back and forth?

 

[Cacia]

a good wide angle for wrecks is 1000 dollars, no? I don't know, I had all the same questions and asked Mauricio Handler and bought what he said. I am guilty of short-cuts by asking the pros to maximize the "pleasure-effort ratio". I think you can do a lot of great shots on program with the new technology. If I were tech diving wrecks and having to do complicated gas manuevers I would be a fan of program mode.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

I went a couple of grand for the new camera but it's going to cost lots lots more for hte housing and strobes, so for now I'm using the old baby.

This stuff ain't cheap is it, why'd I get started?

Oh yeah, no brains....

nevermind

 

[Warren_L]

a good wide angle for wrecks is 1000 dollars, no? I don't know, I had all the same questions and asked Mauricio Handler and bought what he said. I am guilty of short-cuts by asking the pros to maximize the "pleasure-effort ratio". I think you can do a lot of great shots on program with the new technology. If I were tech diving wrecks and having to do complicated gas manuevers I would be a fan of program mode.

It can be, but doesn't have to be I suppose. My Nikkor 12-24 was in that range, but I have a wetmate INON UWL-100, that I use on my Oly 5050 that didn't cost half that.