Good Little Digital Cameras

[trux]

It's hard to see clearly, but I hope you’re right.

I am absolutely sure about that. If you do not trust my judgment, simply enter [ame="http://www.google.com/search?num=100&q=%22michel+loup%22+nikonos"]"michel loup" nikonos[/ame] into Google and you'll see I was right.

So, what is your opinion: his pictures are so good because of camera?

Well, the camera is certainly quite important, but the person behind it is always principal. You get the best results when both elements are excellent.

That told, the wide lenses, excellent Nikon optics, and the reflex Nikonos body surely make a big difference. The fact that he uses film is also important, but you can get excellent results with digital technology too. However, you should not expect getting the same quality of photos with a cheap compact model as with a special UW reflex camera with expensive optics. Also the optical properties of a wide angle lenses build specially for UW photography without additional housing like the Nikkor can be barely matched by any lenses in a UW housing - the additional layers of glass (or plastic) and water/air necessarily change the optical proprieties of the lenses.

Still, it does not of course mean you cannot make excellent photos with a small digital camera in a UW housing.

 

[Fondueset]

I wonder if Nikon will make us a nice Nikonos Digital - I agree by the way - I think he is using a Nikonos.

 

[trux]

I wonder if Nikon will make us a nice Nikonos Digital - I agree by the way - I think he is using a Nikonos.

Unfortunately it looks like Nikon completely retreated from underwater photography. Although originally they claimed they would continue the Nikonos V indefinitely, in 2001 they announced the line would be discontinued. Unfortunately, so far they did not announce any plans for developing a digital Nikonos, although I bet that most of Nikonos owners would be more than happy if they could reuse the lenses with a new digital body.

 

[Fondueset]

It might be the rate of evolution in digital cameras vs cost makes making a dedicated U/w digital SLR a non-starter - but the larger CCD in slrs makes the image quality such that the Megapixel race is not so relevant. Still it would probably be really expensive. Housings for SLR's are expensive, and bulky for freediving.

 

[garett]

Yes - and the 1025x768 15fps mode is pretty good for that. I haven't actually done it with the camera - I used software to capture the frames - but I think they do it. DPreview seems to think the s80 is the better camera - at least at the time it came out they were much more enthusiastic about it. The S80 does have a fairly large lense. Slow focus would be a deal breaker for me on an underwater camera but I am not sure if they mean the zoom is slow or the focus. On re-reading that review the G7 did not compare all that favoreably with the much cheaper a640. Several of us here on DB have the s80 and it's been a pretty happy unit I think for all of us. I look forward to seeing what Canon does by way of an upgrade in the next year or so.

Could you show couple of examples please?
Maybe you could ask JimDoe2U to do the same thing with G7 and to show us some results?

 

[Fondueset]

So far I've done only 640x480x30. Quality is 'OK' if the image is close and bright but it does not compare to full resolution Still images. I would expect 1024x768x15 to be a little better but still not up to snuff for large prints. If I get a chance I'll shoot some video at high res and post the results. Bottom line though is you will not get near the quality of dedicated still shots in movie mode on either of these cameras.

 

[garett]

So far I've done only 640x480x30. Quality is 'OK' if the image is close and bright but it does not compare to full resolution Still images. I would expect 1024x768x15 to be a little better but still not up to snuff for large prints. If I get a chance I'll shoot some video at high res and post the results. Bottom line though is you will not get near the quality of dedicated still shots in movie mode on either of these cameras.

Thanks, I'll wait for your pics.
I understand that quality will not be the the same as of still shots, but it's not a problem because actually I need those images for the internet only.

 

[tylerz]

http://voxq.com/uploads/bahamas-tarpon-blue-hole.avi

This should give you a good idea of what 1024x768x15fps can achieve. It definitely gives a much more crisp sequence than 640x480x30fps, but it is much more jittery due to the low frame rate. In this sequence I have been relatively calm in my movement, although diving no-fins tends to be less stable than if you were finning, but you can see that movement is not captured well at 15fps.

I couldn't find any free software to increase the frame rate with motion blurring or interlacing of frames between frames to see how well that would assist. Anybody?

 

[Fondueset]

Wow! That is extremely cool. The Tarpon appear to be dreaming.

 

[SEDATE]

nice video tylerz, this hole how deep? i heard its name first time..

the free download frame rate motion programs
download and search here or tell me what you want i can look at for you..
eMule-Project.net - Official eMule Homepage. Downloads, Help, Docu, News...
..shared programs..

 

[tylerz]

Yeah, the tarpon sit there perfectly still when you first come down, and it looks so odd to see these huge fish with not a movement in the water. Like they are incased in ice.

Sedate,

It is called Dean's Blue Hole.

Google Map of Dean's Blue Hole
Bahamas photos Christmas

It is incredible.

I was looking for opensource software, not commercial applications.

 

[Fondueset]

Tyler - I've got a coworker who's done some TV tech stuff looking into this.

 

[DeepThought]

I was looking for opensource software, not commercial applications.

Try Open Source Alternative - Find Open Source Alternatives to commercial software

 

[sanso]

EDIT: Hmm.. I didn't read the thread to the end and haven't noticed the topic-shift. Sorry to interrupt, guys and gals. I guess it still makes sense posting this in this thread, it's only a short post, so please bear with me.

I have a Panasonic Lumix FX07 and found it to be truly excellent.
The 28mm (eq.) wide angle makes so much of a difference for me, and a 3.6x zoom seems reasonable for this size.
Panasonic uses Leica lenses for this camera. Actually there is a Leica-camera with different firmware and 100€ higher price available
The battery will last about 250-300 Pictures with flash and playing around all the time.
It has an underwater mode, which I haven't tried yet, since I don't own the UW-housing (down to -40m) yet.
From what Panasonic says, the camera is fully controllable even when in the housing.
Usability is excellent even when compared to my previous canon ixus i, which I found not bad at all.

I think the FX07 is a serious little camera that can make people happy. - Which it did to me

 

[Fondueset]

FYI - I finally found the stats I was looking for on focus speed between the Canon G7 and S80 - the G7 focuses about 1/5 of a second faster. On balance not worth upgrading to in my book.
Also -Inon makes an adapter and 100degree wide angle wet lense for the S80 housing (wp-dc1)

 

[tbgsub]

anyone use a NIKON point and shoot with an underwater housing.
I do. just purchased a substrobe (sea & sea YS 25 Auto) and want to know what to expect in lighting performance before I use it. I use the NIKON 5600, 5.1 MP point and shoot coolpix, and it seems to have a nice Macro, but poor flash for underwater, I am hoping to capture objects in the 3-5 foot range with more color, and clarity. I plan on eventually upgrading in the next year to either a NIKON D80, or D200, but I am saving up and practising better breath hold.

 

[portinfer]

Right - I've been meaning to buy a uw/digital camera for a while... kind of had my sights set on the Casio (Exilim EX-Z1000, EWC-80 housing) which was £340.42 but is now £285....

However I just noticed that Casio are bringing out the EX-Z1050. Probably not much difference but seems to be ISO 80 rather than the ISO 50 of the Z1000.

Also been reading around and looks like the Z1000 is best at ISO 50 or at least way below ISO 400. This is not a problem for me on land (with film I shoot ISO 25/50/80 alot) but I was wondering what the issue would be uw ?

Any other recommendations for a small digital camera for use on land and u/w with the ability to shoot movies. Was planning on getting a 2Gb card or maybe more...

Have gone back and read the thread but still not sure what the current state of play is Cheers for any help - Ed

 

[Jon]

I've been pretty happy with my Z1000.

If you check out any of my photos in the Wisconsin forum they were all taken with this camera. I have been pretty pleased with the video I've taken with it- the local news even used my footage that I shot with it for their report on underwater hockey.

This last weekend I finally started getting the kind of still shots that I want. I can post some more in a couple of days as I am away from home right now and don't have any acces to my files right now.

I didn't know they were coming out with something new already? I think I'll just bury my head for a couple of years before I decided to upgrade again.

Jon

 

[Fondueset]

It's allways somethin! I talked to the national rep for Canon. He didn't seem to think anything too exciting was coming out this year relative to the S80. I'm thinking about a wide angle lense.

 

[portinfer]

Looks like I might go with the Z1000 then - good place to start I guess - Fondude is the S80 a similar price ? How would you compare the S80 to the Z1000 ?
Cheers for any input - Ed