Fuji F30 or Olympus u720SW?

Hi!
I am a very keen photographer, and own a DSLR with quite a few lenses. I would like to take some underwater photos, and have pretty much decided NOT to buy a housing for my D100. (The price of the housing, and the dome port, and the flat port, and then the total cost and bulk of the equipment makes me nervous). So I decided to buy a compact digital camera instead. The Fuji F30 seems to be about the best for low light performance and shutter lag, but the Olympus is waterproof to 3m, so if (when) I flood the housing, it might have a much better chance at survival. The Fuji also has a better movie mode from what I can gather, and has the option of a SS-120N slave strobe, but I suspect that the strobe is not powerful enough to really make a difference. My ideal camera would have had a RAW mode (to adjust white balance, exposure, sharpness, etc later) and a histogram, and use compact flash cards (I already have a few....). This does not seems available in (affordable) compact digital cameras though.
What about the Sea & Sea cameras?
Any thoughts?
PS: I have read this thread http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=156914 but many cameras on there are now discontinued.....

If youre trying to decide between these two, I can honestly say that I do not recommend folded optics cameras, I used to have one myself. I also have an F30 (and my housing arrived today). The housing seems real tough and has 2 O-rings so I doubt it will flood unless you abuse the housing.. even then the secong O-ring is reassuring. The Oly looks decent, but it wont be able to compete with the F30 at High ISO's, also it doesnt seem to offer Manual WB but has underwater modes (however I doubt you can set aperture, etc.. manually in scene modes). Also, Inon products (wet lenses, strobes) can be used with the F30 housing if youre serious about it and want to improve your configuration. I would honestly recommend the F30 in this case anyways simply based on the lenses alone. There are other worthwhile cams too like the Oly Sp-350, Fuji E900 (these prior two have RAW) and Canon S80 (if you can still find one, they are discontinued, No RAW), speaking of that Fuji just announced an F31, but this is essentially identical to the F30 with a new Face Detection feature, a gimmick in my book - unless it can focus on fish and it also fits in the F30 housing so the F30 price should drop and you can probably get a good deal on it, the F31 wont be available for a couple months probably anyways.

diebeste:

Hi!
I am a very keen photographer, and own a DSLR with quite a few lenses. I would like to take some underwater photos, and have pretty much decided NOT to buy a housing for my D100. (The price of the housing, and the dome port, and the flat port, and then the total cost and bulk of the equipment makes me nervous). So I decided to buy a compact digital camera instead. The Fuji F30 seems to be about the best for low light performance and shutter lag, but the Olympus is waterproof to 3m, so if (when) I flood the housing, it might have a much better chance at survival. The Fuji also has a better movie mode from what I can gather, and has the option of a SS-120N slave strobe, but I suspect that the strobe is not powerful enough to really make a difference. My ideal camera would have had a RAW mode (to adjust white balance, exposure, sharpness, etc later) and a histogram, and use compact flash cards (I already have a few....). This does not seems available in (affordable) compact digital cameras though.
What about the Sea & Sea cameras?
Any thoughts?
PS: I have read this thread http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=156914 but many cameras on there are now discontinued.....

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I have the oly. It's fine for a snorkelling cam. I don't like it's low light at all and it just doesn't have the quality of images that I can get from my Canon A series cameras.

It's a great camera to slide in a back pocket and go anywhere, but only for happy snaps. And I don't like it's flash particularly much.

Don't freak about discontinued cameras - some of them are still around for a reason.

I'd take complete manual controls at a minimum on a new camera I was going to use for uw work, if I was "a very keen photographer". You're likely to feel really restricted without them. RAW is wonderful but many compacts don't have it. Some people toss them out as non-contenders and that's great if you are willing to narrow your choices down like that. Everyone is different and values different things. The Oly 350 and the Fuji 900 should probably be on your list if RAW is an essential...

Thanks, I have now added the E900 to my shortlist, as I really want RAW. How long does the E900 take for a follow up shot when using RAW? The reviews I read mention 10s to save the file, but is the camera unusable during that time?

The double O ring in the F30 housing - is that on the Ikelite or OEM housing?

For the E900 I can only find an Ikelite housing, not an OEM one, but that is hardly a negative.

My brother had the E900 with ike housing and it seems great. I have the older F810 and also love it. For me RAW would be necessary for any UW camera but i know others disagree with me on that so that's a personal thing. But most seem to agree that manual exposure settings are a must have. I didn't know anything about photography before getting into UW photo and now i use manual 100% of the time UW.

Chris

Its with the Fuji housing. E900 is great and if want RAW you have to go with that or the Oly but that said RAW on anything other than a DSLR is unfortunately rather slow. Check out this thread on the F30 http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=142584 ,the cam has Manual WB which you can use in Shutter/Aperture priority mode or a dedicated Underwater mode too (I havent tested them out yet, im going to take it for a spin in the pool today but thats as best as I can do for now). It is very possible getting good pics without RAW but having it is always nice because of the flexibility it offers as-well, just take into consideration the sluggish performance of compact cams with RAW too. No Fuji housing for the E900, there is as you say an Ikelite housing available though.

diebeste:

Thanks, I have now added the E900 to my shortlist, as I really want RAW. How long does the E900 take for a follow up shot when using RAW? The reviews I read mention 10s to save the file, but is the camera unusable during that time?

The double O ring in the F30 housing - is that on the Ikelite or OEM housing?

For the E900 I can only find an Ikelite housing, not an OEM one, but that is hardly a negative.

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Thanks everyone. Based on more reasearch and your input, I have decided on the Fuji E900 with Ikelite housing. The reasons: Histogram display, RAW mode, full manual mode, extra megapixels won't hurt, AA batteries, slightly wider lens. The F30 seems to be slightly better in low light, but I suspect it is mostly the image processing and not the sensor. Image processing can be duplicated with Adobe Lightroom on a RAW file. The Ikelite housing seems better than the Fuji available for the F30 in that is rated to 60m vs 40m, and the buttons seem more robust. It is also compatible with external lenses and strobes.
So, here goes....

Good choice, Im sure you will like it, and by the way the E900 aint too bad in low-light either, ISO800 is pretty decent and not much worse than the F30 though there is a difference since the E900 has almost 50% more pixels on a sensor roughly the same size, so more noise, but its still way head of other compact cams. Yes the Ikelite is rated a little deeper also but I doubt most people go deeper than 40m anyways. I just came back from the pool with my F30, the case handles real well and the diffuser makes the already good flash of the F30 even better and more even. Underwater mose is actually pretty good, works well with both the flash and without the flash, Manual White balance is very easy to set (should be the same on the E900), 2.5" LCD is real nice and I think im going to love this (my prior cam only had a 1.5" - makes a huge difference). Overall, Im really happy with the construction, handling and feel of the F30 case.

Please post some pics when you get your E900, I have seen some really good examples from that camera before (albeit with strobes, lenses, etc..) but thats what is nice about having a cam that is expandable, Ive seen some good results with the F11 (prior generation of the F30) with some add-on lenses and external strobes as-well. I dont think you will miss a DSLR (save for the RAW performance) if you actually spend some money on some lenses and strobes.

diebeste:

Thanks everyone. Based on more reasearch and youre input, I have decided on the Fuji E900 with Ikelite housing. The reasons: Histogram display, RAW mode, full manual mode, extra megapixels won't hurt, AA batteries, slightly wider lens. The F30 seems to be slightly better in low light, but I suspect it is mostly the image processing and not the sensor. Image processing can be duplicated with Adobe Lightroom on a RAW file. The Ikelite housing seems better than the Fuji available for the F30 in that is rated to 60m vs 40m, and the buttons seem more robust. It is also compatible with external lenses and strobes.
So, here goes....

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