Wanted - EASY, No-delay digital

[lfshadow]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but I need recommendations for a relatively inexepensive, easy to use underwater digital camera. I don't want to drag a bunch of extra lighting around. I usually stay fairly shallow for shots anyway. Is there a digital that does not have the infamous delay between pressing the button and shutter opening?
Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[SubMariner]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but I need recommendations for a relatively inexepensive, easy to use underwater digital camera. I don't want to drag a bunch of extra lighting around. I usually stay fairly shallow for shots anyway. Is there a digital that does not have the infamous delay between pressing the button and shutter opening?
Thanks for your suggestions.

AFAIK, the answer is no. To get rid of the delay, you'll need to look at digital SLRs, and they are NOT "inexpensive".

As for not wanting a strobe... you may want to rethink that. Without a strobe you will limited to macro/up close shots because you will not have enough light for anything else.

Bonne chance,

 

[Rick Murchison]

relatively inexepensive, ... does not have the infamous delay

While you can't get rid of the delay entirely in a mid-range camera, there are a couple of new offerings from Sea & Sea and Sealife that have gone a long way to meeting these two desires...
Rick

 

[mrtremere]

Sorry, Sea & Sea and Sealife are OKAY. If you go to www.DPreview.com You can read all about camera's. There are a ton of new camera's coming out this season. Many that can do CLEAN iso 400-800. This is DSLR Quality. I recommend the Fuji F30 when it comes out. I am actually steping down from a $4000 DSLR to get this Point and Shoot Camera. Sea & Sea and Sealife use CCD from first tier venders. So just buy a first tier camera. I recommend anything Canon, Higher end Nikon, Fuji F30 [No laq shutter and ISO 3200] and some Sony.

<quote>Is there a digital that does not have the infamous delay between pressing the button and shutter opening?</quote>

These days are over if you pick the right point and shoot.

 

[evil_xander]

Have a look at Fuji E900. It's a nice little camera that does pretty well in low light conditions. Only downfall is that it uses xD cards (slow write speeds), but the newer ones (type H) help a little.

I'll be taking mine underwater in the following 30 days or so, but on the surface I got no complaints.

Specifications are quite ok for a compact camera, and you can google for examples of underwater pics.

 

[mike_s]

I've got a Sealife DC310 and it's shutter delay (or lack of) is pretty decent. (in my opinion). They have replaced that camera though with a new model called the DC500, which they say has "shark mode" for fast no shutter delay of up to I think 3 pics.

However, the Sealife cameras have their downside (in many peoples opinion, not just mine). My problem with the DC310 is that I often get a "white burn" from the auto white balance not working as well as it should.

The DC500 has had all kinds of fun problems. Mostly firmware/software related, but also the same white balance problems. One of the things I don't like about the DC500 is the proprietary battery system. Example is that this week on dive 1 of the day my batteries were low. On my camera (which uses AA's) I simply switched batteries between dives. That's harder to do on the DC500 as you have to buy a 2nd proprietary battery system for a spare battery. If you want to charge it seperate from your camera, you have to buy a seperate charger system also. Then you still have to buy AA rechargeable system for the strobe, so now you have to have to battery/charger systems for one camera. Too much of a pain in the rear.


Now... on to the Sea&Sea. I've never used one of these but a coworker just came back from a trip and one of their complaints was the shutter lag on their new SEA&SEA camera and how many "missed" pictures they got because of the shutter lag.

 

[lfshadow]

Thanks everyone for your help. I'm still checking them out, so anymore suggestions are welcome.

 

[Willie]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but I need recommendations for a relatively inexepensive, easy to use underwater digital camera.

I love my Sony DSC-W7. Quite inexpensive for the quality IMO. I like the fact that I can do fairly decent video and stills with the same camera. There are many others also, I am just reporting my experience with this particular camera. You can look at some examples here.

http://ez.com/diving​

I bought it because I had the chance to try one that belonged to a friend. The quality of video, size of screen, and cost were the biggest sellers for me. Now 3 of my other dive buddies have bought this setup just because of looking at the picts that I have taken. I am no professional, but I love this camera.

It does have a delay. Now that I have learned to count on it, it is rarely a factor for me.

There are two features I would add if I had the choice.

1. The option to save in raw format and
2. Manual white balance.​

So you might look for those features.

Willie

 

[Bbarnes]

I bought the DC500 and truthfully had some issues on my first trip with it. I called customer service with Sealife and was told to upgrade the firmware in order to take care of some of the issues that had shown themselves after distribution. This seemed to solve my issues.
There is a small shutter lag with the regular mode. You get used to this over time and learn to anticipate and adjust for the lag. The "shark mode" is enacted after you "fix" the focus on a subject. As long as you stay at the same distance from your subject, you can shoot without any delay. You can also set the focus and use the shark mode with subjects over a yard away. Anything that distance or further will be in sharp focus.
On our last trip to the Keys, I got some great shots-- a big improvement after the firmware upgrade and a little work on the learning curve. I would recommend this camera to anyone wanting a reasonably priced, point and shoot system, with great customer service backup.

 

[Doc Harry]

Sea and Sea advertises virtually no shutter lag on some models.

It's the lag after you get the photo that bugs me. For an 8-megapixel photo is takes about 10+ seconds to write to the image to the SD card.

There is an option that allows you to take about 10-15 photos in rapid sequence with virtually no shutter lag, but the resolution of these images is at the low end (1-2 megapixels??) I'm away from home and don't have access to the exact specs.