decent camera for snorkeling, possibly diving

[forestfish]

I have a Canon PowerShot SX20 IS that is fantastic for land photos, but the housing for it is jaw-dropping, and I am not sure it would be all that great for photos underwater (got it for the Zoom!).

so I am looking for something that would be relatively inexpensive (no more than $500) but flexible. The two routes I can go would seem to be a waterproof point& shoot, or a decent p&s with a housing.

I'd like to be able to use the camera above and below the water. We only dive occasionally (no deeper than 60ft usually), and are happy enough renting a camera do use for this.

Mostly I'd like it to work well for snorkeling, while still delivering good land shots.

I'm currently looking at the Canon PowerShot D10 and the Olympus Tough TG-610 (or 310).

I'd appreciate any feedback from those with experience.

 

[bgsnmky]

I will be anxious for responses..too as I am in the hunt for the EXACT same thing!

 

[Gilligan]

There are so many cameras and so many opinions. Several of them will suffice.

If you want a compact camera that has many features the Canon S95 in the Canon housing is a good choice. It takes great shots above and below but does not have a lot of zoom which is of little use underwater but may be of much use topside.

If a lot of zoom is very important to you then IMO one camera won't do the trick. For example the Olympus SP-800UZ has 30X optical zoom which may be great for topside but of little use underwater. There is no underwater housing for it, probably due to the length of the lens.

Having RAW capability IMO is a must for non-strobe shots. The S95 has RAW.

The Canon housings are inexpensive but not the best choice for add-on wet-mount lenses due to the oval shape of their lens port. Hence if you plan on adding wet-mount lenses a more expensive housing is in order.

Take a look at the Olympus XZ-1 and it's respective Olympus PT-050 housing. It will cost you around $800. for both. The camera has a larger sensor than most point and shoots, has a 1.8 lens for low light conditions versus 2.0 and 2.8 in many other cameras. The housing has a threaded lens port for wet-mount lenses.

I have a Canon G10 and G12 with the respective Canon housings and an external strobe. I am very happy with both. I used the G12 topside on a recent China trip and got great results with it. However, if I was to purchase a point and shoot camera today for underwater use it would be the Olympus XZ-1 and the Olympus housing over the Canon G12.

Let's see what others say

 

[TSandM]

I'm on my second Olympus waterproof camera -- started with a 720, and when the housing cracked, I got a Stylus Tough 6020. The cameras are nice for snorkeling because you can do that without a housing, but for deeper dives, you can house the camera, and if the housing leaks a little bit (or in my experience, a lot) it doesn't fry the camera at all. The quality of my pictures is far more limited by my photographic ability than by the quality of the camera, though, so I'm not a good reference on how good the camera is. It's easy to use; I can say that. We paid $499 for camera and housing, on sale at the local dive expo.

 

[primus]

I have a Canon PowerShot SX20 IS that is fantastic for land photos, but the housing for it is jaw-dropping, and I am not sure it would be all that great for photos underwater (got it for the Zoom!).

so I am looking for something that would be relatively inexpensive (no more than $500) but flexible. The two routes I can go would seem to be a waterproof point& shoot, or a decent p&s with a housing.

I'd like to be able to use the camera above and below the water. We only dive occasionally (no deeper than 60ft usually), and are happy enough renting a camera do use for this.

Mostly I'd like it to work well for snorkeling, while still delivering good land shots.

I'm currently looking at the Canon PowerShot D10 and the Olympus Tough TG-610 (or 310).

I'd appreciate any feedback from those with experience.

Canon D10 is good UW camera, but a little older and it can't record HD movies. Olympus Tough and TG cameras are very tough, rugged, but photos/movies lacks of sharpness (Panasonic FT2 (TS2) vs Olympus 8010 album | Primoz | Fotki.com, photo and video sharing made easy.). I also had two Olympus UW cameras, but only for month or two, because they are the worse possible choice (between Sony, Pentax, Panasonic, Canon and Olympus) for UW recording.

In 2005 I started with Pentax W cameras, but because their cameras still don't have proper optical image stabilisation, in 2009 I went to Panasonic. At the moment I am using Panasonic FT3 (TS3), which is best ever compact underwater camera! With naked camera (no UW housing) I took some photos even 15 meters deep

All my UW cameras My underwater cameras album | Primoz | Fotki.com, photo and video sharing made easy.

Check my UW photos and movies:
Public Home | Primoz | Fotki.com, photo and video sharing made easy.
YouTube - ‪PrimozP's Channel‬‏

[video=youtube;y0Xw2Wqyja4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Xw2Wqyja4[/video]

FT3, 14 meters deep


FT3, 7 meters deep




FT3, 1 meter deep


FT3








FT3, night photo (3 Mpix mode, no flash)


Typical UW photos (no PP, straight from camera, recorded same time, in Red Sea, Egypt, october 2010)

Olympus uTough-8010


Panasonic DMC-FT2 (TS2)