CP8400 v CP8800 v Sony DSC-V3

Aloha,

Consulting the vast (and kind!) experience in this forum...I'm looking at these 3, and am having a heck of a time. From what I can tell in my research it's hard to beat the Sony, but I'm still struggling. Shutter lag & shot to shot quickness are important to me, and not only for underwater.

I'm a complete newbie to the underwater world, and complete amatuer otherwise. All guidance is appreciated.

I'm looking at the Ikelite setups, as they seem to be extremely prevalant and relatively affordable.

Thanks to all who might bestow some wisdom on a newbie out here in the islands.

If you plan to stay an amateur, the Fuji 810 seems to be the popular camera people are getting.

http://www.digitaldiver.net/yabbse/index.p...;threadid=11380

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/fuji810.html

But if you want to do more, both underwater and top site, 2005 is the crossover year from consumer digicams to digital SLRs and in this league the Nikon D70 and the Canon 20d are the current favorites.

http://www.digitaldiver.net/yabbse/index.p...;threadid=11421

Bottom line: Get an inexpensive consumer digicam or a digital SLR, but not an expensive consumer digicam.

The CP8400 and the Fuji are both "small" cameras when compared to the CP8800. Of all of these compact cameras that I have seen, I think I prefer the Fuji 810 for its small size and image quality.

Peter is correct about the crossover point. If you're going to consider spending 8 or 900 dollars on a consumer camera, I'd look at the Canon digital rebel and Nikon D70 as alternatives.

I'd encourage you to use the search feature here to learn more.

Cheers

James

I'll disagree with these guys.

The cost of the camera is only part of it. The cost of a housing and ports and so on, is considerably higher, for slrs. Also, the weight, and bulk, are much higher, so if you travel for diving, this is significant.

For me, shooting with a nice big bright LCD display, that is fast enough update, and low enough lag, is superior to using add on optics, to try to see through an SLR viewfinder.

Underwater, any lens beyond about 100mm (35mm equiv), is not any use. The water just takes away the contast, too much, beyond 6 feet or so.

So, the 8800 is not any use. The 8400 is very interesting, due to the wide angle, but reports are the low light focus is quite bad, and the LCD freezes briefly, during the actual auto focus operation. For me, this is a killer.

The V3 has an autofocus system that ROCKS. Probably as good as the digi rebel. And it has a world beating 13 millisecond final shutter lag. (Which may bet longer when using flash.). Only drawback of the V3 is the non-buffered RAW mode, so the cycle times in RAW are about 12 seconds.

The canon Pro-1 might also be a consideration. Price way down, and they released a firmware update, which makes the autofocus really good, and improved the electronic zoom response. Good raw mode cycle times.

HTH,

Don

Only drawback of the V3 is the non-buffered RAW mode, so the cycle times in RAW are about 12 seconds.

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Don,

Good info, and good reasons to use a digicam. But this long RAW write is a killer in MANY photo situations, and part of what drove my upgrade to a DSLR.

All the best,

Chris

Yeah, which is why I mentioned the pro-1. 1.37 sec RAW cycle time in high speed continuous mode, or 2.8 in non-continuous mode. 4 shot buffer.

The Pro1 has come down to just about $600 now too.

The G6 is nearly as fast, and same size buffer.

Thanks to all for the input, as it's all valuable. The reason I haven't pursued the DSLR is the cost of the housings. If you compare the Ikelite V3 housing to the D70 housing, for example, it's $350 less. Although I must admit the new 350D that was just announced has caught my eye. I know it will be a while before there's a housing, though. Anyone know if they've addressed the RAW buffer issue with the new Rebel? Thanks again.

The V3 and Pro 1 seem very appealing initially, but for my style of shooting they are crippled by the lack of wide angle options. Although the Ikelite housing allows the attachment of the INON UWL100...

The lens port allows attaching the optional UWL-100 wide angle lenses produced by Inon and Epoque, but vignetting with the wider angle V3 lens negates any benefit.

Given that the digicam lenses are behind a flat port in any housing, the wide angle capabilities of the cameras without an external attachment, is going to be fairly limited.

My feelings echo what James is saying regarding the Fuji F810. The F810 in an Ike housing allows attachment of any of INON WA and macro adaptors and in a Fuji housing, you can use the UWL105AD or macro lens. This camera also has very low shutter lag, fast auto focus and respectable RAW file processing ability (5 sec write). Teamed with PS Elements 3, an external strobe and even just the Fuji housing, it is a killer package.