Need a decent digital camera that fits in a BC pocket

I need some assistance in choosing a camera to take ID shots of small critters such as nudibranchs, seahorses and cowries.

Over the next 4 months I’m diving every day to finish off my seahorse research and whilst I’m doing my surveys and tagging underwater it’s impossible to lug my D300 setup around. So I’m after a point and shoot setup that I can stick in my BC pocket and pull out to use if I come across a critter I haven’t seen before or to take photo’s of the tagged seahorses.

I am after a camera with good macro that allows manual control (shutter speed and aperture). I don’t want an external flash so the internal flash would need to be adequate. Also, the camera would need to be rated to at least 20-30m as on some occasions I need to survey for seahorses in deeper water.

The key here is that it needs to fit in a BC pocket… any suggestions would be appreciated!

cheers,

Dave

Check out the Oly 1030 SW. Officially rated to 33ft, I've read postings (perhaps here on wetpixel) where people claim to have taken it much deeper.

Apparently - at least according to what I read - it doesn't flood, but eventually the buttons just stop working as you get too deep.

Check out the Oly 1030 SW. Officially rated to 33ft, I've read postings (perhaps here on wetpixel) where people claim to have taken it much deeper.

 

Apparently - at least according to what I read - it doesn't flood, but eventually the buttons just stop working as you get too deep.

Thanks Jeremy. I had a play with the Oly 1030 recently in Bali but then I was put off on several reports (see dpreview.com) where I read the camera flooded, particularly through the battery compartment. And then there was the only rated to 10m issue.

Any other camera suggestions out there?

Dave, you might want to check out the other Olympus P&S cameras in an Olympus housing. They should easily fit in a pocket and I'm sure you can get a macro attachment. There's also the Canon G9 which you can use in the purpose built Canon housing.

The key here is that it needs to fit in a BC pocket… any suggestions would be appreciated!

On a more serious note, I'd have a look at one of the Canon A series in a Canon housing in addition to the G9 (or recently released G10).

How big is your BC pocket?

 

On a more serious note, I'd have a look at one of the Canon A series in a Canon housing in addition to the G9 (or recently released G10).

Well, its not actually a BC pocket! I have a Zeagle pocket attached to my rebreather that easily accomodates a spare mask so should fit a camera okay. I've played with the Canon G9 and it's slightly bigger than what I want, I want something thin and flat. I'll check out the Canon A Series cameras...

I was checking out the Sony DSC-T20 (Graham Abbott from diving4images uses it for his pics which are very good) and this is the camera I'm starting to lean towards - just need to find one in the flesh to try out!

Hi Dave,

I pretty sure that Mr Mustard has a very small Fuji that he is 'very' fond of.

He has posted pics from it here on WP before and from memory, they were outstanding.

He uses his with filters, I think, as well as w/a with the 165 fisheye thingie...

I think that James has, or had, the same model?

Give either of those a PM and I'm sure that the results will speak for themselves....

HTH,

Bruce...

I have the Fuji F30 in the fuji housing and it's a nice camera. I think Alex has the F40.

Neither of these cameras is made any more.

From looking at their website, it looks like the F50 would be the best bet. The housing looks very similar to the F30 housing. I have been very impressed with the housing and think it's the best made P&S housing I've seen. I previously had an olympus pt-010. I also purchased a Canon A570 + housing, but returned it because it wasn't as good as my F30 in some respects.

There was nothing wrong with the canon, but the housing definitely wasn't as sturdy as the F30.

For putting in a pocket, banging around, general abuse, I think the fuji is hard to beat. And my little F30 takes some great pictures.

You know they also make housings for some of those olympus waterproof cameras if you want to go deeper than the rating. So you could get that and have a pretty worry free system from a flooding standpoint.

I would second the F30 or F31 if you can find one in old stock... I've used an F30 with the Fuji housing for SCUBA and freediving survey work where I needed something to document sample locations - it's small enough that it just gets out of the way and can be jammed in a pocket or clipped off out of the way with ease. The underwater picture mode is actually surprisingly useful for very quick sample snaps.

The macro performance isn't brilliant (macro focus is a bit slow) but it works well if you are patient. The built in flash with the fuji diffuser works much more effectively than I would have expected. All in all it's been a very useful small travel and survey camera/housing when weight size limits have precluded anything bigger.

The F50 sounds like a good current version although the high ISO performance and battery life apparently aren't as good as the F30/31.

Dan.

I have the Fuji F30 in the fuji housing and it's a nice camera. I think Alex has the F40.

Neither of these cameras is made any more.

From looking at their website, it looks like the F50 would be the best bet. The housing looks very similar to the F30 housing. I have been very impressed with the housing and think it's the best made P&S housing I've seen. I previously had an olympus pt-010. I also purchased a Canon A570 + housing, but returned it because it wasn't as good as my F30 in some respects.

There was nothing wrong with the canon, but the housing definitely wasn't as sturdy as the F30.

 

For putting in a pocket, banging around, general abuse, I think the fuji is hard to beat. And my little F30 takes some great pictures.

 

You know they also make housings for some of those olympus waterproof cameras if you want to go deeper than the rating. So you could get that and have a pretty worry free system from a flooding standpoint.

another vote for the fuji f30.. the housing is well made and inexpensive. good picture quality.. I often take it down along with my dSLR. I've never found the need for manual shutter/aperature adjustments for macro, it defaults to F8.

another vote for the fuji f30.. the housing is well made and inexpensive. good picture quality.. I often take it down along with my dSLR. I've never found the need for manual shutter/aperature adjustments for macro, it defaults to F8.

Was looking for the same thing to use while doing research on coral disease and didn't want to miss those id shots. Just picked up a Canon SD990 with the Canon housing. Haven't tried it yet, but like the camera's settings and quality on shore. I do have the G9 and wanted something smaller for the BC pocket. this is much smaller and might do the trick.

Anyone try it yet?

Was looking for the same thing to use while doing research on coral disease and didn't want to miss those id shots. Just picked up a Canon SD990 with the Canon housing. Haven't tried it yet, but like the camera's settings and quality on shore. I do have the G9 and wanted something smaller for the BC pocket. this is much smaller and might do the trick.

 

Anyone try it yet?

I have a Canon SD630 with a Canon housing and it fits nicely into the pocket of my Seaquest Balance BC or into the large pocket of my DUI dry-suit. You might want to unclip the flash diffuser and let it dangle on the line and the re-clip it to take the photos. I am afraid to break it otherwise.

I can vouch for the Fuji F50 - fits snugly in BC pocket and works well at the macro end. Can be operated with aperture priority or shutter priority, but you can't manually alter both aperture & shutter speed at the same time, so no true manual mode. Onboard flash is ok, but may result in a bit of backscatter if there is muck in the water. Only downside I've found is that image can be a bit noisy - you might want to limit the top end of the ISO it selects.