To NEX or not to NEX? Help!

I need to upgrade to a digital uw camera, and so far have been resisting as most of my diving is in poor vis/low light conditions except for 1 week each year to the Caribbean when I can take my Nikonos V. Recently saw the Sony NEX and Nauticam and am captivated, especially since I could use my Nikonos lenses with it.

But have reservations...

Pros:

-its digital, large sensor, smaller than dSLR

-can use nikonos lenses (yay!, but no autofocus)

Cons:

- not quite a dSLR

- $3k to get started, assuming I can use my old strobes.

- Camera already 8 months old. Probably end of life in ~8 months.

That last one is a big one, in a few years I may have $3k worth of housing without being able to replace a malfunctioning digicam (I repaired my Nikonos a month ago, and it has been out of production for decades, not gonna happen with a digicam).

Does anyone have other suggestions? Any other good quality camera/housings that are much cheaper that if I have to dump after a couple years won't be such a financial burden? Or a system that we can expect (or hope) to be available for some time to come?

Thanks, looking forward to some alternatives to consider before I buy.

Hi,

Something to consider is that you can only trigger strobes with fiber optics so if this writes off your old strobes, this may add some cost to the package.

Manually focusing on an LCD display takes a LOT LOT LOT of getting used to. Very very difficult to see critical focus. You have to zoom in. Then can't see composition at the same time...

Probably easier to go back to using sticks to measure distance to subject!

To me, the nex 3 & 5 are not attractive it is painful to shoot manual exposure mode.

The upcoming nex 7 will be much more interesting - it will be like a panasonic gh2, with a DX sensor, rather than u-4/3rds.

The panaonsic gh2 or gf1, if you want more compact, are more tempting to me, as presenting at least minimal controls for photography.

Alsky: thanks, didn't know that. Price keeps climbing.

derway: Yeah, I was going to consider the micro 4/3 cameras as well as the NEX when I decide, but their market life probably is no better so same problem. Unless it's housing is cheaper?

Would going to a dSLR be a better route? At least in that case their market life may be longer or I may have a better chance of being able to pick up a used camera back in the future if I ever had to replace it. Or are dSLRs these days just as throw-away as a cheap digicam?

I've come to accept that the average consumer electronics needs to be replaced ever 18 months or so, but I can't accept the same for $3k worth of underwater housing.

One thing you need to think about is whether you want to compose through a view finder, or can deal with the rear screen. If your close focus vision is good, the 3" LCD gives you a view we used to pay megabucks for, to get an f3 SLR with a sports finder, and house all of that!

The strobes you have will work fine in manual, with any camera and housing that has connectors. But they will not do TTL with any new cam, as they all require fast pre-flashes.

This whole price and obsolescence issue is just one of the reasons I've always gone ikelite. Adequate quality housings, with full functionality, and price tags that seem reasonable to me. A complete port system that you can keep from housing to housing. They are the only ones these days to provide built in TTL strobe control via hotshoe, these days.

the slr route is sure tried and true. You could buy it (used?), and sell it later, without losing everything..

I just don't wee the problem with a camera going out of style. Who cares if it is the latest and greatest, a year or 2 from now, as long as it does what I want it to do?

If you shoot your SLR in lots of bad above water conditions, sand and dust and hot, cold, wet spray... It will need replacing in a couple years. But if you just shoot it underwater in a housing, it will last for many more years.

Ikelite is coming out with housings, 'real soon now' for nex camera, and panasonic micro4/3rds...

If you are happy sticking to iso 100, there is no reason not consider a panasonic lx5 - a great compact camera, with great image quality at low ISO, (same sensor size as the canon g12 and s95), great focus speed and shutter lag, and quite good 720p movie mode. There are housings available or coming from ikelite, 10bar, and nauticam.

For a $450 camera, and $550 for ikelite housing, including hotshoe bulkhead circuitry, this seems like a killer deal!

This is incredibly tempting to me. You can't get a 24mm-90mm f2.0/f3.3 lens for ANY price on the NEX or m4/3rds system, and you'd pay a lot for a canon or nikon dlsr lens that did that.

Thanks all for the replies, some great points.

I believe that I have come to a decision/compromise. I'm going to go for the new Olympus PEN E-PL2 with the Olympus housing (as soon as it comes available, which I understand is a matter of weeks to a month). Not quite a NEX or higher end dSLR chip, but still much larger than most point and shoot, and as good as many dSLRs. And the Olypmus housing list price seems reasonable.

If there are any other comments or suggested alternatives that I should compare before buying please let me know.

oly's contrast detect auto focus is about as bad as it gets.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/MFR1.HTM?v...Olympus_reviews

Check out PENs' horrible auto focus performance and shutter lag. 1 second total lag. In good light, and a high contrast target...

If you want to be frustrated, this is a perfect recipe.

The micro 4/3rds cams are sure interesting. But go with panasonic if you want one. The gf1, or gh1 or gh2.

The gf1 is a great camera, with .4 second total shutter lag. And there are several housings available now, including inon, seatools, and one from 10 bar that is under $850:

http://www.opticaloceansales.com/10bar-und...g/prod_432.html

And ikelite has a housing in the works for this camera.

Lots of info and pix here:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=32112

After much research and fretting I bought the NEX-5 with both lenses. And I bought the Nauticam housing with the gear and 55mm port. After spending just under $3k, I was angry and disgusted. I prefer natural lighting underwater and the NEX simply does not have a useful underwater white balance ability. I was close to selling it all and going back to a Canon SX210 or some such. However, I tried the Magic Filter and am now a completely satisfied and happy camper. The APS-C (not 4/3) sensor etc., etc. has now met my requirements in an underwater camera. I'm not convinced that you'd be happier with the panasonics. I will say that in natural light, you will _not_ be happy with an out of the box Sony. You'll need a MagicFilter or some such to make the major portion of the white balance corrections and then the Sony will do the rest very nicely. I'm not a beginner, nor will I ever give Doubilet a run for his money. I just enjoy taking pics. Kevin (you can see some of my pics at www.theworldbeneath.com gallery.) None of them were taken with the Sony however. I haven't had it long enough to get any pics ready. Only a couple of dives with the MagicFilter.

Kevin

Great news! Somehow, I realized we forgot to mention shooting raw. Most folks who can, shoot raw underwater, so they don't have to set the white balance, or depend on manual or auto white balance to work.

A magic filter is great for ambient light, but won't work with a strobe. Strobes can handle both.

BTW, I get over to kona 1-2 times per year, as my parens have lived there for 18 years or so.

Aloha.

Great news! Somehow, I realized we forgot to mention shooting raw. Most folks who can, shoot raw underwater, so they don't have to set the white balance, or depend on manual or auto white balance to work.

 

A magic filter is great for ambient light, but won't work with a strobe. Strobes can handle both.

 

BTW, I get over to kona 1-2 times per year, as my parens have lived there for 18 years or so.

 

Aloha.

I wouldn't worry too much about cameras not lasting long, that's what e-bay is for. When my 8080 died I just grabbed another one off e-bay to stick in my housing. That said, when I upgraded I went with the GF1 for size, speed and quality. It also has a flash to trigger my strobes. Has worked out great for me. As far as this magic filter thing which I've never heard of until now, I shoot raw and do all my WB adjustments in PP. It only takes a few seconds and works well. Of course that is only for shots without the strobe. It looks like the EPL-2 housing from Oly would be good low cost option but I wanted the GF for the faster focusing so went with 10Bar. I thought the 1/160 max sync was going to be a problem but I have learned to work with it and don't have any issues at this time. I just upgraded to the GH2 because my wife was using the GF1 a lot so now we can share lens's and ports. While the GH2 is a little bigger it is still much smaller then a traditional X crop DSLR.

Thanks all for the replies, some great points.

 

I believe that I have come to a decision/compromise. I'm going to go for the new Olympus PEN E-PL2 with the Olympus housing (as soon as it comes available, which I understand is a matter of weeks to a month). Not quite a NEX or higher end dSLR chip, but still much larger than most point and shoot, and as good as many dSLRs. And the Olypmus housing list price seems reasonable.

 

If there are any other comments or suggested alternatives that I should compare before buying please let me know.

If you are worried that your camera will be outdated, you may consider the comments of Thom Hogan on this topic:

> More likely that m4/3 gets better sensor before Sony gets lenses

Sorry, but I wouldn’t agree with that assessment. Sensors run at a fairly predictable pace in terms of improvement, and even two generations of Panasonic sensor improvement is only going to get them to the current Sony APS level under the best of scenarios (and, of course, Sony wouldn’t be standing still). Lenses are a different story, and given Sony’s opening the mount, we’re going to see plenty of lens choice soon, I think. In one case you’re betting on one company making unheard of performance improvements (Panasonic sensors) and in the other case you’re betting on multiple companies using known tools to create known entities (lenses). You’re betting on the wrong horse.

I have been really impressed with what I have seen from the GH2. Seems to be the new benchmark in this class - and I see that housings are beginning to appear for it too.

Alex