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Good Little Digital Cameras

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
Short answer is I don't know how it compares. The S80 is more expensive - and has fewer megapixels. But I think it's a bit more camera in terms of lense and all that. My guess is the Casio is probably faster, but the Canon probably takes a richer image.
 
I used to have a Canon A80 which gave me excellent results. I later upgraded and added a Ikelite strobe and some Inon lenses. (ended up costing much more than the camera). in the end after about 3 years the processor chip started showing lines on the fotos and I had to replace.

I got my self the Olympus sp350 (slightly out of date model) and an ikelite housing. What was great is that I can still use the strobe and inon lenses I have. The SP350 also has a hot shoe for the flash, shoots RAW (not that I have used it yet) and got around 8 MP. No other compact digital currently has a hot shoe. This was quite important for me, for you can get TTL metering for your external flash with the hot shoe. The SP 350 was also less than half the price of the G7 which was my other option.

The down side of this setup is that it is a bit bulky for freediving, especially with the large ikelite housing. Also the battery life of the camera is not that great.
I have only used the camera on a few dives and my learning curve with the TTL and other settings is still going up.

Another reason that I did not go for a A series canon again is the shape of their new housings. The lens port is not round, but has a funny flat side on it. At this stage Inon does not have an adapter to attach their lenses to the new canon housings. This was obviously a big down side for me as I have both a macro and wideangle lens.

If you are looking for a simple effective camera, and you are not interrested in adding strobes and lenses I'll go for any of the canon A series cameras.

Cheers
Wilhelm
 
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Right - popped in to pick up some pics for the parents and had a quick chat to the guy in the shop.

He was recommending the following :

Panasonic Lumix F50
Canon Ixus 850

He reckoned that those were the better ones - but I will be reading around now... and re-read this little thread.

Cheers
Ed
 
I have the Panasonic Lumix Fx07, which is similar to the FX50, AFAIK (see a previous post in this thread) and it's definitely an excellent(!!) camera. The 28mm lens will likely be a good thing under water.
 
WOW!! NIKON just put out a 10MP coolpix with TTL metering via a HOTSHOE!! and interchangeable lenses! someone read my mind. now all we need is an underwater housing and I am getting one for sure! please tell me that someone is planning on designing a housing for this camera!
it is called the coolpix P5000, check it out. and before this I would daydream about a full blown DSLR, now there is a price saving option towards 10MP in town. anyone else have opinions on this camera, or similar ones?
I freedive only, using a NIKON Coolpix 5600 5MP camera and a Sea & Sea YS-25 Auto strobe synched with the fiber optic cable. (stops teh ceiling fan crisp and cold) so a small camera is mandatory.
 
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I have been shooting while freediving with a variety of Canon Powershot cameras over the last few years, and using the Canon dedicated housings for them. You can view my photos at: Flickr: Photos from bluewavechris. I have posted reviews of the housings on Amazon.com. I started with the SD110 (3.2mp), then moved up to the S500 (5mp), then the SD550 (7.1 mp) and am currently shooting with the new G7 (10mp).

I have been very happy with my results over the years, with both still images as well as videos.
 
Woah, really sharp photos, BlueWavec! You've got some serious talent!

Fondu, checked your picture index after a long while and some some new and very interesting pics there. Great shots as always, keep it up ! Still haven't figured out your relationship with cold water tho, lol.
 
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Eventually I’ve got G7 + Canon housing + 8GB SDHC card.
Now I’m playing with all this stuff.
Tried it on freshwater canal beside my house – I like it.
Lot of things to learn because different light conditions, water color and visibility demands different settings. I’ve attached couple of resent images. More pictures and videos can be viewed on my site http://www.underwater-ireland.com It’s not finished yet.
 

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Lovely shots Garrett - looks like an outstanding spot for closeups too. I noticed some of the shots are a little red looking - are you by any chance using underwater mode? On my S80 I found it added too much red in shallow water. Could just be the way it is there though. In any case - really nice! The Pike here are not letting me anywhere near that close - and I have to go 40-50 feet to find them!
 
Thanks Fondueset, I’m learning from you.
I didn’t use underwater mode because as you said it added too much red in shallow (fresh) water. But I’ll try it soon in Atlantic Ocean in really blue water. I tried different modes and setting and still not clear which one is the best. I think every particular location and light condition needs different settings. Manual white balance metering works well but I had to read every single spot every time I moved camera – it’s bit annoyed me. Custom settings with auto white balance also did a good job but again if light is too bright colors were going or too green, or too red, etc. Visibility here is not great: best what I found on that canal was maybe 7-8m. Water has lot of particles, large size like a snow, and tiny like a fog. Camera gets confused when it reads light and colors. I think I just need more practice to be able to calculate exactly the compensation.
To shot a pike is not a problem here. I personally prefer perch – more colors and it very curious. Those close-ups are not real close-ups. I took them maybe from 1.5 - 3m distance. I just enlarged fragment of picture. I think when grass grows more I’ll be able to get closer to all of them.
 
Photoshop is a big help! With it you can avoid having to constantly tweak the camera settings.
 
Cannon powershot A710 with Image Stabilization. its an amazing little camera. I bought mine about a month ago and am more than pleased with the quality of the pictures. email me if u want a sample..
 
I have been trying to sort myself out with a decent underwater setup for ages now. There are just so many choices. I have a Sony FSC - 828. The problem is that the case(Ikelite) cost more than the camera. It's a great camera but I am resigning to the fact it will remain a land camera.
Now I can see a nice little HD handycam is going to be the way to go. I am just gonna have to save hard and go without all those things like food and alcohol for awhile to afford a good setup.
You guys are producing some amazing shots with the gear you have. Keep it up. I just think video is the way for me.
 
Has anybody ever used a epson cam with casing, theyre comin up in the market and are about half the price of the canons including the casing?
 
Did anyone try the fujinon finepix F30 ? Adds in diving papers make it look like a very good buy, but as they say, "self praise is no praise".
 
Hi sunfish am thinking about getting the same there is a newer f31 now that has face recognition so the f30 is now a bit cheaper I haven,t bought yet but have pretty much decided on it.
 

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