Topic: Waterproof compact (Read 4946 times)

Morgan_Moore · « **on:** January 04, 2007, 02:47:28 am »

I am after a compact with a minimum 28 at the wide end, 10ishMP raw(?) non crippling buffer with a waterproof housing (not of the plastic bag type)

Off camera flash would be nice option too and decent flash synch

To be used in beach sea surf kayak environment rather than diving

Any ideas please

SMM

GerardK · « **Reply #1 on:** January 04, 2007, 04:16:28 am »

See that you get a Canon Powershot S70 with its dedicated under water housing WP-DC40. Canon's reasoning behind dropping RAW support on the replacement models S80 and G7 has been discussed high and wide. The minute I saw that the S80 didn't support RAW I searched for dealers that still had an S70 in stock and bought that.

I'm no underwater photographer, it was an extra on a trip to the Bahamas that I did last year; all underwater pictures are on my webiste, look at the last (fifth) index page for the Bahamas gallery. The S70 proved to be an ideal choice for my needs. You can't do without RAW underwater.

Gerard Kingma
www.kingma.nu

stever · « **Reply #2 on:** January 04, 2007, 11:46:18 am »

i have an s60 with underwater housing which i purchased for RAW and 28mm, but the focus speed and shutter lag are pretty bad - i gave up and got a housing for my 20 D

was recently on a dive trip a lady with a new s80 in a housing was getting decent pictures

i'd recommend the s70 or s80 only if the focus speed and shutter lag are satisfactory - RAW may or may not be an issue for you - you can decent underwater shots if you set the white balance off a card underwater -- the so-called underwater setting is for about 10 feet under some unknown lighting condition the Canon pulled out of a hat - useless

otherwise there are no problems getting good images within the f-stop, shutter speed, and ISO (400 gets kind of noisy) constraints of these cameras

BradSmith · « **Reply #3 on:** January 04, 2007, 12:19:52 pm »

Olympus 720SW - Not quite what you described, but thought I'd mention it because it is waterproof to 10' (at least that's what the spec says). Its a 7mp, point and shoot. Doesn't shoot RAW. Easily pocketable and quite well put together. Feels substantial.

Used one for a two week seaside trip and was impressed with the image quality.

Morgan_Moore · « **Reply #4 on:** January 04, 2007, 02:21:19 pm »

Thanks all for the comments - I was after something with a little more beef 10mp at least

Not being experienced with compacts maybe the diff between 7 and 10mp is marginal

what I do know about res is that my D70 is pretty awful, and D200 'adequate' (almost)

How do people think a 7mp compact delivers compared to a D70

Bearing that in mind I have had a glossy DPS out of my D100 in a waterhousing

SMM

stever · « **Reply #5 on:** January 05, 2007, 12:14:35 am »

i believe that with today's technology, anything beyond 6mpix in a compact camera is for marketing purposes only
few, if any of the cameras have lenses that match the increased sensor resolution
they virtually all have higher noise (or noise reduction that takes detail out of the image)
i'm sorry to hear the s70 hasn't correct the shutter-lag issues

high-ISO noise, dynamic range, color fringing, shutter lag, are much more important to getting good images than extra sensor resolution that doesn't result in better prints

Morgan_Moore · « **Reply #6 on:** January 05, 2007, 02:49:21 am »

Quote

i believe that with today's technology, anything beyond 6mpix in a compact camera is for marketing purposes only
few, if any of the cameras have lenses that match the increased sensor resolution
they virtually all have higher noise (or noise reduction that takes detail out of the image)
i'm sorry to hear the s70 hasn't correct the shutter-lag issues

high-ISO noise, dynamic range, color fringing, shutter lag, are much more important to getting good images than extra sensor resolution that doesn't result in better prints
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Yes that is what I was thinking so for instanse a S80 may actually not be a lot worse - it is widely available and has a housing widely available too

What about a semi compact camera with a bigger chip - do any of those have reasonable performance and a housing?

My D70 in a sae and sea housing is a monster..

SMM

GerardK · « **Reply #7 on:** January 05, 2007, 03:38:48 am »

Re. shutter lag on the S70, I zone-focussed the camera under water and locked it to manual focus. That way shutter lag is minimal, as it's mostly introduced by autofocussing. Depth of field on digicams such as these is huge anyway, so that worked well for me.

Gerard Kingma
www.kingma.nu

Morgan_Moore · « **Reply #8 on:** January 09, 2007, 04:16:42 pm »

What about this..

http://www.olympus.co.uk/consumer/29_mju_1000.htm

Mu 1000 10mp 35mm

Advertised as used for cross atlantic rowers ?? I dont whant to go diving - but it must live if dropped in the soup

SMM

scrinch · « **Reply #9 on:** January 14, 2007, 11:44:06 pm »

I'm going with the Canon Powershot A640 (10mp) camera for $310.00 and the Canon Waterproof housing for $165.00 Check Amazon.com for good prices.

jorgedelfino · « **Reply #10 on:** January 16, 2007, 05:43:38 pm »

I still believe that nothing beats Nikonos underwater, tested over 30 years now, I had a III and two V, sea&sea strobes... all you need!

Author Topic: Waterproof compact (Read 4946 times)