Suggestions on good entry level camera

[Kelvininin]

I am looking for a halfway decent entry level dive camera. Not into photography, just want something small, easy to use, takes ok pictures, nothing crazy. Any suggestions?

[Nwbrewer]

I am looking for a halfway decent entry level dive camera. Not into photography, just want something small, easy to use, takes ok pictures, nothing crazy. Any suggestions?

Do you already have a small P&S? See if you can get a housing for it, that's what I did, and I've been pretty happy with my little canon SD550 for what it is, and what I've got into it. Now I'm thinking about a gopro2 though, HD video would be nice.

[Gooch]

There are a lot of good options out there now for the point and shoot. I use the canon G10 with the canon housing and really like what I get out of it. It also is a great camera above the water. A G12 and Canon case would probably be about $650-700 and it would take a long time to grow out of that system- plus you can add-on a lot of things easily- trays, cases, strobes, etc. I'm using the YS-01 flash; it has TTL and I'm still getting the hang of external strobe photography.

There are less expensive packages for other types of P&S cameras- Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sony, Sea & Sea and Sealife all make solid systems for underwater photography. Your best bet is to talk to some of the local vendors for UW photography like Jack Connick at Optical Ocean Sales or Dan Tyrpak at Aquatic Camera (there are probably many more good local dealers- these are just the guys I have dealt with). I would steer clear of cameras with names you aren't familiar with as camera makers (in general). You should be interested in megapixel count, low light performance (shows up as noise in your pic), shutter delay, variety of control modes up to and including manual controls. Do some online research with the underwater photography guide, wet pixel, and I know there have been previous discussions here and scuba board about the same subject.

If my G10 were to ever conk out, I might be looking at a P&S with the micro 4-3 sensor cell; it's bigger and gives good image quality- I got to play with a Sony NEX that had one underwater and although it was a bit foreign to me (sony vs canon controls) the pix actually had a nice feel to them and looked good.

[Magoi]

Nwbrewer has a good suggestion. You can probably get an Ikelite case for your camera and take an existing P&S diving. You will probably find that the case costs more than the camera, and each case is specific to a camera. I have a P&S and Ikelite case for a Canon P&S. I bought a backup camera for the case due to the very short time Canon produces a camera model. I did flood one camera.

The P&S and case can do OK in the tropics, but color changes substantially with depth, and a strobe makes much better pictures. A problem shooting up here is the lack of ambient light. You should get a strobe to go with the camera, which adds a lot. Ikelite has decent lights. You also may want to consider the Sealife entry kit, which includes camera, case, and strobe.

Larry

[diverden]

I have done both: purchased a new (now old) SeaLife DC800 and then an Ikelite housing for my Cannon PowerShot S90. I prefer the latter but would say that customer support from SeaLife is really good compared to Ikelite. I've seen some really great shots for a point and shoot with a SeaLife with one or two strobes. The built in SeaLife flash is pretty weak. I've gotten better results with the Ikelite housing which has a fairly effective diffuser for the internal flash. I'm pretty torn regarding a proper SLR, dome port, twin strobe setup. It's like toting around a submarine and most photographers I've seen have been more or less completely obsessed with shooting on 100% of all the dives but the difference in quality of photographs is also amazing.

So far... *knocks on wood* I have yet to flood a camera!!!

This is the point in my photostream where I switched from SeaLife to PowerShot/Ikelite.


Which also reminds me, I haven't had a camera with me in a while!

-Dennis

[Gooch]

I can see a big difference when you switched cameras.

[mcloed121]

i like the nikon cool pixs L22 and ikelite housing cost 390.00 takes great pictures i love it here is a pic from it.

http://scubatoys.com/store/search_resul ... &Submit=Go

[Dusty2]

You will find as many opinions as there are cameras out there. I prefer Canon as do allot of others here but it's up to you to pic something that works for you. If your on a tight budget look for a used out from one of the guys that's upgrading. No matter which one you chose there will always be something better out before you even learn to use it. Megapixels is not the end all be all that the camera companies would like you to think it is. Anything over about 5mp will do just fine. The big thing is macro function. How close will the camera focus and also color fidelity. All the pixels in the world won't make a poor lens produce good pix. I am sold on Canon because they will focus super close and with the right light will produce fantastic color. Just about any of the Canon P&S cams that has a housing available will suffice for casual "I saw a lumpie" type shooting. Just make sure that both camera and housing are available before buying any rig. As mentioned before the cases disappear soon after a model is discontinued and most models are only produced for a year or less. Stay away from the older dedicated underwater cams like sealife and such. Some of the newer models work well but the older ones just didn't produce in the up close type shooting you will be doing up here.

If you like feel free to PM me for advice before you make a purchase.

[diverden]

I can see a big difference when you switched cameras.

Although when I switched cameras, I also was on a trip to Australia ;-) I'm still new to photography and the effort of learning a new camera was painful. I got over it. Dusty's post reminds me that if possible, especially underwater, the speed at which you can get a shot off is a pretty important feature too, unless you're really into fish tails. The S90 can be painfully slow to focus in low light (lots of fish butts ;-)

[nwprodivers]

Like mcloed121's camera, Cannon makes quite a few Powershot entry level camera's with housings to go with. Some of the housing you can even buy directly from Cannon.

http://usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/stan ... ater_photo

Takes pretty good pictures.