Upgrade time (or another which camera thread...)

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Diving Dubai

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
Messages
3,912
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Location
UK, for foreseeable - UGH!
# of dives
1000 - 2499
So, Long story short. For the past 3 years both my wife and I have been using G15's in an Ikelite housing.

Both our housings have failed, possibly due to the fact that the poly carbonate doesn't' like middle East heat? Anyway they both developed micro cracks. Mine flooded badly and took out the camera, her camera survived and she's switched to a cheap canon housing for the time being.

Rather than repair my camera and given I need a new housing, it's time to look for an upgrade.

We use our camera's underwater every week, we prefer video to photo - we don't like Go Pro.

I've always had a Canon, I have a 40D which I was going to upgrade to a 5D mk III but I just don't use it enough.

What we like about the Canon is that all the functions are read ably available and adjustable when in the housing. I'm happy when taking the occasional photo to move between "P" to Shutter or Aperture priority, heck even fully manual sometimes.

The one touch record is great, as is the custom button (set to white balance in our case) and the two custom setting which we use all the time. The Battery life is superb (750 pictures?) anyway it's good for 2 1 hr dives using lots of video

So what to replace with...

The G16 seems long in the tooth and sub 9mp, not sure about the G7x or the G9x. I still want to keep it relevantly compact, we dive often in big currents so a huge SLR rig won't cut it. We do take the camera's with us because who wants to miss not having a camera for the whale shark or mola mola that often swim by?

I want the possibility of a Strobe for the future but being current hogs that might be compromise

While browsing I came across the Panasonic DMC GX8. It was the 4K video that hit me to be fair. and kinda of looking for advice whether it should be considered. Is it too new, are their issues or is it a great camera?

Lenses I'm a bit unsure about I guess I'd get the 14-28 and possibly the 24-70 but again advice would be useful. It's primarily going ot be used for underwater, but we do sometimes take them to gigs, concerts and other social events (where the 40D is too big or not allowed)

For a housing I'm kinda pointed towards the Nauticam. I'm done with Polycarbonate and Ikelite, but if anyone else has suggestions...

No mad hurry, as I'll wait until I visit the UK where I can buy it and then get eh sales tax (VAT) back on departure as I'm not a resident :)

Thanks in advance
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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