Zoom Lens

[aquamann]

I'm thinking about purchasing one of the new Sea and Sea Aquapix cameras but one of the features that it is lacking concerns me, but my wife does not think it is that big of a deal in an underwater camera especially here in the NW where the vis is very limited at times. She says the macro lens and wide angle lens would be of more use than a zoom. Any thoughts on this from those of you out there with far more knowledge than I.

 

[rad21]

Aquamann,

I posted this reply on another board recently:

Here is a recent post I found in the scuba newsgroups FWIW:

posted to this newsgroup that my recently purchased Sea&Sea
AquaPix DX-3100 was exhibiting surprisingly poor image quality

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=d...selm=vs1kpu69dhulec@corp.supernews.com&rnum=1

I brought this concern to Sea&Sea's attention and while they were very
friendly (including getting me a quick replacement DX-3100 to see if my
particular DX-3100 was defective), it appears that this camera line suffers
from a design flaw that cannot be fixed.* In fact Sea&Sea admits that the
image quality suffers from pixelation and that Sea&Sea's DX-3000G model
provides much better image quality.
So, while I have had a great deal of enjoyment from my Sea&Sea MX-10, I have to strongly recommend to anyone reading this message, that they not purchase the DX-3100.

 

[TedJ]

IMHO, use of the zoom rather than getting closer to the subject is generally going to end up with a lower quality image as you are still shooting through a larger water column and therfore more inclined to get backscatter. Remember what all the gurus say, Get Closer and if you think you're close enough, Get Closer!

 

[dlegros]

I would agree that a telephoto zoom is of limited use. I have just started playing with underwater photography after about 20 years of above water photography and found that what Ted says is spot on. If you zoom in rather than moving in, you get a washed out, backscattered image.

At least it was digital, so it didn't cost me film to find out

Dom