Canon A-80 or Nikon 4300

bosstone75 · Apr 29, 2004

Hello all,

I promise I did a search of 12 before posting here, but I couldn't find much on the Canon A-80. I've been doing a lot of research and am looking at buying either a Canon A-80 or a Nikon 4300. Does anyone have a strong opinion on either of these? I'm trying to get into digital photography in about the $300 range and these two seem like the best cameras to fit that need. If you have any other recommendations for cameras that I can get around the $300 range I'd love to hear those as well.

I've been around long enough to know that most people feel the C-5050 is the camera of choice, but the cheapest I can find that one for is $428.

Thanks in advance!
Bill

norcaldiver · Apr 29, 2004

I think you'll be happy either way, but I have the 4300 and love it. I like the way it feels in my hand, I like the quality of pictures, I like the ease of downloading the pictures. The only complaint I have is that the battery doesn't last nearly as long as my old sony-it will die way before I can fill up a 256Meg chip of normal shooting. Maybe cause it's using more power to write bigger files, maybe the battery just sucks.

Dee · Apr 29, 2004

I think Fantasea makes a good housing for the Nikon 4300 for a very good price, too.

norcaldiver · Apr 29, 2004

They do. www.fantasea.com is the main page, but the online catalog goes to https://ssl5.chicagowebs.com/fantasea/prod_det.asp?id=30.

$180 for the pro model and it comes with flood insurance for a year. Either that's a neat treat or they know it will flood. I'm betting on the 1st option.

Howard used to be on here, but I havn't seen him in a while...I think he's a dealer of the fantasea line and had a great picture site of stuff he shot in the red sea. He's what convinced me to go Nikon that and the oly4040 was stopping production.

lukeROB · Apr 29, 2004

Have to say I would go with the canon. It is a better camera specs wise. Also I believe the housing is also better as it allows total control of all functions, which I do not think the fantasea does.

I dont know about the fantasea but the canon housings take all the inon strobes, lenses etc. Anyway maybe I'm just biased toward canon.

alcina · Apr 29, 2004

I love my Canons, so I would say go that way

PhotoTJ · Apr 30, 2004

For terrestrial photography, I enjoy my Nikons, but under the sea, I am REALLY enjoying my A80. You can pick up the housing for 169, and it is full featured. The bargain of undersea work, in my opinion.

Tx_Jeff · Apr 30, 2004

what is the battery life (time on) for the canon a80?

lukeROB · Apr 30, 2004

Tx_Jeff:
what is the battery life (time on) for the canon a80?

It's meant to be exceptionally good. With my A70 I've done 3 one hour dives in a row, LCD on, using flash for most shots and still have battery remaining. BTW I use 2100 NiMH.

DesertEagle · Apr 30, 2004

My inclination would be toward the 4300. It can capture in TIFF format and sells for around $269 after the rebate. B&H Photo sells the Fantasea Pro housing for $144.95 with free insurance. Fantasea's website has a new wide angle lens for $180. They have a number in the US so I called and spoke to no less than Frank Fennell. He ran Nikon's underwater program. Frank told me that the new lens is coming out in a week or so and will be slightly different looking than the one on the website. It will have about 95 degrees coverage. The fact that Frank is on board with Fantasea makes me feel that they have more of a full system.

These are both good cameras. Both can take accessory lenses above ground too. The A80 has a better LCD screen but for me the TIFF capture on the 4300 would be more important. If you want to save money and get a good system, go with the 4300.

Canon A-80 or Nikon 4300

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