OLY SP350 VS. CANON A620

I am considering purchasing one of these two cameras for a respectable beginners u/w digital setup. The OLY SP-350 with PT-030 housing and Sea & Sea YS 25 strobe or Canon A620 with WP DC-90 housing and same strobe. I would appreciate any helpful suggestions, comments or criticisms. I currently own a Canon digital Rebel for topside but just can't swing the cost for the housing and strobe.

Thanks!

Karen B

Karen,

Type the model numbers into the search function on this site...this has been covered in detail.

If you're going to use that strobe, you might want to research how it will connect to the two housings.

regards,

Gary

I just bought an Oly SP350 and Ikelite housing/Ike DS50 strobe for my wife. From my topside testing, this is going to be a pretty good macro camera.

If I were in your shoes, I think I would look for a used housing for your Rebel.

Look in the classifieds here, or on eBay for a Rebel housing.

The A620 is a great camera but do NOT buy the WP-DC900 housing that Canon makes. It does not accept accessory lenses. If you want an A620, go Ikelite. And before you do that, consult with someone like Ryan at Reef Photo. He may advise you against the A620 due to the lens design.

The Olympus SP-350 isn't quite as fast as the Canon, but the Olympus housing will work very well.

I have a YS-25 and wouldnt recommend it. It will attach fine to almost any housing in that it uses a velcroed fibre optic connection but it uses a metering system thats eventually really annoying as you get better - it has its own on board sensor that decides the flash level based on what f-stop you set it to on the strobe.

Because it uses its own light sensor, in practise it can be quite unreliable in its light levels, especially if you dont want to point the strobe directly at what you're taking a picture of, which is generally the case if you're trying to minimise backscatter.

Given the price of an Ikelite Ds-50 plus manual controller is almost identical to a Ys-25auto + fibre optic cable at the site I checked, Id say its a much better option, and its output is much better as well. The other option would be an Inon, they're a little bit more but offer the option of both TTL and manual.

Otara

Thanks for all the helpful advice! I already purchased the A620 and WP DC-90 before reading the latest replies. I guess I'll have to make due until I can get that housing for my digital Rebel. I will absolutely check into the dc-50 strobe though. I did check Ikelite for a housing for the A620, didn't find any listed for it though. Maybe I didn't look hard enough. If you know of one for sure, I would still be interested, as I have ordered the housing but not yet recieved it. I may be able to cancel order. I'm sure they would keep my $50 deposit, but could be worth it.

Thanks!

Karen B

Oops! I meant to say the ds-50. I will also check into the Inon.

Thanks Again!

Karen B