Decision on camera

Hi all,

I'm totally new to photography underwater and just want to get a camera to take pictures of stuff i see underwater as well as pictures of fellow divers and friends. I was introduced to the Olympus Mju 710 Digital Camera by some shops. Can anyone introduce a better camera for underwater photography or should I get the camera stated above?

Thanks

Not sure if you've had a look at our Sticky that discusses just this question so my first instinct is to direct you to the pink link in my signature.

The Mju range is a true point & shoot with few, if any, real manual controls. It would not make my list for your first uw digital camera as there are a whole range of other choices that will help you bring back better images right off the bat.

If I had to buy a point-and-shoot camera today I would get the Canon A640.

It's a 10 megapixel camera that will suit all your needs. It's only drawback is it does not have RAW mode. Canon has removed RAW from all their point-and-shoot cameras.

Check out the review on it here.

I did read your article but I'm not really going to go into serious u/w photography, just looking for a camera to snap some pictures and maybe a few videos. so does anyone have a nice and easy to use camera to introduce that can take decent pictures?

I like the Fuji E900 as it has all the controls you'll need for some time to come. You want a camera that you can grow into...

Jack

Mayhem:

I did read your article but I'm not really going to go into serious u/w photography, just looking for a camera to snap some pictures and maybe a few videos. so does anyone have a nice and easy to use camera to introduce that can take decent pictures?

Click to expand...

The Canon A640 is as easy to use as any other point and shoot camera. You can start out by using it on the Auto mode then progress from there if you want to.

IMHO you will be very disappointed if you purchase a camera that will not allow you control over the lens, shutter and white balance features. Your underwater photos will reflect it.

I agree about having some control, you may want to have it after shooting pics on Auto

An easy camera is the Fuji F30, it has manual controls such as shutter priority and manual WB that you will likely use as you advance and it also has a dedicated underwater scene mode which is basically like Auto but does a better job, so its really easy to use at first. That said, the results in Underwater mode will not be as good as using the camera manually but still decent. Having a nice flash is pretty important. My other recommendations also go with the Canon A series. They are very nice cameras too, though I dont know if they have Underwater modes but they are fully manual and versatile.

This is along the lines of what you should expect from a P&S camera that is used on Auto. http://www.flickr.com/photos/james_laver/page2/ The flash shots come out very well but if you dont use the flash and try to shoot in natural light you will be dissapointed on Auto, those were with the F30.