Hi
Like you I am a relative newbie at the U/W photography game. I am just past the point and push stage, but not yet up to the DSLR knobs and whistles stage.
Buying any camera is a personal choice at the end of the day, you need to handle the units, get a feel for what is good in your hands, how all the knobs and buttons feel to you. No-one can ever tell you which is the right feel for you.
However... You asked an opinion and here is mine - DX-1G
As to why...
Their major tips for producing better shots I have found are
1) Go Manual
2) The 5 tricks to good pictures are ISO / White balance / RAW / Metering patterns / Adobe RGB
3) Fix speed and flash, but change f-stop as you get closer
Going through these stepwise...
1) It's a no brainer, take the decisions away from the camera and set the options yourself, almost universally agreed upon. For you both the DX-1G and DC800 meet the standard.
2) ISO - You want to manually adjust for ambient light levels. Again both the DX-1G and DC800 meet the standard.
3) White balance - Both have dedicated underwater settings (I should hope so) as well as the ability to set a manual white balance. Still neck and neck in the DX-1G / DC800 race.
4) RAW vs JPG - For more advanced photo editing you want to shoot RAW. The DC800 does not list this as an option on it's spec sheets. 1point for the DX-1G
5) Metering Patterns - how the camera assesses the light levels, you want spot or center weighted options here. Most modern digital have the ability to switch between these. The DC800 doesn't state this ability exists, but it probably does. DX-1G states it emphatically in their literature. +1/2 point to the DX-1G
6) Adobe vs sRGB - read this sRGB vs Adobe and if you understand it let me know. Bottom line is Adobe RGB is better for prints, and sRGB for publishing on the internet. However neither camera seems to offer the ability to switch between them anyway. So still the DX-1G by 1 1/2 points
7) Strobe / F-stop - If you have TTL monitoring, the camera tells the strobe when enough is enough and the strobe shuts off preventing over exposure. If you don't have TTL, you need the ability to alter the F-stop of the camera to reduce overexposure as you get closer to your subject. Listen here for a better explanation TTL Podcast. Either way the DX-1G wins because it has both TTL and the ability to control F-stop. The DC800 I don't think has TTL, I can't find anywhere that says it does, but it does have the ability to control F-stop. So 1point to the DX-1G
So there we have a clear winner - the DX-1G by 2 1/2 points
However the points are won in advanced features (RAW, TTL, Adobe RGB), the straight forward features are common to both, these are the features that you will be using exclusively at first. So it comes back to my original point. Handle the units, get a feel for how they fit your hands.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Dave
