Canon A620 v/s S70 or S80?

[micahjt]

Looking to purchase a new camera and have been looking at the A620, S70 and S80.
I keep hearing that the RAW format is a definite, so that leaves out the S80, unless someone has an opinion otherwise.
Other than that it seems that it's a toss up between the A620 and S70.
After that decision is made the housing is next. Most folks seem to prefer the Ikelite housings. Is there a praticularily good model for either of these cameras?
And lastly, I would like to get a decent strobe and tray, any suggestions there?

 

[alcina]

There is no RAW on the A620. On those cameras, only the S70 has RAW.

Although a tremendous benefit, I still use a camera that doesn't have RAW as one of my backups. You can still get great results without it. It simply removes an extremely powerful tool from your arsenal.

For the A620 I would definitely go the Ikelite housing as you can use add on lenses with it, but the Canon housing for this model has an oval port that will not accept the add on lenses.

Strobes, I love the Inons. Ikelite is also very good and they have a nice variety of options. Others are using other options

You can compare cameras side by side at www.dpreview.com

Have fun shopping!

 

[Sjokkel]

I started a thread a while ago because i had bought the S70 just when the A620 became available. Since the A620 had the newer and better DIGIC II processor i started doubting about the S70.

You can review this thread here : A620 vs S70

I ended up exchanging my S70 for a A620. I never missed the RAW processing, but i love the faster focus and the less noisy images... and the silky smooth movie mode. I'm a pretty experienced top side photograher and i've always questioned use of RAW in many situations where you can correctly expose your images. Underwater it can have nice advantages for post processing some more badly exposed images but for me the better image processor on the A620 won from the RAW capability on the S70.

If you should decide to make the same choice you can always reconsider the S80 since it has a wider angle lens the the A620.

 

[Tom Winters]

Once you start shelling out more than $300 for a digital camera, I'd spend the extra dough and get the Ikelite housing. I'm pretty careful, but I still managed to flood an A70 in the Canon housing - as I have noted many times before, I loathe the Canon o-ring capture design. Plus you can take the Ikelite to 200'. 250' would make me a lot happier, but I can live with the 200' max depth.
I have never used RAW. I run my .jpg's through Corel Photo Paint, and we all seem happy. That DIGIC II processor seems like a nice improvement in the Canons.
The S80 and SD550 both have the 2.5" viewfinder - the A620 is 2.0". The A620 does take your own AA's - I do not like the rechargeable battery packs in the other two, unless you can get a few relatively inexpensively.

 

[RonFrank]

I'm a pretty experienced top side photograher and i've always questioned use of RAW in many situations where you can correctly expose your images.

RAW shooting has many advantages other than exposure. I rarely BLOW an exposure topside, but I shoot RAW 90% of the time. I see no downside to RAW, and plenty of downside to any compressed format. RAW, BTW will NOT fix an overexposed image.. nothing will.

If you should decide to make the same choice you can always reconsider the S80 since it has a wider angle lens the the A620.

The S80 is hands down a better camera vs. the A620. If you are in doubt www.dpreview.com

The major factor here for UW use is optics. The S80 has a 28mm lens. Other factors include button vs. menu options, a larger LCD, and better build construction.

DigiII does speed things up. If the S80 had RAW, I'd consider trading in my S70. As it does not, I'll live with the slower (~.2 seconds) camera as from my perspective it's ALL SLOW!

You can see results from the S70 in my gallary.

 

[micahjt]

So many opinions, argh! I wasn't thrilled about buying a discontinued camera but the Oly C8080 is looking pretty good. Someone also suggested the Canon G1 or Pro1 but I can't find any underwater reviews for these models.

 

[RonFrank]

So many opinions, argh! I wasn't thrilled about buying a discontinued camera but the Oly C8080 is looking pretty good. Someone also suggested the Canon G1 or Pro1 but I can't find any underwater reviews for these models.

The OLY 8080 is the best camera discussed so far. It's almost DSLR in the optics catagory. However it's a LOT larger than any other camera you have mentioned.

The major reason I did not get the 8080 when I purchased my S70 was size. I HAVE plenty of gear, and one thing I wanted was something I could actually carry around without much notice.

 

[micahjt]

Upon further research I'm hearing from several people that the C8080 is very slow to focus underwater. I'm wondering if the C7070 has the same issue?

 

[alcina]

rRAW, BTW will NOT fix an overexposed image.. nothing will.
.

Never say never...there are no absolutes in this game! RAW gives you a lot of options...

From camera:

Quick and Dirty Exposure adjusted in ACR:

As for the 8080...do some looking around. This is not a camera I have seen people totally fall in love with, though there are some out there shooting it and getting nice results. Same for the 7070...

 

[Peter Guy]

Well, RAW or not, I bit the bullet and ordered the S80 this afternoon from Adorama. I decided the 2.5 inch screen and the wider angle lens were the more important items for me (and, honestly, I'm hoping someone will hack the software to get RAW on the S80).

I'm hoping this will be enough to satisfy my toy lust for a little while at least.