Best Point and Shoot to take underwater?

Promised my daughter a new camera for graduation--we dive a couple times per year only. Want something very handy out of the water in between dives. Money not so much concern as getting low shutter lag time, good cloesups, TTL, able to put on strobes.

Thanks ahead,

G. Wilson

I think the Olympus SP350 in an ikelite housing would be perfect. You have hotshoe connection to strobes with that set up.

Hmmm I have been recommending this camera everywhere ... I like it .. but some people have an issue with shutter lag on it.

It's mostly in the RAW mode .. but I need to go borrow one again .. I thought it was ok non shutter lag.

It is definately a good choice though. I personally would take the Olympus housing and not worry about ttl when i got strobes, I just think it's a better combo.

As an owner of one, its a nice camera. With a strobe attached to the hotshoe, you can turn off the internal flash. This enhances recycle time (different than shutter lag but very important nonetheless). With a high-speed card and the camera set on RAW it takes about 6-7 seconds for the camera to be ready to take another picture. With a Super High Quality JPEG that time is reduced to around 3 seconds.

Shutter lag, as I perceive it, is actually made up of two components with both adding to any delay. Focus time ie...how long does it take the camera to lock focus, set the white balance and get ready to take a picture. Then there's the actual delay between pressing the button to take the picture. Most cameras today, including the SP-350 have reduced the 2nd part to almost nothing. The focus time is a different issue altogether because it depends upon so many things. I've found that most point-n-shoots suffer a little lag here. The new ones like the Fuji F30 seem very quick but lack housings as of yet. BTW (you can go to a local store and test the low light ability of most cameras by blocking the available light and focusing on something as difficult as carpet.

One more note, if money isn't really a concern then maybe an entry level DSLR from Olympus (E500 or E330), Nikon D70, Canon Digital Rebel would be better options. If he already owns lenses from a particular brand of SLR camera, then that would be the natural choice to make. Just a thought. Take care,

I'm new here, but I'm a long time digital camera user and I've always loved the Canon digital elph line up of compact digicams.

Plus it seems like Canon always manufactures an underwater case for just about all of their compact digital cameras.

I've got the SD700 IS, 6 megapixel with image stabilization, and I just bought the WP-DC5 underwater case to use on an upcoming trip.

SD700 = $330

WP-DC5 = $150

So far I've only played with it in my pool.

Hello,

You'll want to get a camera that lets you control the aperture and shutterspeed. The Elph line is nice above water, but is a point and shoot camera that doesn't let you contraol the aperture and shutterspeed.

Cheers

James

this is taken with a Fuji F30. without any strobe...

I would recommend this for a beginner just like myself...

It does not have full manual control..but sufficient aperture control.......

Spazm,

Welcome to wetpixel. That's the first shots I've seen with the F30. You should consider starting a post and tell us what you like, and dislike about the camera and housing for it. Locate the post in the consumer digicams thread.

Thanks,

Gary

Spazm,

Welcome to wetpixel. That's the first shots I've seen with the F30. You should consider starting a post and tell us what you like, and dislike about the camera and housing for it. Locate the post in the consumer digicams thread.

 

Thanks,

Gary

Hi Gary,

I'm not a very good writer..but I will definitely try and write something there..

Spazm,

Promised my daughter a new camera for graduation--we dive a couple times per year only. Want something very handy out of the water in between dives. Money not so much concern as getting low shutter lag time, good cloesups, TTL, able to put on strobes.

Thanks ahead,

G. Wilson

FUJI F30 in Fuji housing ... has to be best value quality set up.

use in dedicated undewater mode - just point & snap.

has low shutter lag, massive battery life and a large clear & bright screen.

Small enough to clip to the BCD when not snapping away.

Or new F31 if you want facial recognition for out of water shots.