which 7 megapixel to buy??

[CAPX28]

OK so this is a bit off topic but , what the heck i did start the thread

I have some digital pics from a recent hawaii trip and wanted to have them printed. How good of quality are the prints that theese online places send you??

Is there a site you would recomend and or a site you would stay away from?


By the way, I have cornered the elusive F810 on amazon for $400....Hope its still available on Thursday (if so its MINE)

 

[ChrisA]

Do yourself a favour and go SLR cuz the consumer cams just kill soo many shots with shutter lag.
Mike

I can get my Cannon A80's shutter lag down to nearly zero. The trick is to use manual
mode and manual focus. All of the gigital camers will use multile pre-flashes and take time "hunting" arounf the focus before the shutter snaps. But UW photogrphy can be done in manual mode.

When you shop for a camera lok at the menu system and how it is organized if features that you need are buired three layers deep they will be hard to use underwater. You need things like f-stops to be easy to set.

Also the physical size of the sensor _really_ matters. Bigger is better. the sensor size may matter more the the number of megapixels. 5MP vs 8 mp is not much the larger sensor will have less noise in the image.

Next think about strobes. even if you do not buy a strobe now. Think about what you want later so you can be sure it will work with your camera.

Also "optics matters". The better the lens (on the camera and on the housing. the better the picture. It does not matter if you have 11MP if the lens make a blurry image or one filled with fauls color or rainbow-like fringing.

 

[alcina]

OK so this is a bit off topic but , what the heck i did start the thread

I have some digital pics from a recent hawaii trip and wanted to have them printed. How good of quality are the prints that theese online places send you??

Is there a site you would recomend and or a site you would stay away from?


By the way, I have cornered the elusive F810 on amazon for $400....Hope its still available on Thursday (if so its MINE)

They seem to be pretty good. I'd have one image printed by a couple of places and see which one suits you the best. Actually I'd have a range of shots - blues, something with fine detail, something with a really bright colour - printed by a few companies and see which did the best job. Small investment, IMHO.

If you miss out on that 810 - talk to Ryan, I think he still has a few left, but they'll go quick. He's excellent.

 

[hdtran]

Cap,

I've just added a few more photos taken w/ the S70 to my gallery. The link is:
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/27621 (thanks to Alcina for pointing out that I should provide a link in the post).

That said, I'm sure you'll be very happy with the Fuji.

Ignore the rantings and ravings of the maniacs who throw around pixels per microns, and shot-noise limited CCD sensors (BTW, reducing the temperature of your CCD will reduce the noise level, but that's not really practical for consumer applications).

 

[CAPX28]

I usually avoid specifics with pricing, but since they are in short supply, I'll bite-

We have a few of the Fuji F810 cameras in stock, full usa warranty, $499. The camera & Ikelite housing package was a hit at seaspace this weekend, and they won't last long.

I would also consider Canon's S70, especially considering the new Inon wetmate lens, the UWL-100 28 AD....

wich housing for the s70 do the inon lenses fit on??
i couldn't find much on the s70 in terms of accesories.

I am definately intrested in buying one of the two cameras ......you can contact me via Pm or email: sickboy@rock.com

i would also appreciate your thoughts on the 2 (pros and cons)


THanks

 

[hdtran]

Cap,

For the S70, you want the Canon housing (WP-DC40, I believe. I may have transposed some of the letters). Then, you want the Inon lens adapter, which allows you to attach most any Inon lens to the Canon housing (28AD mount for DC40). You can then attach either the Inon close-up lens, or the Inon wide angle lens (but not both at the same time ). See http://www.inonamerica.com/news.php?news_id=35&newscat=0

 

[CAPX28]

By the way great pics HDTRAN!
were you using an aditional strobe or lenses????

Thanks for the link to the inon adapter that was one of the main reasons i wanted to go with the fuji f810. I thought there was nothing available for the s70.


Any down sides you see to the s70?? How is the menu system, are the settings easy to get to and change? ANd does the housing allow you to use all teh functions of the camera??


Thanks in advance for your help.


I can't wait to spend som$$$ if only i could decide...

 

[alcina]

Hey, All. You may have noticed some revisions to this thread. We split it to help keep things clear. In this thread you'll find discussion on the original poster's questions and in the split off thread you can follow the discussion about MP, ISO, Grain, Sensors and other more technical things. I hope this makes it easier to follow and to contribute to!

Here's the new thread:
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=100268

 

[hdtran]

By the way great pics HDTRAN!
were you using an aditional strobe or lenses????

Thanks for the link to the inon adapter that was one of the main reasons i wanted to go with the fuji f810. I thought there was nothing available for the s70.


Any down sides you see to the s70?? How is the menu system, are the settings easy to get to and change? ANd does the housing allow you to use all teh functions of the camera??


Thanks in advance for your help.


I can't wait to spend som$$$ if only i could decide...

Nope, pictures are just the camera as is, in the case as is; no external strobe or lenses. The menu's pretty easy, but there are a couple of things where I wish I could do faster (cancel red-eye reduction is not done from the flash button, for example. It's a camera function setting. On another brand camera, the flash button cycles thru force-flash, flash-off, red-eye, auto-flash. On this one, the cycle is force-flash, flash-off, auto-flash.).

Yes, the housing allows you to access every button. The only thing you can't do is close the sliding cover (not a problem, as you can turn off the camera with the sliding cover open), or open the battery compartment with the case on

The photos were taken as jpegs in superfine and/or fine; WB set to UW. I played around a bit with the "effects" settings; some of the pics are with "vivid" color settings and some with "neutral" colors. For most of the UW photos, I reduced the flash power by 1/3 stop, and set exposure bias ranging from -1/3 stop to -2 stops.

For all but one photo, the only post-processing done was cropping (so noted in picture title) followed by resizing/resampling to 800x600 (or close). For the "say_cheese" photo, I increased the brightness a bit, as the entire photo was a bit on the dark side ("use the force, Luke ")

Most of the close-ups were done with flash forced on; "P" or "Av" mode. From the EXIF settings, you can tell when I had the "macro" mode on. I tended to try "Av" mode with aperture at f/6 or smaller to get good depth-of-field.

For my desires, this camera works well for me. It's relatively small (the Oly styluses are smaller); it does good land photos (see the hotel shots); it does good UW snapshots. I'm not interested in composing cover art for publication.

Oh yes, and shoot, shoot, shoot, and shoot some more!

 

[CAPX28]

Ya I am not intrested in cover art either . I would like to make some larger prints put htat is it. THe pics definatly loook good, I especially like the shot of the ray buried in the sand. well if i actually learn how to use the camera hopefully i can get some pics as good as yours. I would definatly be happy with that. Since i know the s70 is capable of it, its just a matter of me learning.

I think i will buy one tomorrow. (and i KNOW i can get the s70, unlike the f810)

Just curious how much experience with photography have you had?? and was most of that experiance before or with the s70??

bye the way good info on last post as far as to how you did the pics and the diffrent setting you used.


THanks