Hi folks, WP Newby here, with a sad introduction

I've been lurking here for a long time, and never joined in, but a sad event for me has compelled me to post. Some of you know me from D2D and Digital Diver, but for the rest my name is Mike, I live in Virginia, and I've been taking UW pics for about three years, mostly in the Caribbean but I've recently ventures into the South Pacific a couple of times.

Following is the text of a post I just put up over on DigitalDiver. I feel a little embarassed to ask a bunch of questions to relative strangers, but I'm going to leave the questions in anyway because I have about 3 weeks until I need to buy a new camera for my next trip, and I need all the help I can get.

I hope to join in here more regularly, it's a fine forum. With that, here is the text:

Hi folks

I recently returned from a trip to Dominica on American Airlines, and both of my c5050's and PT-015 were stolen out of my Storm case, almost certainly by the baggage handlers in San Juan. Very sad to see my old friends go, I really liked that rig and I'll miss the familiarity and comfort.

I'm posting for several reasons.

1. Sympathy

2. Another warning about what appears to be an epidemic of pilferage at the San Juan airport

3. Notification that if anybody sees any 5050/015's pop up for sale, noticibly absent of o-rings, please let me know

4. To ask for some help with selecting my next camera/housing.

Regarding 4, while I now see a DSLR in my future, I' still not ready to make the leap, especially with the emergence of the Oly e-330 technology. I want to see what this camera will do before I buy a Nikon or Canon.

Meanwhile, I have two trips planned, and I need to buy a camera. From the research I have done so far I'm leaning toward the Oly SP-350 with the Oly housing, or the Fuji E900 with the Ike housing.

Which leads to many questions. Here are a few about the e900 since there are folks here shooting it.

Are there any real downs to this camera that I need to be aware of? I already have read about the RAW issues.

Battery life. Can you get two dives and say 300 shots or so using the LCD and auto-focus on one set of rechargables?

How will I like an Ike housing after using a PT-015 for years? Does it fit the hand well? Does the lack of a hood for the LCD make it hard to see shallow? Is it significantly negative UW? I have no issues with quality, only ergonomics.

Does the e-900 have any equivalent of the My Modes in the Oly line?

Shutter lag. How bad/good?

With the Ike housing and Inon Macro lens, how close do you have to be to the subject? With the Oly it was about 3 inches. Being able to be a bit further away would be nice.

Parting thought, wouldn't it be nice if camera housings had security ports just like laptops, so they could be locked to something, even a Pelican case, so that stealing them would destroy them?

Anyway, thanks for any help, and watch your goodies in San Juan.

Hi Mike and welcome to Wetpixel. Smash was just telling me about your plight at this month's HUPS meeting.

I hate to lead you off on a tangent, but there are some killer deals in the classified section here as well at on Ebay for used housings. It seems like a lot of people are upgrading from Canon Rebel and Nikon D70 setups right now and you can get a good complete setup.

Otherwise, I haven't used the E900 or SP350 so can't help too much. I am a big fan of the Inon macro lenses and can highly recommend them from my experience.

Cheers

James

Mike,

Truly sorry about your loss. I'm a user of the SP-350 but have only been on a snorkelling trip with it. I still haven't figured out all the options. What I do know has been posted on this site in several places and you can search and find them. I will list a few key points. User Larry C has done more underwater photography with the SP-350 than I so he might also be a good reference.

RAW photos - I've taken about 110 on a single set of 2500mah rechargeables.

Battery meter - is incorrect if using the AA rechargeables. It will flash red with plenty of battery left. There are other problems with the meter if you use the recommended CR-V3 battery.

4 user programmable modes are nice.

Shutter lag - acceptable (1 second) if the settings are correct. If it has to autofocus, then shoot it can take up to 3 seconds in low light

Large LCD screen is nice. The Pt-030 has a nice LCD Shade that comes with.

Since I've only used it once underwater the RAW write time of 10 10seconds really didn't come into play photographing Manatees.

Lens isn't as fast as the 5050. Why Oly did that too us I have no clue.

I'm pretty happy with the 350 since its my first camera. I think if I had it to do all over again....I'd bite the bullet and go with a DLSR. Even if it meant some payment plan of sorts. Later,

Hi Mike - I'm glad I wasn't around when you lost your system. I saw you cradle your babies in AU!!! For the unaware - PR is no place to check valuable luggage. Living in the USVI, I've known this since childhood. Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to persuade travelers that SJU is on a whole different playing field - beyond the worst airports you've heard of. Id recommend a DSLR, but you'll need to carry it on board when you visit the Caribbean!

Hi Mike and welcome to Wetpixel.  Smash was just telling me about your plight at this month's HUPS meeting.

 

I hate to lead you off on a tangent, but there are some killer deals in the classified section here as well at on Ebay for used housings.  It seems like a lot of people are upgrading from Canon Rebel and Nikon D70 setups right now and you can get a good complete setup.

 

Otherwise, I haven't used the E900 or SP350 so can't help too much.  I am a big fan of the Inon macro lenses and can highly recommend them from my experience.

 

Cheers

James

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Thanks James. You are leading me down a path I eventually want to go anyway, just not quite yet. I'm pretty serious about my photography, but I have no plans to try to market my images, and by and large I've been happy with the quality of the images the 5050 can produce. The main things I would like to be able to do and can't are to improve stand off distance to macro subjects and reduce shutter lag.

I know DSLR is the answer, but the money/size/weight thing still has me hoping for technology to catch up to my dream-a compact, lightweight rig with zero shutter lag and high quality wetmate lenses, with a great big through the lens LCD. The 330 is a step in that direction, so I think I'll stay with the stopgap point and shoot and wait another year to see what is on the horizon, and if the big DSLR makers have an answer to the 330.

Mike

Mike,

          Truly sorry about your loss. I'm a user of the SP-350 but have only been on a snorkelling trip with it. I still haven't figured out all the options. What I do know has been posted on this site in several places and you can search and find them. I will list a few key points. User Larry C has done more underwater photography with the SP-350 than I so he might also be a good reference.

 

RAW photos - I've taken about 110 on a single set of 2500mah rechargeables.

Battery meter -  is incorrect if using the AA rechargeables. It will flash red with plenty of battery left. There are other problems with the meter if you use the recommended CR-V3 battery.

 

4 user programmable modes are nice.

 

Shutter lag - acceptable (1 second) if the settings are correct. If it has to autofocus, then shoot it can take up to 3 seconds in low light

 

Large LCD screen is nice. The Pt-030 has a nice LCD Shade that comes with.

 

Since I've only used it once underwater the RAW write time of 10 10seconds really didn't come into play photographing Manatees.

 

Lens isn't as fast as the 5050. Why Oly did that too us I have no clue.

 

I'm pretty happy with the 350 since its my first camera. I think if I had it to do all over again....I'd bite the bullet and go with a DLSR. Even if it meant some payment plan of sorts. Later,

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Thanks a lot for the info. I'm guessing that 110 photos in RAW would translate into more like 200 in SHQ Jpeg, so that's pretty good. 1 second shutter lag is kind of OK, does the half-press help with that?

Thanks

MIke

Hi Mike - I'm glad I wasn't around when you lost your system.  I saw you cradle your babies in AU!!!  For the unaware - PR is no place to check valuable luggage.  Living in the USVI, I've known this since childhood.  Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to persuade travelers that SJU is on a whole different playing field - beyond the worst airports you've heard of.  Id recommend a DSLR, but you'll need to carry it on board when you visit the Caribbean!

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Hi Kasey

Yeh, what a drag. I'm trying to put a positive spin on this for my own sanity, and looking at it as an opportunity to re-evaluate my photography and try something new.

Just got my first copy of Fathoms and I'm looking forward to a long uninterrupted sit and read. I assume your shots are not in yet, but it would be a delightful surprise if they were.

I'm carrying on at least the camera from now on. Damn thieves.

Hope you are getting closer to your dream of full time.

Cheers,

Mike

1 second shutter lag is kind of OK, does the half-press help with that?

Yes. Full manual including manual focus is the key. This gets the shutter release down to almost instant without a flash. It gets a little slower with the autofocus using the half-press. If it needs to fully focus in lowlight, set white balance, use TTL for the flash etc it can get lethargic depending upon the subject. I updated the consumer digicams thread on this website with a post of a test I performed. I also put out a link on the auction thread on this site to what I thought was a great deal on ebay. Later,

Mike - another solution might be to mail your system to your destination. Not too costly and can be insured for the full value. On your new system I tend to agree with James - get a used D100 or D70 kit. It'll be a huge improvement with a modest investment. Once you've used a DSLR underwater you'll wonder what took you so long to try one.

Welcome to WP Mike, i know you from that other place..

That sucks about your theft, hopefully it all works out for the best

M

1 second shutter lag is kind of OK, does the half-press help with that?

 

Yes. Full manual including manual focus is the key. This gets the shutter release down to almost instant without a flash. It gets a little slower with the autofocus using the half-press. If it needs to fully focus in lowlight, set white balance, use TTL for the flash etc it can get lethargic depending upon the subject. I updated the consumer digicams thread on this website with a post of a test I performed. I also put out a link on the auction thread on this site to what I thought was a great deal on ebay. Later,

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Thanks CE. What do you think of the screen resolution?

Mike - another solution might be to mail your system to your destination.  Not too costly and can be insured for the full value.  On your new system I tend to agree with James - get a used D100 or D70 kit.  It'll be a huge improvement with a modest investment.  Once you've used a DSLR underwater you'll wonder what took you so long to try one.

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Kasey, I haven't absolutly ruled out a DSLR and if I stumbled onto a good, complete rig at an attractive price I would be tempted to make the leap. Even so I would also want to own a good high quality point/shoot for topside purposes, so my strategy is to go ahead and get a new one and a housing, and use it while I wait patiently for either a screaming deal on a used rig, or for technology to bear new fruit.

Also, I still can't get my mind past being stuck with WA or macro for an entire dive regardless of what the sea serves up. If I knew I would always have another chance to photograph a wonderful subject that I was denied as a result of an unfortunate lens choice for the dive, it would be easier. But at my age and around 120 dives a year, I feel I better make hay while I'm down there

I have to admit I'm enjoying the decision process.

Mike

Mike, I sent you a PM w/ some info.

Cheers

James

Mike,

"What do you think of the screen resolution?"

The resolution isn't the greatest but I went from a small 1.5 on my old Kodak to a 2.5 inch with the new camera. Whatever resolution is sacrificed is made up for by the large display. Direct sunlight can be a nemesis on topside but I didn't have any problems snorkelling for 3 hours. I'll add that my only other previous experience shooting underwater was last summer using a Sealife Film Camera. So I'm still on that giddy honeymoon phase with this camera and digital in general. I've been using digital point and shoots for about 10 years so I have some experience with them. This one is certainly better than any I've ever owned.

Gary

Pelican needs to make a new case that will hold the housings but be UNDER 45 linear inches. The current case will fit in the overhead no problem but is legally too big at 54 linear inches! Or IKE get it to fit in a 1520?!?!?