Which Oly camera is best for a newbie ?

[herman]

"Thank you all so much for the great info; I just got certified two months ago and am in fact going to do a few dives before bringing the camera to work on my diving skills."

Here is a practice exercise for you. Go to a pool or quarry, somewhere you will not be damaging a reef and find some spot on a dock, wall, rock that is 3 or 4 ft off the bottom. Hold your hands out in front of you, put them together forming a 2-3 in square with your thumbs and fingers, this is you "view finder". With your hands 3-4 inches from your face look through the "view finder" at your subject. Now move slowly up to within 1 ft of the spot, center it in your "view finder" and hold that postion for at least 10 seconds- the camera needs time to focus and you need time to compose the shot. Now back away from the spot without touching anything, remember your hands are holding the camera. When you can do this without crashing into anything, you stay horizonal and your depth does not change more than a few inches, you are ready to pic up a camera. If you crash into anything or your depth changes very much- more than a few inches, you need more time working on your dive skills. Surge and current will add to the fun. With several hundred hours underwater I still practice this every chance I get.

 

[sylpha]

I agree with the suggestions that you should hone your diving skills before adding the task of taking a camera. A few years ago i had the misfortune of diving with someone new to diving, but who had a camera. On a 15m deep, 8m vis dive i watched him, at no time did he check his air, his bouyancy was, er, er in it's infancy and when it came to his ascent he shot up the line so fast that my computer was having a fit trying to keep up with him then he did a 'safety stop' at 6m. When I spoke to him afterwards he had no interest in his potential hazards only in his photographs and he had no idea what a nightmare he was to his buddy.

I would suggest that you buy some good books on marine id, take a slate to write on and watch the life to learn where you are likely to find photographis models. Find yourself some buddies who want to do similar dives to yourself, the chace around the site at the speed of light guys do not make good photographic buddies. Never forget that you are diving for fun so don't make it more difficult than you need, take one step at a time.

 

[LindaBluedolphin]

Linda, I talked with Allison this afternoon. She wants to get in the pool soon and play with some of her gear. You interested in joining us?

YUP, but depends when. I will be at FL Tomorrow testing the housing, I leave for WPB July 1st....so it will have to be after the 8th, I am pretty jammed up next week after work.

Let me know.

 

[herman]

I had a similar experience. I had been diving with a young lady for several days on a trip to Bonaire. She was by herself and in need of a buddy so we invited her to join my wife and I. Over 4 or 5 dives she had proven herself to be a good diver, that is until she did the "give me your camera so I can take some pictures of you" sign. Her trim and buoyancy control went to pieces instantly. She crashed into a wreck and ended up holding on to the wreck to get a shot....I took the camera back.
Sylpha, you reminded me of a related issue, the photographers buddy. As photographers we tend to make poor buddies and it takes a special buddy to buddy up with a photographer. Their skills and comfort level need to be above average. They have a special role in the dive team. They are basically acting as safety diver and scout. I typically will not take a camera on dives with buddies I have not dove with at least several times.
Sorry that I have hijacked the thread but I feel it's something new divers need to hear.

 

[pontosmina]

I picked up the sp-350, case and a gig of memory for about $450. I took it down and decided to just shoot nothing but it's auto "Underwater macro" setting for about 20 minutes the other day and nearly every shot between "9 and 20" or so was good - on the money focus, properly exposed, etc. I never had that consistantly good results with the old d-40. The ones that were 2-3 feet + were still OK except for lighting being a bit lacking. This was clear water likely comparable to the type of diving you are looking to do. If results continue with the same amount of success in future dives, for simple point and shoot at close range this can't be beat as it does all the settings for you. I'll be getting a lot more practice with the camera in the next couple of weeks and have a better idea of it's capabilities and drawbacks, but so far I'm impressed.

I tried one of the auto "underwater wide angle" settings for maybe two shots, but didn't really give it enough attention to know if I'd use them. I don't know how those setting compare to results with a manual white balance. At least this camera can grow into nearly everything I need 'til I'm ready for a DSLR.... I've got a c-8080 and housing and I may be using the little sp-350 just as often, maybe more often, from here on.

I'm not sure if the stylus series cameras have a manual white balance option, but if you want to take pictures of divers, big stuff or regular wide angle photos underwater, you will really miss the potential of a manual white balance IF they don't have it. That may be a plus for the c and sp series.


Good luck.

I have also been researching my options for a point-and-shoot camera with decent functions that i can use both above and underwater. i read some reviews about the sp-350 that claim that the camera is slow without a flash--it seems to never get enough light to get a sharp picture. is that true? another complaint is about the flash itself--that it washes everything out; yet another is that it can't focus properly.
are any of these issues familiar to you guys? it seems that overall the camera gets good reviews, i just want to make sure it will take nice photos as an everyday camera.
i appreciate your input! :camera: :blinking:

 

[Heavenstorm]

Hi there! I own a stylus 400 and have been for more than a year now. Even though I still don't have its underwater housing (I use an U/W film camera with flash in the meantime), it has served me well on the surface. After surviving three falls (don't ask why), repeated water splashes (both fresh and salt), jaunts in heavy rainfall, and bone-jarring roller coaster rides, it is still in tip-top condition. I’ve taken it almost everywhere and it has been a loyal low-maintenance companion to me (although I’m still obsessive-compulsive when it comes to cleaning). I personally think that it really does live up to its weatherproof name and although I wouldn’t call it shockproof, I’m glad to know that it is still very much intact even after hitting a stone floor from a 5-foot plus height in “picture-taking mode” (with its lens out and all) with only a small dent in its metal frame to show for it. As for its features, they can be set manually and customized to a certain extent. It still won’t compare to a c-class but it is enough for me. If you are the type of person who likes to tweak around with the settings, then pick the c-5000/5500. I selected the stylus line because durability was part of my deciding factors. I’m actually gunning for a Stylus 720 but I’d rather spend my money now on an AOW certification and dive trips in between. Hehehe, I’m hooked!

Oh yeah, this might help you in your camera quest:
http://dpreview.com/

Good luck!

 

[friscuba]

I have also been researching my options for a point-and-shoot camera with decent functions that i can use both above and underwater. i read some reviews about the sp-350 that claim that the camera is slow without a flash--it seems to never get enough light to get a sharp picture. is that true? another complaint is about the flash itself--that it washes everything out; yet another is that it can't focus properly.
are any of these issues familiar to you guys? it seems that overall the camera gets good reviews, i just want to make sure it will take nice photos as an everyday camera.
i appreciate your input! :camera: :blinking:

I'm gonna try some shots...let's see if these upload.

I've only done two dives with the camera. One was a 20 minute solo dive and one was last night with 2 fairly experienced divers. I'm going to do a short solo dive today and see if I can't try some things on my own.

The juvenile coris wrasse are a fish I've never been able to take a picture of with my earlier point and shoot cameras - Oly D-40 and an Oly 8080 (although I've never really tried with the 8080 'cause I have the Ikelite housing and no flash), these fish are extreme darters.

The nudibranch pics are pretty much properly exposed. I've taken only 2 nudi photos so far with the sp-350. That's batting 1000. I NEVER got a properly exposed (always either washed out or not enough flash) fried egg nudi with my d-40, had pretty good luck with my 8080, but no flash so the colors wern't as bright.

The eel was back in a hole and relatively dark. I decided to try a shot from about 18 inches away and give it a shot. I took three photos, this one was the worst exposed. I cropped out the darker stuff and ended up with a great closeup, in my mind anyway.

The hermit crab is from last night. Just a flashlight and the onboard flash. This was the toughest photo to take as the thing scurried. I couldn't get a focus on it while it was bouncing around. It paused for a bit and I got this.

All day photos were taken in straight "underwater macro" scene mode. All were taken in the 9-18 inch range or so.

The night shot I went with manual, higher f stop, about 1/125th speed, spot focus and forced flash. I had lots of screwups last night. Not easy to deal with, but once you figure out the settings and find stuff that doesn't move it's workable. The night shots are tough. I had two very experienced divers with me so it gave me a chance to take along my camera since I essentially had nobody to try to watch, still only attempted to take a few photos as I realized it's tough to get a focus on anything moving at night. I probably won't be carrying the camera at night unless on my own or I work out a decent rig with a focus light.

This camera has much better focus response than my old d-40, and might be comparable or a hair better than the 8080. My wife just picked up a Canon A620 and with 3 dives has yet to take one photo that can match the focus and exposure of any of 18 of the 24 (6 or so weren't usable) shots I took with the camera on my very first 20 minute quickie dive with the sp-350. To be fair, I have a bunch more experience with the Oly line than she has with the Canon line so I'm not having to learn menu settings. The factory set Oly "underwater macro" setting seems to do very well though.

I'm heading out to try some more stuff on my own today, so maybe I'll have more input later. So far I've been lucky.

It may be not be perfect, but I wonder what digital point and shoot those who've been complaining about it have used underwater previously? It's easy to complain about it not being perfect, but compared to what I'm used to it's a step up for general underwater stuff.

Most of the recent stuff on my blog is with the new camera, anything interesting I shoot with it will eventualy be posted there.

later,

 

[Amy B]

...Did they not upload? I'd really like to see them. I just bought the Oly SP350 and PT-030 housing today!!

 

[LindaBluedolphin]

Amy, was that eel photo on your BLOG taken with the 350? great shot! I can't wait to try mine underwater.

 

[friscuba]

...Did they not upload? I'd really like to see them. I just bought the Oly SP350 and PT-030 housing today!!

Wierd, they weren't there, then they were, last I looked, they were gone again. When I go to edit, they are still in my attachments. Oh well.

I'll try sneaking 'em in one or two at a time... maybe 180k is too much for the server.

New edit note, after psting this they were back above.