Underwater camera

[Jandee]

I'm going to Our World Underwater tomorrow and talk to vendors about purchasing a camera and housing. I want something simple that can be taken diving, out on the jet ski, or just swimming. I really don't want to edit pihotos and will not shoot in raw. I'm not expecting magazine quality photos. Any suggestions? My husband has a Fuji FinePix E900, housing, strobe, extra lens. I also have the same camera and just use it top side. His stuff is so bulky when we travel. My husband's a great guy but he's a little possesive when it comes to his camera and when I want to use it he's always teling me to do this and do that with the camera. So, i want my own. I was thinking about the Olympus FE-360 and the PT-044 housing. Any opinions?

 

[Larry C]

The FE-360 has had nice reviews as an auto only UW camera, but from what you're saying about swimming and surf shots, you might think about the waterproof, pocket size SW1030 "Tough" that doesn't need a housing above 30'.

 

[randini]

The SW that Larry mentions is pretty cool because it is waterproof without a housing. Some similar options are available from Pentax (we have a couple them here where I work and the are quite nice with excellent macros) and there is a new one from Canon. The good thing about the Oly is there is also a SCUBA housing available for it that will withstand to 40m, but you could take it on the rest of your activities without the housing. There are also housngs for some of the pentax cameras available from SeaTool, but they are much more expensive than the Oly housings.

A coworker of mine has an older version of the SW (I'm pretty sure hers is SW1030, the current verson is the Tough 6000) and I must say I am pretty impressed by it. She doesn't even have a housing and the camera withstands all kinds of abuse, mostly fieldwork in the intertidal (getting hammered by waves and occasionally tossed around on the rocks) but also a recent trip she took to burning man. The Lil SW oly does camera does take a beating and keeps going without a flaw.

But keep in mind that it is a very basic camera with no manual controls.

 

[JackConnick]

The 1030SW has been replaced by the Stylus Tough (T-8000). Improvements all the way around in quality, features, speed, etc. Waterproof to 33', shockproof, etc. Same price though. There is a new housing for it the PT-045 that is very cool with several nice improvements and it is that same price as the old PT-043 that is very hard to find now. See my blog article on them.

For an entry level housing and camera the new FE-3010 and PT-046 combo at around $275 is hard to beat. 12 MP with 3 UW modes...it's the logical upgrade to last years FE-360.

Jack