Alternative camera needed

Alternative Camera Advice

I have an Olympus C-8080 and this is a superb camera. I recently purchased an Ikelite housing for it, and went to Red Sea for a weeks diving.

I found that while this is a great setup for many it is no good for me … I had Laser Corrective surgery on my eyes a year ago, and while this has made my diving a whole lot better visually (20/20 distance vision) it has left me long sighted …

While out of water I can use the C-8080 perfectly, underwater the screen is too small for me to be able to use, unless at almost arms length, and then it’s difficult to read anyway.

I tried ‘stick in’ corrective lenses in my mask, but they did not help.

I think the way forward for me is to change the setup and get a camera that has a larger LCD screen. The Olympus has a 1.8†screen and while this is good for those with normal vision, is a problem for old sods !

Would appreciate any advice on a suitable camera, the items in the wish list would be:

A large bright screen … 2.5†or bigger

CF cards ideally (as I have several 1GB WA cards)

Low shutter lag (0.2sec or better)

7-8 Megapixel

TTL flash would be nice (but not crucial)

Good low light focussing ability

I am open to any make except SONY (memory sticks too expensive), and it does not have to be a ‘prosumer’ … would consider a good compact.

I looked at the Sea & Sea … pity the DX8000 only has a small screen.

I wouldn't bet that a larger screen would help.

Remember if you are now long sighted then you have your eyes and the water making everything appear closer and bigger, the same will be true for a bigger screen. You'll end up holding it at arms length and maybe the new screen will be big enough for you to see, but it will be a painholding it at arms length just so you can focus. I'd say you need to work on correcting the focusing problem. Take into account the water magnification as well as your eye sight when buying the correction.

it's a shame you don't like the sony because of the memory card .... my ol' T3 has the sweetest screen .... 2.5" and 250000 pixels B)

I wouldn't bet that a larger screen would help.

 

Remember if you are now long sighted then you have your eyes and the water making everything appear closer and bigger, the same will be true for a bigger screen. You'll end up holding it at arms length and maybe the new  screen will be big enough for you to see, but it will be a painholding it at arms length just so you can focus. I'd say you need to work on correcting the focusing problem. Take into account the water magnification as well as your eye sight when buying the correction.

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I did ... longsightedness is +1.5 dioptre, renove 0.25 to allow for water, and purchased +1.25

The problem is I use a 'Big eyes' style mask, if I put the corective lenses in the middle they would be in the way for normal use. ... with them fitted in lower quadrant they are not easy to use with a camera.

I can read my gauges & computer no problem without the lenses,,, but the 8080 screen is not possible.

Almost every picture I took is blurred ... obvioulsy allowing auto focus to latch onto wrong item.

The video clips though were superb.

I have the oly SP-350 and pretty good eyesight and the screen in any kind of sunlight or brightly lit areas is extremely difficult to see without cupping my hand for additional shading. The screen is big enough at 2.5 inches but its resolution (which is as important as size) is not that great which makes it hard to see as well. I would venture that you're only option may be a low end DSLR like the Nikon D50 (now $599 at Mike's Camera) or the Oly Evolt E-500 which is selling around $450 through Olympus's ebay reseller. Using the optical viewfinder with the built-in dioptre adjustment might be your only option.

Gary

I am fighting that same battle and just need correective lenses on my mask. I agree with"DW" that a larger screen wont do the trick unless its a 52 inch plasma in an Ikelite house-ing

I am fighting that same battle and just need correective lenses on my mask.  I agree with"DW" that a larger screen wont do the trick unless its a 52 inch plasma in an Ikelite house-ing    

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Actually a slightly larger screen will help ... in the same way that I can read books without a problem, depending on print size ... so normal books are not an issue, but print in Financial times is a no go without reading glasses.

Increasing the screen size to 2.5" is almost a 3 fold increase in viewing area .. equiavlant to going to a large print book !

I would agree that you need resoltuion to match ...

Would welcome advice on any prosumer or good compacts that offer this

I think that the solution for you will be quit expensive - go to DSLR

I'm talking with some experience, I have very bad eyes and I need glasses for far but nothing for close (reading, computer screen...) so it’s quit equivalent to your situation.

Until I started to take P&S camera u/w I used a mask with optical lens inside, then when I started to use the camera's LCD I couldn't read it so I moved to regular mask (one advance over you , I can always remove my glasses) I sow a little worse u/w but it wasn’t disturbed me too much.

Then when I started to use DSLR I needed back my optical mask since the observation now is by the viewfinder, I have now a small problem to read the controls and states on the camera body but I can handle it with a little effort.

Don't know it will work but something you could look into maybe.

I've seen some stick on things to correct vision in masks. I've also seen other stick on magnifiers round.

You could try sticking it on the housing instead of the mask. May work ???