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Good Little Digital Cameras

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Yeah, the fuji records the card full. I guess newer canons too?

That's one of the main resons for upgrading from my trusty old Ixus 500, the 15 sec video clips are just annoying, nothing more (not usable by any means). I was also looking to improve battery life, shutter lag (and general responsiveness) and reducing noise in the higher ISO sensitivity levels. In the Ixus 500, ISO 400 is so noisy it's not really usable, plus it tops out at that...(In the F30, ISO 800 should be still usable and for curiosity there are also ISO 1600 and iso 3200 modes. But those are probably too noisy for any real usage). The F30 addresses all of these over my old one, plus some...

The cons of F30 that I can gather
-No fully manual mode for aperture and shutter speed, only priority modes for each at a time (not a problem for me)
-Uses the xD card which is more expensive and tops out at 2gb currently - also not a problem for me
-Only 3 shots in the high-speed continuous shooting mode - this I find annoying and it's hard to understand why they chose to not fix it. Probably at the cost of the internal memory, which would've made the camera more expensive
 
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Hi Guys,

I'm considering the Fuji e900 for its good low light capability (important where I dive) and awesome manual settings.
http://www.fujifilm.com/products/digital/lineup/e900/index.html

Price ranges between $300-$500 USD. Housing for it is around $200-$300 from Ikelite. Seems like the only housing available for it.

Video is 640 X 480 with monaural sound, whatever that means.

Thoughts?

Pete
 
Longfins has that camera and seems to like it. There was also a scuba diver I know who had that exact same setup this past weekend. I took a look at it and the housing seems to be about the same size as my PT-015. The housing is much sturdier than anything made by olypus, casio, cannon, ect. You can even getit with treads to screw on an INON lens.

My top three to choose from so far are the Fuji E900, Cannon S80 and the Casio Z1000.


Jon
 
See what you can find out about focus speed - really a plus freediving. The Canon takes great pics - but could be faster.
 
Supposedly the new generation fuji cells have less noise in the high ISO sensitivity modes(such as the F30 and F20). Don't know how much though, or is it just marketing hype.

I guess monaural sound means mono, ie not stereo?
 
Fuji FinePix S5600
i find out this is 208€ ...any idea jome? it looks great! and small, too., i do not know it has underwater case? i 10x optic zoom 6 digi zoom and more important ISO 1600

today i test sony dsc T5(5.1) /T9(6MP) /W30(6MP) /NİXON COOLPİXS6(6MP)
all sonies really bad vid capture but nixon coolpix was increadle but expensive ,i made some small vid capture and transfered to pc and i compared them in store ...nixon was the best but 500€ coolpixs6 :inlove it is more money but at night capture/day capture was smilar ., i get shock., and wireless rofl
tomorrow ill search fuji /leica/panasonic(lumix)

opss fuji F30 ISO increable ..it is 3200 ., it really cost that money

http://www.redcoon.de/index.php/cmd/shop/a/ProductList/cid/10002/0/Digitale_Fotokameras/
 
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I've heard the Sonys are slow. Pete - that Fuji has a 1/1.6ccd - larger than the 1/1.8 in my Canon and most other mid-rangers I know this translates as better image quality - that is the Fuji has the larger ccd - therefore should be better. I look forward to seeing your pics.

Focus speed is hard information to find but really critical in freedive photography.
 
I found this review: http://sugarmtnfarm.com/blog/2005/12/fuji-finepix-e900-review-part-ii.html


Not sure what to make of this last paragraph about focussing. Perhaps that might be a benefit underwater, since the camera might try to focus on particulate?

Anyone with experience with focussing methods?

Pete
 
I'm guessing you won't be using manual focus much freediving. you might want to ping it around on the forums at www.digideep.com
It sounds pretty good so far though. But problems with autofocus would definitely exclude it immediately - if they are really there. Good to read a few more reviews.

The Casio exz600 I triedhad a bit of a problem focusing close or in low light too. It was so much slower than the exz57 that I sent it back. The Canon is pretty good that way - as you can see from the shot of the Ling on my site. Shutter lag doesn't seem to be much of a factor with the Canon.

Tyler's shots were taken with Claire's camera - the little Casio - they were in relatively low light.
 
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Sedate:

Don't know much about the s5600. But what I do know is that digital zoom is useless, it's a feature you'll want to ignore completely. It doesn't really zoom anything. It just interpolates pixels. The effect is the same if you open the picture in any editing software and stretch it out of propotion. And even optical zoom under water is not that feasible. If anything, you'll want a wide angle lens...

The F30 has a little brother, F20 coming out soon. The rumour is it's about 100$ cheaper. Essentially the same camera, but with a cap at ISO2000, a shorter battery life and I'm not sure if it has the aperture and shutter priority modes (which would be a problem).

For the F30, there's Fuji's own UW-housing, rated to 40m, which is more than enough for me.
 
Today i tested s5600., it did not make me hapy in video mode.,
by mistake i checked kodak v530 ., it made me schock., the picture/vid/macro was increadle., i think i must chose kodak v530..it is all over same class little digital camereas i tested up to now, not yet find out any place fuji f30 to test ., but it must be better than kodak but price is v530 aprox 200€(only camera) and endless video capture till memory stick full has
how will i do a case i do not know for kodak v 530., not sells any stores., i did not find out underwater case code, i willl maka at home myself if not
 
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Laminar,

I had a chance to spend a lot of time playing around with a Fuji E900 this past weekend. It is a sharp camera, and takes very nice photos. I'd rate the photo quality and video quality of the Canon S80 and the Fuji 900 about equal. The Fuji is a bit slimmer, and the Canon a bit shorter. The Canon also weighs about 50% more (more metal, less plastic). The Fuji has a few features that the Canon lacks, such as a RAW captures, and a display option that shows you the last three photos taken, while the LCD continues to display real-time. And the Canon has features that the Fuji lacks, such as a larger LCD, wider shutter-speed range (1/2000 - 15" vs. 1/500 - 3"), and smart display (LCD automatically rights photos to viewing orientation while in view mode).

The Canon also uses SD cards, while the Fuji uses XD cards. XD card size is currently maxed at 1gb, while SD cards are at 4GB (schedulued to be 8GB by late 2006). SD cards are less expensive than XD (byte for byte).

Unforturnately, I didn't get a chance to test them side by side underwater because the Fuji didn't have a case. I've seen the size of that ikelite - the size is not applealing. But, if it turns out that the Fuji is much better in low-light, it may be worth the added bulk.

I've used my Canon S80 in our Wisconsin Lakes, and I can definitely say that it is not BAD in low light - pretty good actually. How it compares with the Fuji, I have no idea.... PM me if you want a sample vid, or check out Fonduset's website, as he has many vids captured with his S80 out on L. Michigan.

Ted
 
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Fuji uses XD cards

Scratch that one from my short list.

I just read some posts from another forum that seemed to give pretty decent reviews on the Casio. This is looking more and more like my next camera. It has a rapid fire mode, unlike the earlier models, and has ISO ratings up to 3200, where as my 5050 tops out at 400. It doesn't have any add-on lenses, but it is super small.

Jon
 
I look forward to your review if you go that way Jon. Like I've said the little one my daughter now uses is incredibly quick - I also have some extreme low light shots I've taken with it - right around sunset under heavy overcast with poor (for here) visibility - the are of freshwater drum and are on my michigan site. Here is a completely unretouched sample - it was VERY dark down there. You can also see the casio's quick focus - even in dark, cloudy water it did a good job capturing the drum as it turned.

For dark movies with the s80 I'd check the telegraph cove site - particularly the black rockfish video - that was deep and overcast. The S80 is pretty impressive in low light.
 
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for video capture need 2gb .. i also searched xd card really 2x expensives
 
The s80 is limited to 1 gig for movies. The Casio exz1000 may fill the card - not sure. There are quite a few out there that will fill the card for movies though. If that's all you are doing with the camera other factors may not be as important.
 
folks
i find out a digi cam ''lumix ls2 5mp'' it is including 1GB sd card ., too .it is 160€ with 1gb sd card ., ill buy by visa card and will pay within 12 months ..each mont 12€ aprox..any use this camera?
i think no sound while recording only video picture .,
no need at deep., anyway rofl
kodak-fuji increadable expansive aprox 350-600 € changing price of digi cam., sony dsc-T9 600€..rofl .,
i got some pill not to be get heart crisis (bad english:rcard )
 
Excuse me if this camera has been mentioned but I couldn't find any reference? Sealife reefmaster DC500, looks like a good deal at - £300.00.
5 mega pixel 12x zoom, 2" display & 60mt depth.
 
foxfish said:
Excuse me if this camera has been mentioned but I couldn't find any reference? Sealife reefmaster DC500, looks like a good deal at - £300.00.
5 mega pixel 12x zoom, 2" display & 60mt depth.
Click to expand...
check that capacity of the card..i think 20 min record
..if you buy samsung digimax800 with 1gb= 2 hours record..
 
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