Looking for a $300-$400 camera recommendation, pls

Hi gang,

I finally did it and put my Nikon CP995 up on ebay. Figured it was about time.

I'm looking to get a new or used camera to replace it. To be honest with you, this will be primarily a land camera. I only dive a few times a year, but I'd like something to take in the water with me on occassion. I've done some reading in the past and saw the Nikon CP5000 came highly recommended, although I'm not too sure if that's the case still. And I've managed to track down a few used deals for around the $300 mark.

Or, I could go for a new camera. Any ideas here? Cost of the housing should be considered, too, I guess. I think Olympus makes some cheaper housing (PT-series?) while the CP5000 housings are more expensive, but maybe available used since they were so popular.

Again, any advice you have would be great. Just curious what you'd buy (and why) if you had my budget.

Thanks!

Aaron

My opinion is a bit biased considering it's what I've used for the past 3 years and it continues to give my D70 a run for its money but I would go with an Olympus 5050 (or even the 3040 or 4040 models). As you mentioned, underwater housings don't come any cheaper than the PT series -- they are also quite durable and compact.

For the amount of money you're looking to spend, I think this setup will give you the capability to produce some quality images ranging from the tiniest macro critter to some good portraits. With the plethora of attachment lenses, you could go as wide as 130 degrees with the Inon dome and do some super macro stuff with stacked macro diopter lenses (click here for some examples).

The CP5000 is a good setup but I think you'll end up spending more money for just about the same functionality as you'd get from the 5050. This is just my opinion only and like I said, it's a bit biased.

Thanks for the info. I enjoyed looking at the pics in the link you provided. I've been doing some reading and the 5050 seems to be discontinued, and replaced by the 5060? I'll keep my eye out for a good deal on these, although they might be above my budget. But we'll see....

I have to agree that it seems that with the Oly PT housing prices, this will be much cheaper to get into UW versus buying the CP5000 and having to spend a min of $600-$700 on a housing. Can these PT housings be used with a simple strobe setup?

Also, 1 more question. Are there any other camera manufacturere that make cheaper houses for their cameras?

I would give strong consideration to the Canon S60 or S70. Both have a 28-110mm equivalent lens and allow you to shoot RAW. DPreview gave the S60 a highly recommended rating.

Many of us are looking into the new Nikon Coolpix 8400. It's the first camera to have a 24mm equivalent lens. Put behind a dome port you culd have a nice wide angle zoom lens.

Fuji's new Finepix F810 has a 6MP CCD which can produce 12MP images. DPreview will have an upcoming review. They did show some samples when reviewing a new Sony 7MP model. The F810 pushed the boundary limits on the resolution chart. You can shoot RAW and the shutter response is considerably faster than an Olympus C-5050. The only disadvantages are that it takes xD cards and that above land you can't add a suplementary lens. Underwater with the housing you can use an Inon lens.

Been doing some reading. Definitely considering everything, but the Oly C-5050 seems to be really well regarded, from past posts. Thing is...they're pretty much hard to find. Anyone know where I might locate one? I've tried the websites of B&H, Adorama, KEH, Crutchfield. Searches on Pricescan.com come up pretty empty except for a few non-name places. Any other ideas? The housings seem to be out there, just not the camera anymore.

Try getting refurbished 5050. Olympus has a store on eBay. I think the seller name is olympusauctions. They aren't always cheap but do come with a full warranty.

Don't forget the sonys. They have VASTLY superior autofocus speed, and shutter lags, to any oly, or canon. And sony makes inexpensive housings for many of their models.

Don