Coolpix 7900 and Ikelite Housing

[Wolverine]

Well, the good thing about the Oly 7070 over the Fuji is the ability to grow with the skill level. I was using CP4300 before and did not realize that having substantial manual control over the camera was important till I switched over to the 7070. As Uncle Pug says, if you just want a picture-taker, a Fuji will probably work well. But if you want a camera that allows you to play more with aperture and shutter speed as well as exposure, then an Oly (or even the higher end Canons) might be a better choice. Also, the modes menu in the Oly does significantly reduce task loading underwater.

Now all I need is another strobe......

[Uncle Pug]

You know... I'm still not convinced that the Fuji is giving me as good a pictures as the Pentax Optio s50! Of course there is a world of difference between shooting in the cold clear water of wintertime Port Hardy and the whale broth of summertime Puget Sound.

Still... what I have been getting lately are too many pictures without backscatter... instead the Fuji focused on the particulate in the water and the subject is a blur in the background! Probably not the camera's fault but it is frustrating.

The main thing I have really liked about the Fuji over the Pentax is the incredible battery life.

[geraldp]

Spent a bunch of time at the camera store Saturday looking at the Nikon 7900, Olympus 7070, and Canon SD500 (they didn't carry the Fuji F10). These are all 7 mp point&shoots. I really liked the Olympus. The 4X optical zoom, 27mm wide angle, and the hotshoe for a flash were big selling points that the others didn't have. What I didn't realize was that it also has both shutter priority and aperature priority features, which the others don't have (thanks Wolverine). On top of that it will take external lenses & filters (like my Nikon 880 does), so I can get a 3X or wide-angle external lens for above water photography. It's main drawback for me is that it's considerably larger than the others. A minor drawback is that the 7070's LCD display is slightly smaller. I kind of dismissed the Canon fairly quickly because it was too small for my hand, and it was a full $100 more over the Nikon. It also has less manual controls than the others. The Nikon, while very small at least has a handhold that fits pretty well. The small size is a nice feature, as OE2X says. It'll fit nicely into a bellows pocket below water, and in a shirt pocket above.

U.P. I know what you mean... diving at Redondo Beach (WA) yesterday the vis was 5'. It was like diving in a salad soup. I left my little Bonica Snapper film camera in my pocket.

Jerry

[Sue-ba]

I replaced it with the Fuji F10 because of the battery life and focus issues. The F10 will last for several one hour + dives using the flash and LCD scrreen turned on. It is much faster to focus and once focused there is no noticable shutter lag. The LCD is very large and takes up most of the back of the camera... there is no optical viewfinder. The camera is truly PnS with minimal manual control so if you like to be the photographer instead of the picturesnapper then it would not be a good choice.

As for megapixels.... the Optio was only 5 megs and I'm not sure the 7 megs of the 7900 produce a better picture... and from the review and lab tests that I saw the 6 meg Fuji beat out the top four 7 meg PnS cameras.

I bought the Fuji f10 for $325 and the Fuji UW housing for $135 from 17th St Photo. A 1 gig xD memory card was <$100.

..........at 17th street. I have been trying to sort out which camera to buy and was leaning toward the Nikon 7900. This thread intoduced me to the Fuji and it is what I have been looking for.

Typically we dive as a family (7) in warm clear water. We like to pass around the camera getting candid shots of the family members and the occasional "wow" shot of wildlife or the reef, wreck, etc. This setup should fit our bill very well.

One thing I also liked about the F10/Fuji housing is the overall price/value. If we ever flooded this system out it wouldn't be the end of the world. When I was exploring using some housings with some of my existing SLRs the thought of loosing one of them to a flood was more than I would consider besides the $1k cost of the housing.

Thanks again to SB and its good members.

Good Diving,

Suz

[Uncle Pug]

Hope it lives up to your expectations and my recommendations. I've been getting along better with it and getting some good pics even with the lousy viz here right now. Here is a picture from a dive a couple of days ago... no photoshop... just as it came from the camera.