Easy to use point and click that takes good macro pics

[Smit]

Hi all, I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask but it looks promising.

I'm planning a trip to the Philippines next year with the ScubaBoard invasion. Of course one of the main draws of the Phillippines is all the macro life. I really love taking pictures but I'm not a photographer. I have a Sealife 12 camera with strobe and it does a pretty good job of taking fish pictures but it doesn't do a very good job of taking macro shots of tiny creatures.

Can anybody recommend a camera that is reasonably priced, easy to use (point and click) that can take good pictures of the tiny macro life you find in the muck?

Thanks!

 

[gr8jab]

Sealife Micro HD

 

[creamer]

Check out the Nikon Coolpix AW130. It is rated to 30m/100ft out of the box. Has a macro mode(which I haven't used yet) with a focus as close as 1 cm. My wife was looking for a waterproof camera to play in the water at the beach and I suggested this so I could borrow it. I haven't used it extensively but am happy so far. $300 for this vs $1500 plus lights for a housing for my DSLR.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

I use an iPhone 4 and 5S...


Sent from an old fashioned 300 baud acoustic modem by whistling into the handset. Not TapaTalk. Really.

 

[KeithG]

if you do not mind used, i have a sea & sea dx1g sitting in a closet that takes great macro shots. it can be used in fully automatic p&s mode or fully manual.

pm me if you are interested.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

It's a bit long in the tooth now but I used to have a Canon A640 that would focus on the inside of the glass in the housing... and those can be picked up dirt cheap, 10 megapixels, so you could buy two and have a spare. The Canon housings work but I flooded them about once a year.

The Canon G9, G10, G11, G12...etc would also probably be a decent choice, also can be found cheap enough to bring 2.

There are many other good choices, too!

 

[AJN303]

I put together a point-and-shoot package this year, that might be what you're looking for.

Canon Powershot ELPH 170, which is a 20MP point and shoot, in an Ikelite housing and Ikelite red-filter. (I hadn't bought lighting for it yet..).

Used this camera several days down in the Florida Keys, and was pretty impressed with the pics. The close ups I got (cleaner crabs, box fish eyes, nurse shark barbels) came out great.

I'm tryng to sell it to finance a much more complicated/expensive Sony! I put it together for $700...selling it for $550.

Let me know if you'd be interested in it...

--AJ

 

[Mike Veitch]

No compact can compare to the Olympus TG4 for macro, it has a built in "microscope" mode that even allows for zooming, no diopters needed. Here are a couple of samples, no cropping, camera on auto with a dive light (no strobe). It is inexpensive and really blew my mind with the quality.

 

[Dr. Spock]

What kind of dive light did you use Mike for the olympus tough?

 

[salth2owannabe]

No compact can compare to the Olympus TG4 for macro, it has a built in "microscope" mode that even allows for zooming, no diopters needed. Here are a couple of samples, no cropping, camera on auto with a dive light (no strobe). It is inexpensive and really blew my mind with the quality.
View attachment 216032View attachment 216033View attachment 216034

The TG-4 and housing is what I went with. I started a recent post about the wife wanting a camera for Christmas. I'm looking forward to using it, or Ummmm I mean her using it.