What is the best 4-5MP portable?

[SM Diver]

I have two cameras in front of me that I picked up from Circuit City yesterday:

The 5MP Olympus C-50 and the Canon Powershot 230 Digital Elph, a 3.2.

The Olympus takes HORRIBLE photos. I am very disappointed, as I've owned three Olympus cameras in the past, and been generally pleased.

The Canon is better, but not as crisp as I'd like.

Can anyone recommend a camera that takes great shots, and has a fairly reasonable "off the shelf" housing that can be purchased?

 

[Finesse]

Tampa.....

I'm not familiar with either of those cameras ..... but real surprised to hear of the resolution issues with the Olympus. I have the 3.3 mp Olympus (3040) and It does quite well in default compression mode...i.e. HQ.....the files are usually around 1mp and I'm able to reproduce , on a regular inkjet printer and good photo paper, really ....really good images...(I can only print to 8x10 with this printer) .....and as you have probably read on this board most people are using 3-4 mp cameras with outstanding results.......

Just a thought ....but maybe find out what resolution you’re recording in and make sure its at a minimum of HQ or SHQ....

How did you notice the problem???? in other words how are you viewing the pics at this time??

I'm reading this as the Olympus is a 5 megapixel camera???

The Olympus C-5050 is suppose to be the next step for this type camera ..... its also a 5 mp (This isn't the one you are speaking of ....is it??)....If that is the case then I would think something is wrong with it and would take it back and get another one.

Nikon would be my other suggestion.....but I'm not sure of the housings that are available for it.....I know Ikelite has them ...but they range up in the $5-600 bracket......vs the Olympus built housings( I dont think they make anything for Nikon cameras) in the Mid $200 range

 

[SM Diver]

Here's an example of a shot I took last night at a spearfishing seminar with the Olympus. And, I had set it for HQ, the second best resolution. As you can see, terrible colors. I don't think I can fix this with photoshop.

http://www.npr-florida.com/kevin with gun.jpg

 

[raxafarian]

wanting a cheap housing (relatively) means you are stuck...er...ummm.... I mean limited to canon, olympus, or sony.


as far as color... what was your color balance set to? In that pic, you have flourescent lighting, incandescent lighting, plus the flash. The built-in flash is only good for fairly close shots.... maybe 6-8ft.... beyond that, the overhead lights are gonna win.

Check out the stuff at the bottom of the pic..... that's where your flash provided good exposure and colors. After seeing the picture... your color balance is not off.... just not enough flash power.

Try some outdoor pics with color balance set to cloudy or fine (or sun...whatever it's called). Or try some closer indoor shots. Looks like it takes good pics.... you can't expect the tiny built-in flash to light a room (and that goes for any built-in flash, not just your camera). I use an external strobe whenever I'm inside.

 

[Dee]

I'm not familiar with the settings on the C-50 but go through the menu and find the color balance. Re-setting your white balance will help too.

As for a housing for it, I don't see a C-50 listed. Are you sure it isn't a C-5050? If so, a PT-15 will fit it.

 

[xoomboy]

I've got the Olympus C-4000 along with the PT-010 housing. The pictures it takes are, IMO, crystal clear, both above and below water. I've got a bunch of pictures on my computer at home from different cameras, and you can really tell the difference between 4MP shots and 3MP shots.

My wife and I just got it, and we used it down in Belize for our wedding/ honeymoon, and I took about 600 shots with it over the course of 5 days. Unfortunately, it did not survive the wedding reception (someone accidentally dropped it), and it is now out being serviced. But, during the time that I had it, I was really impressed with the overall quality and performance of the camera.

I'll have shots here at work on Monday, and I can't wait to upload some for Wednesday photos

Matt

 

[Aggie Diver]

xoomboy,

Can you do me a favor and upload some pics for us to see?

I'm still debating whether to go with the 4000 or bite the extra $100 and go with the 4040.

Did the difference in lens (f2.8 for the 4000 I think it is) play any role in getting quality pics underwater? How did the pics come out as you went deeper?

Thanks,

Aggie Diver

 

[xoomboy]

I'll absolutely post pics on Monday. They're on my laptop at home and I keep forgetting to bring it in.

I was debating the 4000/4040 issue as well, but it came down to a matter of convenience. Some friends of ours in the photo business sold us the C-4000 at a great price.

The deepest pic I took was around 70ft. Visibility was 90-100ft feet the whole time on the reef. The only difference you can really see in the pics is the obvious loss of color. The built-in flash does just fine for those REALLY close shots, but even a 5ft distance at that depth you'll need a strobe. The pics taken during our Hol Chan reserve dives (~30ft) came out great.

The one problem that I kept running into was condensation. The water was around 80F even at 70ft, and my hand gripping the housing combined with the battery warmth caused a lot of fogging. Those little dessicant packs handle a little bit of it, but it was pretty tough keeping the shots clear.

Does anyone have suggestions on keeping the condensation to a minimum?

Matt

 

[SM Diver]

It's definitely a C-50 Zoom. This is a brand new camera I believe, just released by olympus. I tell you the cool thing about these new 5mp is that you can do video with them. Some camera's use quicktime, other mpeg. Very cool stuff.

My other olympus, which is only a 2.5MP (c-2500L) shot really nice without any need to tamper with the color settings.

I guess I am trying to understand all of the yellow in the image. Maybe someone can explain it by looking at the image here: http://www.npr-florida.com/kimtampaboatshow.jpg

Here is a shot of my wife and 10 year old son at the Tampa Boat Show a few months ago (standing next to the best boat built, a Venture 34 ). The photo of them came out fine. In the background, however, is the same yellow crap that I am seeing in the photo of the seminar from last night. Is it the flouresent lighting at the convention center? How do you get around that, other than cropping part of it out?

 

[raxafarian]

Are you using the strobe? Do you know how to adjust the white balance on the camera? Adjust it for either incandescent or flourescent lighting AND turn off the strobe. You can't do both. If you adjust for indoor lighting and then use the strobe, your color will be off.... so turn off the flash.

Alot of convention centers have high pressure sodium lighting (that's kindof what the lights in your picture look like...). I don't know where they fall in temperature compared to other lighting, so you'll probably have to play with different balance settings.... or use a grey card and custom settings, if your camera has that function.