A newbie asks: Panasonic, Canon, or Olympus?

My wife and I are in the market for an affordable point and shoot for which an underwater housing can be purchased. We're generally snorkelling these days, but may begin some recreational diving within the new couple of years.

We've narrowed it down to three models and would love to hear feedback on our choices.

The frontrunner is the Canon Powershot S70 (or S80) with the Canon WPDC40 waterproof case.

Second place is tied between:

the Olympus SP-350 and the (soon to be coming to the US) PT-030 housing

and

the Panasonic Lumix DMC FX7 and the Ewa-Marine D-CP1 lunch bag housing thing.

The Canon combo seems to be the best all around package, the Olympus package seems to be a decent camera with a good housing, and the Panasonic seems to be a great camera with a mediocre housing.

Are these accurate assessments?

I appreciate any and all comments, and thanks for your time.

Matt

Hi Matt,

Good analysis. The Panasonic in the Ewa bag is NOT an alternative that I'd be comfortable recommending - even for snorkelling, when you can get a plastic and glass housing for $150.

I think that you'll find more feedback about the Canon S70 here at Wetpixel where there are a lot of users.

The Oly is brand new, so you probably won't get much feedback.

Cheers

James

hi james

thanks for the info. i've looked around for a non-bag alternative for the panasonic. could you tell me where i could find one for that price?

thanks,

matt

No, sorry, I don't think there is one available for the Panasonic at that price.

Cheers

James

Hi

Another addition to the list of contenders is the Casio EX-Z55 and the EWC-55 housing.

Thanks again,

Matt

I think the Canon is a great choice, lots of people have them and don't think you can go wrong for your needs

Hi all

Well, we ended up with a Canon. But we went for the A610 because the S70 was a little beyond our price range.

We're off to Puerto Rico in early February, and the A610 will get its underwater inauguration. Hopefully we'll have some nice pics of Desecheo to post when we get back.

Hope you all have happy holidays.

Matt