Advice Needed on new camera please!!

[benmk19]

I'm getting ready for a two week trip to Cozumel and want to buy a good underwater camera. I have been into photography for years but not underwater.

I am looking at the sea life 10mp with or with out the stobe? Does the strobe make that much of a huge difference? Any other options would be greatly appreciated!!

I have also thought about buying a newer DSLR camera and getting an underwater housing for it, but will the settings work for UW conditions?

To make this more difficult 800$ is my limit!

Thank you sooooo much for any input!!

Brian

 

[RAWalker]

Strobes make a big difference underwater. The light gets filtered by the water and the strobes augment the natural light that has filtered down and restores the true colors. They also provide the fill benefits as on the surface but with a reduced range.
With your budget you'll be want a point and shoot camera and 1 or 2 strobes.
IMHO Fuji F serieas offer most bang for the bux. You should be able to find either a F50fd, F100fd or F200fd and the Fuji housing for $275-$375
Next suggestion is the Intova Slave strobe ISS2000 for less than $175 each
As you can see my suggestion will allow for dual strobes within your budget.
This is a big advantage in lighting and you'll end up with a very capable 12mp outfit.
The other posibility is add wide angle and fisheye wet lenses depending on your needs.
If you truely take your time to learn the ins and outs of a compact system like this you'll soon be taking better pictures than most of the people that invest 5 times as much on DSLR and never use them to their capabilities. Plus you won't run the risk of losing 5 times the investment when your camera eventually takes a bath.

 

[philmayer]

Yes, strobes make a HUGE difference. But remember that they also only light up subjects less than 8' away. You don't take pics of things far away underwater.

Don't bother with a DSLR for your first rig. Yes, they're very versatile, but they're also heavy. And cumbersome. And complicated. I take 70lbs of photo gear with me on dive trips. And you're not going to get one for $800.

Find yourself a good point-and-shoot and learn to shoot underwater. There are lots of great photos shot every day by folks with P&S cameras.

 

[Puffer Fish]

Would agree with Rawalker about the Fuji, but would suggest the F200 for having manual.. and a 28mm wide angle lens. Fuji cases, while no more expensive they those by Canon or Nikon, are double seal cases, smaller and you can easily get replacement o-rings.

Would guess the cost for the camera and case would be, with some looking, around $400.

You should be able, with a stobe to take great images... and then if you want to, learn every aspect.

Note: I use mostly a Canon G10 (which has a functional UW case that is no where near as nice as the fuji cases), but also have a Fuji F50...love the camera, but image quality near the edges of the image with the Fuji sort of suck...I believe the F200 is better).

And a stobe is sort of essential, unless you are taking images in very, very clear water.

 

[Dwag766]

What point and shoot cameras are recommended for beginning? And will they accomodate strobes?

 

[RAWalker]

What point and shoot cameras are recommended for beginning? And will they accomodate strobes?

The more advanced do have a number of modes of operation and manual settings. Some like the Fuji F200 can be set in full manual mode much like the DSLR cameras. Full manual isn't a necessity for good pictures but it will help you learn to get the most from the camera and ready you for a more advanced DSLR.
The Fuji cameras I mentioned are all P&S type and as long as they have a built in strobe they can fire a slave strobe using a fiberoptic cable.

Puffer Fish as for the edges... Althought I haven't notice the problem myself. I find the quality of the full frame too good to worry about edges I can trim in photo editing. The Fuji F series sensor is second to none for color quality and low noise. Also the shutter is fast with nearly no lag when anti-shake is set to off.