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u/w digital camera

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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i have the P10 with housing , red filter and video light. works for me! they are NG quality but they'll certainly do.
price with housing is around 700US$
 
I have the very small Canon ELPH 100 and the WPDC10 housing for it. I have overall been mostly happy with it.

Much of my diving is done in very clear water and in good light, and my results have been good and it has been fun to work with the camera and figure out what I needed to do to get the best shots.

The still images are good at 3.2MP, good enough for checking out on a computer screen and emailing out to friends. But not quite up to full size publication quality.

The movie mode is nice, since it allows me to shoot 30 sec video clips. It is MPEG video, so at times it looks a little jerky, or like things were filmed in slow motion, but the overall effect is still fun to play with.

The main complaint I have with this set up is that you are forced NOT to use the flash. The flash is mounted very close to the axis of the lens, and as a result illuminates all the particles in the water (so it looks like it is snowing in flash photos). I am planning to buy an add on external flash with a slave, but that is probably a year away still, and will make what is now a very small, compact unit much more unwieldy in the water....

The short 2x zoom could be longer as well, but you want to get close to things and shoot wide angle in the water anyway..... Not that the wide angle on this is very wide (about equal to 28 or 35mm lens length in an SLR type camera).

I paid less than $400 for both the camera and the housing, plus an additional $100 for an extra battery pack and a 512Mb SD Media card (it only comes with a 16Mb card, which only gives you about 20 shots {or three video clips}, with the larger card I go over 200 pics {and/or dozens of video clips}). For what I paid, it is a fun toy and I have some nice UW shots. Plus, since I can take it out of the housing and use it on land (it fits in a small pocket), it is very versitile little camera.
 
NG = national geographic
yes, that's the p10 i am holding
i didn't use the light for the manta photos.. just the red filter. there was a awful lot of plankton in the water so the clarity is not at it's best.
i can use the light for a 60min dive and still have a little left for those unexpected moments at the safety stop.
with a 256mb memory stick you can use do some great video shots.
i can send you a fabulous one of a manta if your mailbox will accept 7MB.
 
The housing isn't a light duty one, I use it for diving, surf filming and assorted UW photography.....and I am lazy about care and maintenece. I bang it around alot and just rinse it off after each use...I have had mine since Jan and had it in the water 100+ times (it was in the water for surf movies today). For a starter set, it does the job......
 
Flooding

I think the concern should be about the photographer rather than the case. When I opened the case with wet hands to adjust the camera, I apparently got some debris or droplets on the gasket, and that's all it takes. Once a little bead of water is on the gasket, there's an avalanche efect as soon as the pressure on the outside of the case gets to a certain point. I think that most cases are susceptible to this kind of failure.

I've had the case down to 100' w/o incident several times. It actually creaks a little under the force, but this was the first time it ever got wet -- and we were only about 20' down.
 
teh p10 housing is certified to 40metres, but it does got to 60m with no problem. :)
 
We have the Cannon Powershot A80, with housing rated to 40m. Its an easy to use camera and we have had some excellent photos from it...

Donna
 
I agree with the Powershot as a possible choice. You really can;t go wrong with a Canon and the Powershot range gives you point and shoot capabilities up to full manual control.

One thing to watch out for with whatever camera you choose is the length of movie you can record. Some of the older Powershots only record up to 12-16 seconds which is no use. Newer cameras seem to have a bigger buffer and will give you much longer clips (the movie recording capabilities in some cameras is only limited by the size of the memory card).

I have no experience with underwater housings but have a used a variety of cameras on land and would recommend the Canons for sheer ruggedness. I have been sitting in a car on a pier photographing waves through an open window with a Powershot A40 and a wave crashed through the window, soaking the camera. It kept right on working. Not bad for a plastic body.

Depending on how you will output your photgraphs you will have to consider how many megapixels you will use. Perhaps more importantly is what your camera actually does with the megapixels. Go for a big brand everytime, Canon, Nikon, Sony etc and you really cant go wrong.

Good luck!
 
Hey, what about Olys ;)

The 5050 was "the" camera for amateur underwater photography last year, largely because it has a fast lens.

For Jeff's applications, though, size matters and and PT015 case is large enough to be a liability in a tight passage -- and having my PT015 case fail right in front of him eyes probably rules the 5050 out, as far as he's concerned ;).
 
I have a Olympus The 5050 with a PT015 case and a Inon UWL-100 wide angle lens.
Perfect Setup.
The only that i need now is a INON D-180 strobe becauce
without it you need very mutch light.
Be avere that with a wide angle lens you cant use the internal storbe becauce the lens is so big that you get darker the right site off the picture

Lambis
 
Well, I committed to a new 5050. At $400 I couldn't pass it up.

I think that -R is the most widely compatible format, like you said. I forget what the advantage of +R were -- faster burning maybe?

I'm looking forward to getting down there again. This time, I think that I can actually appreciate the springs. Last time, I just sat there in the twilight, awestruck by the unexpected complexity of the rock formations.
 
at ebay have Olympus some 5050. I have pursale there my 5050 and i have pay 350 Dollars
5060 is new but the lens off the 5050 is far better and more lightsensitiv, something very very importand for UW photos.
5060 have 2,8 f
5050 have 1.8 f!!!

5050 have more acesories and is a camera that many have use and you find many accesories and tips ...

I have pay ca 600 us dollars for Camera housing and lens plus some accesories.
 
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