IMHO, the limiting factor in nearly all current reasonably priced non-dslr cameras is
The Lens. Since the discontinuation of the Oly C5050z, no lens has had the
right stuff. On the front of the lens it says
Olympus Super Bright Zoom Lens and
1 : 1.8 - 2.6. No current camera comes close. That lens was very expensive to manufacture and most buyers (topside) did not use it in ways that needed the extreme brightness. Since
megapixels is what sells cameras to the
ignorant masses and sensor technology has advanced but not gotten more expensive to manufacture, we now have 12 megapixel cameras that have cheap crappy lenses and need a focusing light in low light conditions,
like underwater.
A recent thread included a link to an article about the print magazine industry that claimed more than 6 megapixels does not make for better images, just more information. By that they meant very large file size and lots of noise with no discernible improvement to the magazine product. Another thing the ignorant masses didn't use is RAW, so many new cameras with otherwise good products only record in jpeg. :11:
Yes the 5050 is long out of production. Yes it has annoying shutter lag and ttl is only available with an Ikelite housing or aftermarket modification to the Oly housing. Yes the write time for RAW images is troublesome, especially with the xD cards. All that said, hurray for eBay, because when my current camera or housing dies another is available for around $200 and I come back from every dive with many great images that newer more expensive rigs will only occasionally do as well and hardly ever do better.
A year ago I won an eBay auction for this rig; 5050 w/1Gig CF card, PT-015 housing, Epoque WAL, Sea & Sea dual tray, Jetton arms and two Epoque ES-150 DS strobes with fiber optic sync,
all for $800usd. This camera has full manual control, 8 programable pre-sets (MyModes) for typical situations and takes great images in full auto w/o strobe! I'd gladly up-grade, if any manufacturer would actually make an up-grade!
shown without WAL and camera
Similar deals happen on rare occasions, but they do happen, and $800 hardly buys a decent new strobe, arm and tray! As with all eBay experiences and underwater imaging, YMMV!