Sony Dsc-70 vs P-9

Hi,

Perhaps someone can give me some advice. I have a Sony DSC-S70 with no housing and a MPK-P9 housing with no camera. Should I buy a housing for the DSC-S70 or a P-9 camera? Also what strobes would work best with the better system? Thanks TedJ

TED-

I have a DSC-S70 in an Ikelite housing with Ikelite strobes, and have taken many great photos with the setup. Here are some points to think about. I am not suggesting that you do or don't go with the S70, just a few things that you might want to consider their significance for you.

1) There is no fully manual exposure mode. You can select aperture priority or shutter priority, but cannot control both at the same time.

2) There is no hardwire connection provision for a synch cord for an underwater strobe. You will only be able to use a strobe with a slave sensor.

3) I never had any luck with the camera in a TTL strobe configuration (although I hear that others do). However, I think you are better off shooting manual anyways.

Albeit I am a SERIOUS rookie at all this underwater digital stuff...I have a P-9 w/ housing and am currently using a 50w torch for lighting (waiting for the strobe fairy to shower me with gifts).

From what I have read, the Ikelight strobe set up will enable slave firing of the digital preflash where the Sea and Sea fiber optic slave cable sete-up will allow cancellation of the preflash by timing / settings of your strobe itself.

The picture quality I get is very good with the torch. With the strobe it will be even better. Macro is a SIGNIFICANT challenge, as is any kind of real "action shot" (shutter delay). BUT for point and shoot stuff and simple high quality photos, my P-9 has worked very very well for me at depths down to 123 ft without a single hitch. For the price of the entire set-up, I couldn't beat it for a starter system.

Here is my two cents on this, I use the dscp9 and the MPKP9 housing along with two HVLML20M Video lights (they are a little to hot) and get some great photo;s but I will be upgrading soon to something else.

if the page is up it can be viewed at http://www.crawford.winisp.net

Travis