Camera recommendations

LCF · Post by **LCF** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 8:57 am

I know you already got your question answered and bought your camera, but for anybody else who brings up and reads this thread, I'd like to throw out the idea of the camera I use, which is an Olympus 720 (not sure that particular camera is still available, but there's an updated model). The cool thing about the 720 is that the camera ITSELF is waterproof -- only to ten feet, but what that means is that if your housing leaks and you get a couple of tablespoons of water in it, you aren't going to fry the camera. The housing for it is also extremely easy to use in dry gloves, and is small and convenient enough that I'm willing to carry it, and I won't put up with much annoyance to take pictures, when Peter takes so much better ones and enjoys doing it

Nwbrewer · Post by **Nwbrewer** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 9:25 am

LCF,

I looked at that camera, and it was a strong contender due to exactly what you mentioned about the flooding. The new one they have is waterproof to 15' too. I actually wound up getting a housing for our existing point and shoot that was my wife's camera, with the intention of then replacing her film slr with a dslr this fall. (She takes much better photo's than I do, so it made more sense to upgrade HER camera. )

That is a really nice one though.

Spatman, what do you use for photo editing?

spatman · Post by **spatman** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 9:30 am

Nwbrewer wrote:Spatman, what do you use for photo editing?

like lawgoddess, i use adobe's cs2 photoshop. it's expensive, and i only have it because i use it professionally for other things. but i think there might be a "lite" or LE version available. are you on a Mac or Windows machine?

Nwbrewer · Post by **Nwbrewer** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 10:47 am

I'm running on a windows machine. There is adobe PS elements out there, and that may be what I wind up with. My wife is going back to school, I may see if she can get a student version or somethig without breaking the bank.

Tangfish · Post by **Tangfish** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 11:19 am

Spatman, I love your Red Sea pics, especially this one:

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 12:54 pm

I've been using a Canon A610 for awhile now for my digital shots, and just upgraded to a Canon A630. These are amazing cameras and get excellent reviews online. I personally love the swivel screen (which the Casio's don't have) for topside photography. The price for both camera and housing was just $367 from BH photo/video.

On the new A630 I have noticed a few changes for the better in the configuration of the buttons on the back of the housing.

The internal flash works quite well as long as you are pretty close. I usually reduce the flash setting down a few notches so I don't get white-out, and you can take some super macro shots with this camera, focusing extremely closeup to a subject.

Here's one from a recent hike:

and an example of underwater:

I'm still playing with white balance and exposure, and still actually use film when I want deep, rich colors.

- Janna

thelawgoddess · Post by **thelawgoddess** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 2:11 pm

i shoot at the highest size and res possible. you can always reduce both, but you can't really add either. you can shoot a lot of photos with a 2gb card - you will never fill one up on one dive.

students get really great pricing (compared to full-price retail) on the adobe photoshop products. if she's going to UW just go the UW bookstore's technology center online and you can download the pricing for students.

until you can get photoshop, you can use your canon software or paint or something to crop them and size them down for web usage. you could also use flickr to get several sizes of your photo to choose from when posting to web pages.

spatman · Post by **spatman** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 2:27 pm

Calvin wrote:Spatman, I love your Red Sea pics, especially this one:

thanks, calvin! i can't tell which pic it is you like, though - broken link...

spatman · Post by **spatman** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 2:29 pm

oops, now it works...

cardiver · Post by **cardiver** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 2:30 pm

If you want some free software try Googles, "picasa 2" I've been using it and it lets you do some editing of your photos.

spatman · Post by **spatman** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 8:05 am

nwscubamom wrote:I've been using a Canon A610 for awhile now for my digital shots, and just upgraded to a Canon A630.
- Janna

did you have to purchase a new housing for the A630? or was the A610's housing compatible?

nwscubamom · Post by **nwscubamom** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 6:54 pm

I had to get a new housing. The screen size is larger on the 630, and the buttons are arranged a bit differently too. The camera seems just a tad larger. Believe me, I tried putting it into the 610 housing - no go.

The new housing is the WP-DC8.

- Janna