G2 or coolpix 5000 in ikelite??

Having been a Canon shooter for over 15 years, this is a real tough one for me. I know Don's gonna see this and laugh, since I have talked with him for about 2 weeks about the Canon G2. (Yes, Don I had made up my mind, but BH sold out, and that gave me more time to think about it while they order more)

Anyway....I started thniking about the merits of the G2 vs the coolpix 5000 in the ikelite housings. The way I see it the following are the issues:

1: I know canon gear, love canon gear and have plenty of batteries, chargers, etc that will already fit the G2.

2: Already have software, computer set up for Canon. (more hogged up drive space with nikon)

3: Image quality. I have not seen the coolpix smaples yet, but the G2 is highly rated, and the raw format makes wonderful processed images.

4: Coolpix 5000 has a significantly higher mpix/file size. which would be nice for those occasional wall bangers.

5: Coolpix takes a direct hotshoe connection, so I can use non sensor strobes and still maintain TTL. For some reason i trust this more than the sensor system.

I see a lot of pluses for each system. I dont need one for another 3 months, so I can wait for the housing, but I really would like some opinions from you'all before I make my final decision.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Bob

Well, since you already made your mind up I won't "waste" too much time trying to convince you otherwise...

The G2 has a brighter lens than the Coolpix. Do you think you'll be taking a lot of shots at f1.0? If so, then maybe you need the Canon. The majority of the my last dive trip, I never shot anything below about F4

The G2 has a longer lens. Do you like to take long telephoto shots underwater? Might need the Canon then. The lens on the Coolpix zooms to 28mm - just like the "all round useful" lens on the Nikonos. If you want to go wider, Nikon sells a 19mm lens for the CP5000.

Do you have an SB105 strobe like about 1/4 of the UWphoto world? If so, you can't use it with the G2. Too bad. You can hook it up and sync it directly to the coolpix. Don't like TTL? Then shoot in manual - but you can still sync it.

HTH

James Wiseman

LOL I haven't made up my mind James, I had, but when BH sold out, gave me yet another length of time to reconsider!

Thanks for the advice on the Coolpix. It actually sound like a better fit for underwater use, I am just a little concerned about image quality. DP review member and site reviews had some issues with it.

It looked to me like it has a bit more of a noise problem at 200+ iso than the others.

Please correct me if I am wrong!

Why would you want to shoot at ISO200 for underwater shots?

ISO100 on the Coolpix - shots look great.

Cheers

James

[Edited on 3-12-2002 by jamesw]

I've also been thinking about upgrading, and I'm leaning towards

the G2. The biggest advantage of the G2 is the raw output mode.

If you do any post processing it's best to start with the raw

image without having the camera do a white balance beforehand.

The jpeg or tiff output is 8 bits/color, and the CCD is better

than that which means the dyanmic range is better in the

raw output mode. Tests by Phil Askey show better than

9 bits dynamic range from the CCD of a G1. Hopefully the G2

can do as well. See

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0011/00111608...icrange_raw.asp

An extra bit of dynamic range is very significant. It'll

give you better details in shots with very bright and very

dark regions. With 9 bits of dynamic range you can compensate

for being a full stop underexposed and produce a full range

8 bit output.

I do agree that the coolpix 5000 is better at macro,and its

zoom range is better for UW photos, but these are things you can fix

with add-on lenses.

Herb

[Edited on 3-12-2002 by herbko]

Somehow, it forgot I was "logged in", and I didn't notice until looking at the final post result...

Now I'll never be a "member"...

Hey Don,

Good points all! Im still contemplating biting the bullet and getting the d30 housing and housing the 550ex.

Not that I could ever hope to duplicate James' stuff, but wow!

Luckily, I don't have a trip for another 3.5 months! As slow as I am making this decision, I might have made up my mind by then