what to buy next ?

Hi,

i need a little helping hand on what cam to buy next. I dived with my Canon S40 and ext. YS60 Strobe for several years now but time has come to switch.

My favorites are:

- Canon S80

- Canon A700

- SP 350

.

What can you guys recommend me? DSLR is too expensive for me, not

really the cam, but the housing. Can you recommend me those cams

mentioned above, if yes, which one would you prefer and why?

How are those 2 Canons in comparission with the Olympus SP350?

Thanks a lot guys,

Marcus

All very nice cameras. I had the same choice when I bought mine. (You can check previous threads for the debate). The A700 wasn't out yet, and Canon still doesn't list an UW case for it on their website. It has a lower mp rating, but some nice features.

The two primary differences as far as I'm concerned between the two Canons and the Oly are:

1. The Oly shoots RAW. Big plus.

2. The Oly has a hotshoe for a TTL flash and settings for same.

The Canons do use SD memory, which is cheaper, faster and has bigger cards available compared to the Oly's xD. Hopefully, the xD will improve in those respects.

If you're getting the factory case, it's the S80 or SP350. Can't go too wrong either way, but obviously I liked the Oly. That's what I bought. I've seen great pics with both. (Mine are posted on Scubaboard.com in Member galleries, Larry C. It sounds like you have a brand preference for Canon. Love my Oly. I've been backed by a couple of others who posted gorgeous pics from there first dives with the camera and swear by it.

The knock on both cameras seems to be focus speed, write speed and battery life. They both use AA's x 2. The Oly will also use CRV-3's and rechargeable versions of both. If you want DSLR features, drop $5K on a DSLR and housing and lug around the giant thing on your dives. Otherwise, I think you'll be happy with either of the two you're looking at.

Hi,

yes iam bit Canon oriented because my S40 did good now for nearly 5 years without any problems. To be honest i like the design of S80 very good.

But no RAW and price isnt very nice. I never worked with a Olympus

up to now.

For the SP350 i heard not much positiv til now. Most said the AF is very slow.

Most people recommend me the A620/700 cause of the various manual settings and the chear price.

Iam not very experienced about manual settings, but ill bought a book and

wand to get into it. Most pics i did with Automatic (shame on me)

Anyone has the Fuji E900 ? How much this the housing for this one ?

cheers,

Marcus

I've got my eyes on the S80. There are two reasons:

First, the 28mm equivalent lens is more useful as a travel camera. It's also nice if you don't have a wide angle lens attachment.

Second, it has an autofocus assist illuminator. I won't buy a digicam without one.

DPreview gave the S80 their highest rating. Yes, RAW would be nice, but I can live without it. I really like Canon's mode menus. Changing WB is very easy. Adorama is selling the S80 for $399. The Ikelite housing is $349. They make a very nice pair.

Ike, I take your hint about the E900. It would make an excellent choice underwater. And in the hands of someone like Bob Whorton it produces spectacular results. But it doesn't have an AF assist light. That would help with indoor photos.

I played with the SP-350 when it came out. It's not as fast as the Canons. The mode menus also aren't as easy. If you want to change white balance, you're in for a bit of a hunt.

Hello,

just to say the Olympus SP350 has a battery problem, they do not last as long as they should, sometimes they're empty after 10 (ten) shoots. To avoid that, you need to buy a rechargeable CR-V3 battery + charger.. I'd go for the fuji too, be it a F900 or a F810.

bye

Actually the SP-350 had a battery meter problem...not a battery problem. Olympus just came out with firmware which fixed the issue. As for living without RAW....I can't. I would suggest you go for the 620 if your heart is set on Cannon. I've toyed with the A620 and its a nice camera. Also, you can't go wrong with either the SP350 or Fuji. As an owner of the SP-350, I've been very happy with the camera's performance. The camera has 4 programmable modes which are extremely helpful underwater. The other nice thing about the SP-350 is it has a hotshoe connection for an external flash. You can get the FL20 flash with the PFL-01 housing for under $200 giving you a strobe with TTL. Additionally there are programmable hot keys which allow the access to things like white balance. Here are some shots I took with the SP350 in very challenging Viz. I did the first couple with the flash but did the rest of them with no flash. I used a Magic Filter and available light. Even in the low viz, the camera's focus was never an issue. With all that said...I also like the Canon A620 after dinking around with it. It seemed a touch faster on the shutter. Whatever camera you choose..be sure and come back and give us the good, the bad...and the ugly.

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?act=S...st=0#entry78123

thanks,

Gary

Hi,

thanks for you comments. Also iam not farer with my decision.

Everyone is saying, his cam is best, because of.... but thats normal,

cause everyone knows his own cam best. Every of the 3 cams has

advantages and disadvantages - theres no perfect cam.

Why you guys all buy an Ikelite housing for the camera which is nearly

double price in Europe as the manufactur housing ? Is is so much better ?

Housing for S80 / A620 is 205€. Housing for ikelite is about 380€.

I was confirmend that my YS-60 strobe and my Digi Adapter would

work together with all three models; the S80/A620, SP-350 and the E-900.

Better for TTL reasons is to use a Oly ttl converter with the SP-350.

I never shoot one RAW photo with my old S40. Is it so much better tó

improve the pics with photoshop then?

The Canon S80 has a motion stabilisator; what about the others? Will this

not help to take good pics, especially when strong current etc...

tbh my heart is not on Canon, iam open for all

Have to make my decission within the next weeks, cause Red Sea awaits me

at beginning of june.

cheers,

marcus

In the US, the price of an Ikelite housing is close to double the manufacturer's housing (200-250ish for most manufacturer's and 400 for the Ike) as well.

The reason that most here boughts an Ikelite housing...It's worth it.

Reasons:

-All the features of the camera are accessable.

-Thick-walled and clearly visable O-ring (peace of mind in my case)

-Durability

-Tray and Arm for ease of use. The Olympus and Nikon-made housings I've seen have always been tight around the camera, but still slightly larger than what I consider to be comfortable to hold. The Tray and Arm eliminates that problem.

-Tray and Arm for Strobe Use. Imagine adding a 8 pound strobe to something that is already a bear to hang onto...

- TTL available for many camera models if you like easy lighting.

-Excellent customer service. Ikelite has always done me right, and they've always taken care of my customers.

"Why you guys all buy an Ikelite housing for the camera which is nearly

double price in Europe as the manufactur housing ? Is is so much better ?"

I own the Oly housing but covet the Ikelite. I got the Oly housing for $200 on Ebay brand new through an OLY reseller. Plus, I was heading for a snorkel trip before Ikelite came out with a housing. Reasons I will probably upgrade....

TTL with the DS125 and DS50 strobes

Housing is rated to 200ft

The double oring seal is nice.

...I might add to the above and say I've seen several Olympus owners on here with external hairline fractures in their housing so I guess another reason would be overall quality and peace of mind.

"I never shoot one RAW photo with my old S40. Is it so much better tó

improve the pics with photoshop then?"

I've shot both ways. With RAW I can underexpose or overexpose a picture and bring it back to perfection with software.

"Every of the 3 cams has

advantages and disadvantages - theres no perfect cam."

Bingo! with a digicam there's always something. With my Oly ... I was smitten by the 8 megapix, the fact I could buy it for $300, the programmable modes, the underwater modes, the inexpensive housings and inexpensive strobes that offered TTL. The full line of inexpensive accessories is nice as well. What I didn't like, or not sure of at the time was the plastic camera body, the 10 sec + RAW write times, the amount of "tweaking" I had to do with settings to get the shutter lag down to acceptable, the slow (f2.8) lens.

After owning it for 6 months, I've learned all the workarounds and have been pleased with the overall picture quality and how configurable the camera is.

Later,

Gary