I plan to go kayaking soon and also do some snorkeling. I want to be able to take some shots in both situations. I don't need the best quality possible. The underwater should have good light, I don't plan to use it at dawn.
I have several options:
1. use one of my compact cameras (Sony RX100 and Canon S100) with a
waterproof bag- adv: much much cheaper ~ $20-40, good quality (I don't expect masterpieces in the water, and on the kayak if the shot looks that good I can take the camera out)
- disadv: clumsy to operate, probably some reduction in quality, but the most important thing I can't reliably figure it out which camera bag would fit. I've been looking mainly over the dicapac ones.
2. use a special case designed for each camera
- adv: possible better quality, easier to operate, more water resistance (in theory, I don't plan to go underwater more than 2-3 meters anyway), can use filters (for Sony)
-disadv: much more expensive (~ $220 for Canon, ~ $390 for Sony), much bigger and cumbersome out of water
3. buy a waterproof/shockproof, etc camera, such as the Olympus TG-1 or TG-2
- adv: versatile, don't have to keep moving the camera in and out, compact, can give it to my kids later
- disadv: as expensive as the Sony case, likely worse quality, not sure about the long term use underwater resistance (it seems all of them fail after several weeks of continuous use, with the bag I can just change it on a regular basis, and the dedicated case should be easier to see if it's still holding)
It's worth mentioning that I have a case for my older Canon S95 and it was getting decent quality; problem is the S95 is not working anymore and now I have a case sitting for nothing as in their wisdom Canon changed the dimensions between S95 to S100.
Which one do you advise? Do you know a camera bag that fits one of those cameras?
PS. looking back to the shots I took with a Canon S95 and the case, out of water, I don't think they are any better than a waterproof compact as Olympus, just more room to correct the flaws.