This is a "Need information quick forum" I'm going tomorrow to buy a camera and I narrowed it down to the before mentioned cameras. All suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
SD 850 vs SD 870. Which would you choose and why?
- Thread starter Sonet
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
henryc32
Registered
I would definitely choose the 870 for general underwater. It has a 28 mm wide, while the widest the 850 will go is 35 mm. From reviews, the 870 would also be better at macro. I am considering getting an 870 as a light pack travel undewater camera because of it will go down to 28 mm. This makes a big difference underwater.
As a land camera, the 850 has a slightly longer telephoto
As a land camera, the 850 has a slightly longer telephoto
OP
Thanks bro. I'm also leaning towards the 870.
Maarten_NL
Registered
Telephoto is the last thing you want to do under water (more water between you and object) and 28mm is very nice to have as standard so the 870 is the way to go 
budaman
Contributor
The 870 with the Canon housing is very easy to use. The pics from the Cozumel album in the following link were with the 870. The currents in Coz during May were very strong which made for shooting everything on the fly.
Mike
.Mac Web Gallery
Mike
.Mac Web Gallery
dampcooker
Guest
Thanks for starting this thread, Sonet - and thanks to everyone else for the recommendations. I have been dithering between the 850 and 870 myself for a couple of weeks, but leaning towards the 870 for all the listed reasons (it is a slightly more expensive camera than the 850). Thanks everyone for the recommendations - I will definitely go with the 870.
OP
Went to buy the 870 today and guess what? It's been discontinued. Therefor I went with the SD 950. Any feedback on this camera?
almightys
Guest
redseal1tx
Registered
- Messages
- 49
- Reaction score
- 11
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
If you navigate to the following web site, you will find approximately 2 dozen prices offered by different internet vendors: Canon Cameras - PowerShot SD870 IS Digital Camera - 2340B001
You can also find the prices for the WP-DC17 (underwater housing for the SD 870) at: Canon Cameras - WP-DC17 Underwater Housing - 2318B001
Good luck with your search.
Redseal1tx
You can also find the prices for the WP-DC17 (underwater housing for the SD 870) at: Canon Cameras - WP-DC17 Underwater Housing - 2318B001
Good luck with your search.
Redseal1tx
bperrybap
Contributor
The 850, 870 and 950 are all very similar.
6 months ago, I selected the sd850 for my wife and
I went through this decision process again just a month ago
when picking a new p&s camera for myself.
The 870 has a wider field of view. 28 vs 35mm.
The 850 and 950 have an optical view finder, the 870 does not.
The 850 has "teeth" on the selector wheel that can use a gearing mechanism
in the housing. The 870 and 850 use a pressure/contact fitting in the housing
to rotate the selector wheel.
The 950 is 12 mp, while the 850 and 870 are 8 mp.
The 850 & 870 have a playback/review mode that requires moving the selector wheel.
On the 950, you can jump in/out of playback/review mode by a new button that
isn't on the 850 or 870. This makes it easier to delete unwanted photos
on the 950.
The CHDK firmware which adds all kinds of features including a battery meter
and being able to shoot RAW, is currently only available on the sd850.
Pick your favorite features, and you will quickly narrow down your selection.
For me, 8 vs 12 mp didn't matter.
I wanted an optical view finder for land use, so that threw out the 870 even though
I thought having a wider angle would have been nice.
While I preferred and really wanted the playback button to allow quick
tossing of bad images while shooting (including underwater) I ended up opting
for the sd850 because it has CHDK available for it right now.
In my opinion, as far as housings go, I would use the Canon housing
over the Ikelite housing because Ikelite
didn't put in a button for using the <print> button. This is mandatory in my view
because you can re-assign this button to custom white balance. This allows
you to set white balance with a single button click. Without this, it is about
11 button clicks on the sd850 to go through all the menus to do a manual
white balance.
There is no comparison in color quality between an image taken with manual/custom
white balance and one taken using the canon underwater scene mode.
I found that the canon underwater mode wasn't very good.
So setting white balance needs to be easy since it is done quite often.
(unless shooting RAW, which can only be done with CHDK on the sd850)
--- bill
6 months ago, I selected the sd850 for my wife and
I went through this decision process again just a month ago
when picking a new p&s camera for myself.
The 870 has a wider field of view. 28 vs 35mm.
The 850 and 950 have an optical view finder, the 870 does not.
The 850 has "teeth" on the selector wheel that can use a gearing mechanism
in the housing. The 870 and 850 use a pressure/contact fitting in the housing
to rotate the selector wheel.
The 950 is 12 mp, while the 850 and 870 are 8 mp.
The 850 & 870 have a playback/review mode that requires moving the selector wheel.
On the 950, you can jump in/out of playback/review mode by a new button that
isn't on the 850 or 870. This makes it easier to delete unwanted photos
on the 950.
The CHDK firmware which adds all kinds of features including a battery meter
and being able to shoot RAW, is currently only available on the sd850.
Pick your favorite features, and you will quickly narrow down your selection.
For me, 8 vs 12 mp didn't matter.
I wanted an optical view finder for land use, so that threw out the 870 even though
I thought having a wider angle would have been nice.
While I preferred and really wanted the playback button to allow quick
tossing of bad images while shooting (including underwater) I ended up opting
for the sd850 because it has CHDK available for it right now.
In my opinion, as far as housings go, I would use the Canon housing
over the Ikelite housing because Ikelite
didn't put in a button for using the <print> button. This is mandatory in my view
because you can re-assign this button to custom white balance. This allows
you to set white balance with a single button click. Without this, it is about
11 button clicks on the sd850 to go through all the menus to do a manual
white balance.
There is no comparison in color quality between an image taken with manual/custom
white balance and one taken using the canon underwater scene mode.
I found that the canon underwater mode wasn't very good.
So setting white balance needs to be easy since it is done quite often.
(unless shooting RAW, which can only be done with CHDK on the sd850)
--- bill
Similar threads
