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#16
October 1st, 2005
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yeah, i'm with Tim about the Pentax Optio, its a mad camera and with the housing it still fits in your palm. i've had a quote for about $AU1000 for the camera and the standard housing. I thing Ikelite and Sea&Sea do a housing but you'll pay shitloads for it
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#17
October 1st, 2005
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For records,
Panasonic manufactured 3ccd very compact (0.5 pounds) camcorder SDR-S100 whic cost around 1000 dollars. Record on sd card which is 2gb max right now and thats included in package, in highest quality video (which is really high actually) you can record up to 25 minutes, panasonic claim that by the year of 2007 they will have 16 and 32 gb sd cards for the camera. I did not see any better looking answer for underwater photgraphy, just imagine 0.5 ponds and fit in your pocket and still 3ccd camera which takes still images which is not superior but quite good at 2-3 megapixel range. with 16-32gb Sd card you can record whole spearing trip in one media even at highest quality. Probably it will not took long for some company to make underwater housing for it.
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#18
October 1st, 2005
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Quote:
http://www.marine-cameras.com/ is a good source of Sea & Sea accessories. Check out their site. I rather fancy going on one of their basking shark expeditions next year... Last edited by Tim1; October 1st, 2005 at 17:31.
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#19
October 3rd, 2005
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Quote:
 Regards Last edited by SurfnSpear; October 3rd, 2005 at 11:54. Reason: P.S Why does the praise smilie always change to 'Thankyou' once submitted?!?
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#20
October 3rd, 2005
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I have been hunting for a new digital camera the last while and I am having a hell of a time finding one that has the complete features I am looking for. Every camera I look at has one or the other feature missing.
Wish list: - manual shutter speed - manual aperature - manual focus - 640x480 30fps movie mode - underwater housing to at least -40m Optional but preferred: - at most 35mm equivalent lens, preferably ~28mm Some have no housings: - Samsung V800 - Casio EXZ-750 - Pentax Optio750Z Most of the cameras on the market are missing the manual controls, such as: - Sony T33 and Wx series - Canon Sx series and SDxxx series - Fuji Finepix - Nikon Coolpix 7xxx series and 8xxx series Others are missing movie mode at 640x480 30fps, such as: - Olympus 7070 (the best looking in my opinion otherwise) - Pentax Optio S5i - Canon Axx series The only cameras that looks to have possibilty of satisfying everything is the Canon S80 but I am not certain of its manual shutter and apperature. Without the manual features, I am curious how well others feel their pictures are turning out especially on macro life? If you have links that would be appreciated. With the lensing effect of water, the auto focus is thrown off. I have not seen any articles on this but I have seen this effect on my camera when I use autofocus. Theoretically I figured it out to be because objects underwater appear closer than they actually are, so when the autofocus figures the distance to your subject it does not have the ability to detect that the object needs to be focused closer than the distance it detects. So, if anybody has any corrections to my list from personal experience or any further camera recomendations that satisfy my list, I would be glad to hear about it. Cheers, Tyler Last edited by tylerz; October 3rd, 2005 at 18:18.
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#21
October 3rd, 2005
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Canon S50 onwards all have manual shutter and aperture control.
I have taken plenty of underwater pics and haven't yet found a big problem with the AF underwater. If you want at least 40m then you are ruling a large proportion of housings out. What you want sounds to me like a professional Digi SLR with underwater housing ie 40m+, you will also need an external strobe . I certainly won't be taking any pics freediving at 40m+ anytime soon.
__________________
Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
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#22
October 3rd, 2005
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Hey Huan,
Thanks for the response. Have you done any macro life with AF? 40m housings are the standard from most companies these days. The odd one makes 30m. So, my asking for 40m+ is accepting that I will get a 40m but desiring greater. My first underwater camera was a Samsung V4 which had a 70m housing from Samsung. I would love a digital SLR but won't be going that route for the reasons that they do not have video and they are twice as much usually. Manual controls are available on all of them but one should not have to go to that level to have basic manual controls. I do have an external strobe but have not used it yet. I have taken shots down to 40m with the built-in flash. All macro shots at those depths. Strobe would be required for anything of large size or at a distance. However, for myself the main reason for a housing to those depths and beyond is video purposes. Taking footage of life at those depths is more plausible for returning with a taste of the life down there. Cheers, Tyler
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#24
October 5th, 2005
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Hi Tyler,
One thing you may want to consider with point and shoot digital cameras for use underwater is shutter lag. Having tried to take loads of action underwater shots (i.e. Cayman 2005 event pix) I found the reaction time of my Olympus c5050 maddeningly slow. Two camera brands out there that have noticeably faster reaction time, excluding SLRs, is Fuji and Casio. The Fuji line, though they have less cameras with underwater housing, also have more sensitive CCDs, and in lower light that makes all the difference for me. Peter S.
__________________
"Argue for your limitations and, sure enough, they're yours." - Anon.
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#25
October 5th, 2005
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I've got a casio exz50 with the 40m uw housing they make for it. It does very well in low light and is also quite fast. no strobe yet but I'm working on it. This shot is much reduced but was very fast - you can see the fish is quite agitated and there is tremedous force stored in his tail. A number of the shots of freshwater drums on my site were taken near sunset or late in the day - you can pretty much tell by the angle of the lighting. there is also a group of shots that were taken within half an hour of sunset on a dark, overcast day in the rain with very bad visibility - they are labeled - it's quite amazing anything showed up at all - I could barely see what I was shooting.
I expect they'll have a housing for the 750 before too long. The link is in my profile if you want to check it out. I've only had a u/wcamera since June and this is the first photography I've done so be gentle  Haven't tried video yet. Again - the photo below catches the fish in mid spook. Last edited by Fondueset; October 5th, 2005 at 02:58.
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#26
October 5th, 2005
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The Ricoh GR Digital is coming out and if that has a housing it could be good - their range of trad. cameras (ie non-digital) are very very good --- or at least were until discontinued... I use the GR1V alot.
Anyway : http://www.ricohpmmc.com/uk/products...cification.htm http://www.letsgodigital.org/html/re...amera_EN1.html http://www.dpreview.com/news/0509/05091301ricoh_gr.asp I don't have time to read it all but from past experience the little ricohs are good...
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#27
October 19th, 2005
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I have canon S50 with canon's own waterproof housing - same as Huan. Bit bulky compared to the new breed of cameras - I have tried a Canon Ixus50 recently and it's a beautiful thing!
All the pics in my gallery were taken with the S50 
__________________
SPATULA sanctioned trainer and ocassional 'drive thru' recreational freediver
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