Camera and Housing Questions

I just joined the Forum and you folks have a great site here. I had a question that I hope you might be able to help me out with.

I have been using a Nikon Coolpix 5700 for quite a while for above water photography with good results. Still I have been thinking about housing it for inwater kiteboarding photography and the odd UW shoot. Historically, I have not been fond of large, acrylic second party housings for all the obvious reasons and generally have used Nikonos and Rebikoff UW film camera systems. Looking at the pricing of some of the housings for the Coolpix 5700 and the following for a Samsung system I am wondering if for limited quality in-water photography if there might not be a better option as described below:

Has anyone experience using the Samsung V4 digital camera (around $280. USD)? More about the camera at:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/digimax_v4.html

I have heard some encouraging accounts about the image quality vs. the price. Samsung has a dedicated UW housing for around $200. USD!

http://www.digitalfotoclub.com/products2/S...ing_200550.html

Thanks!

Rick

Rick,

I am unfamiliar with the Samsung V4 camera you mention, however I have used the CP-5700 in an Ikelite housing and have some negative feedback you might find interesting.

1. The Ikelite housing mounts to the CP-5700 via a tripod screw and o-ring that is attached THROUGH THE HOUSING BOTTOM via a hole in the housing. Very weird and very stupid. If the screw is accidently loosened, the housing and camera will flood.

2. The CP-5700 does not have the ability to fire an external strobe via a sync cord unless the internal strobe is active and fires. There is no way to disable the internal stobe and still fire the external strobe as on the CP-5000, which gained this feature after a Nikon software update (which the CP-5700 never received). The Ikelite housing does not have an internal flash deflector in the CP-5700 housing to help avoid backscatter problems.

If you decide to go with a system / housing other than the CP-5700 / Ikelite combo, you should check out some of the nice Canon and Olympus camera / housing combos currently on the market in addition to the Samsung.

Doug