Camera for under 600 bucks

[alcina]

As for 600$ being out of the range of dSRLs... I don't know about that..

Body only, or maybe with a kit lens...but not housing, ports, cords, lenses, focus rings, arms, handles, trays, strobes, Woody's dioptres and other goodies Shopping is fun!!

 

[dashmatrix]

Body only, or maybe with a kit lens...but not housing, ports, cords, lenses, focus rings, arms, handles, trays, strobes, Woody's dioptres and other goodies Shopping is fun!!

Which further illustrates my point. If you have the notion of eventually going to dSRL, the 600 you spend on a P&S and additional you spend on housing and strobe (that will not be dSLR friendly) is money thrown down the toilet.

I bought a p&s off Ebay for 140$ (the Coolpix p2)
The ikelite housing for 269$
The ikelite ds-51 for 480$

I have aspirations of going dSLR with my digital rebel eventually (when I can spend 1000+ on a good housing to keep it safe). When I do move up I can shoot with the DS-51 strobe in TTL mode. meaning I have less than 500$ in equipment that will be useless (the p2 and housing). I can probably sell them both on ebay and pay for a part of the canon housing.

Besides the guy said 600 for a camera NOT including the housing, acessories, strobe, etc. 600$ for JUST a p&s seems like alot to me.

-please keep in mind these are JUST my opinions (which are like bungholes ).

 

[HowardE]

I've seen the D-50 at costco with 2 lenses for $699 - Some stores have it... others don't.

Also - REMEMBER - Prices on cameras will soon drop across the board (in most cases in the consumer level) for christmas shopping season. Don't expect to see the "pro-sumer" models drop much in price (but you're not aiming that high)

Also - in the P&S realm... A friend of mine just picked up a Canon S70 (7 MP - Full Manual - RAW) for $350 WITH HOUSING... You need to ask yourself what are the most important features you are looking for? How far with your photography do you want to go???

 

[rjsimp]

1000 bucks really isn't a lot to spend on a strobe. I shoot the DS-51 which was a 600ish dollar strobe setup (with the ev-controller). I wish I had spent the extra 400 on the DS-125 or Inon equivalent because of their built-in Dive lights. (one less thing to carry on a night dive).

WOW.. $600 for a DS-51.. You really should go shopping or something because you really have to get a BIG strobe or a very high end one to get over $1000.. You can get an Inon Z240 for $750 in the US or as was pointed out by Alcina $450 or so from Yuzo. Sea & Sea strobes up to a YS-120 for less than $900..

 

[HowardE]

WOW.. $600 for a DS-51..

$600 is rediculous...

$450 at Reef photo with the Manual EV controller

Reef Photo's DS-51 Package

 

[rjsimp]

$600 is rediculous...

$450 at Reef photo with the Manual EV controller

Reef Photo's DS-51 Package

Thank you Howarde, my point exactly..

 

[alcina]

Which further illustrates my point. If you have the notion of eventually going to dSRL, the 600 you spend on a P&S and additional you spend on housing and strobe (that will not be dSLR friendly) is money thrown down the toilet.
.

We definitely have differing views here. Many divers may end up with dslr rigs in the future, but the foundations they build now on compacts aren't worthless. Compacts are so versatile, relatively inexpensive to start up, user friendly and produce such nice results that many find them the perfect way to get started...and quite a few stay with compacts as dslrs are nice, but they aren't the be all, end all for every uw photographer.

Compacts are also likely to be much more in immediate reach for many people and this means that people will get in the water faster and start shooting sooner. That's always a good thing as nothing replaces practice for building skills and there's nothing more fun than showing your surface bound mates what you've just seen

The strobe you buy now should have no problem moving to a dslr system if you choose carefully. And frankly, you don't need to be that carerful - just stay away from the el cheapos as most of the majors will work with both compacts and dslrs. For Inons that means a different cord (about $90) when you want to hardwire instead of using the fibre optic cable; some compact housings offer a hardwire option/feature so there won't be an extra cord to buy.

Quite often the compact system, or pieces of it, can be sold off when one is finished with it.

I just feel that to say "it's money down the toilet" is short-sighted and not particularly accurate for a great many users based on my experience.

 

[ThatsSomeBadHatHarry]

i have a point and shoot now, a casio with a pentax lens, no strobes or anything, but it's is only 3.2 megapixels (still takes relatively nice pictures, though) i can see the lack of sharpness when i enlarge any picture i have taken with it. It does have limited options in its settings, too.

examples
http://s113.photobucket.com/albums/n221/thatssomebadhatharry/

 

[The Chairman]

I will probably go with the Fuji F30 and housing in the not too distant future. Virtually no shutter lag and an "underwater mode" built into the camera. After seeing What NWGratefulDiver did with his, I am SOLD on their quality. Camera and housing should cost me about $500.

 

[HowardE]

i have a point and shoot now, a casio with a pentax lens, no strobes or anything, but it's is only 3.2 megapixels (still takes relatively nice pictures, though) i can see the lack of sharpness when i enlarge any picture i have taken with it. It does have limited options in its settings, too.

examples
http://s113.photobucket.com/albums/n221/thatssomebadhatharry/

Are you looking to go DSLR?

The strobe you buy now should have no problem moving to a dslr system if you choose carefully. And frankly, you don't need to be that carerful - just stay away from the el cheapos as most of the majors will work with both compacts and dslrs. For Inons that means a different cord (about $90) when you want to hardwire instead of using the fibre optic cable; some compact housings offer a hardwire option/feature so there won't be an extra cord to buy.

Quite often the compact system, or pieces of it, can be sold off when one is finished with it.

I just feel that to say "it's money down the toilet" is short-sighted and not particularly accurate for a great many users based on my experience.

This is so true.