Newbe Olympus OR SONY

[TURTLE696]

I am looking for a digital camera, housing, and flash/strobe. We did our first salt water dive in Key Largo in July. Loved it. We were using the throw aways cameras. I am ready to go digital.
I would like to know what is the best bang for the buck. I see a lot of you use Olympus C-5050 and Sony DSC- .
I want to use it above and under the water.

Thank you for any help in advance.

 

[Cecil]

I'm a Sony fan, but the answer really depends on your desires. If you are planning on getting an external strobe then get the Olympus. The advantage of the Sony is the ability to not be a photographer.

When I'm diving I have the ability to slip the Sony in my BC and not be a photographer for a while if I choose. Once you have a larger camera and external strobe you are always a photographer no matter what.

 

[Dee]

If you're planning on using a strobe, I'd go for a C-5050, PT-015 housing and Sea & Sea YS90DX strobe. (I'm also looking at the new Inon Z-220 strobe but am waiting for more diver feedback on it.) If you stay with a single strobe, the rig is small and easy to handle in the water. No you can't put it in your pocket as Cecil does but it easily can be clipped off to your BC when not using the strobe..

 

[jeffcali]

Once you have a larger camera and external strobe you are always a photographer no matter what. [/B][/QUOTE]

and the problem is

after i blow through all my frames i just hold the camera close to my chest just like if i didn't have a camera.

you know the crossed hands position you're supposed to be swimming with? nice and relaxed enjoying yourself, without flailing your arms around.

you can't even tell you have a camera with a strobe(s) on you or not.

you either really like taking pictures, so you have the best camera setup for the job (i.e. strobes and lenses).

or you're just being a tourist with a camera, and hence don't need external strobes or the like.

so you have to decide what type of photographer you want to be.

between those two cameras...you really can't go wrong. they're both very nice. perhaps it's a label issue that will decide?

good luck, you'll enjoy either one you end up getting.

 

[spike627]

What is the difference on these cameras does any one know? I understand that you could only go 130ft with these camera how about the sony?

 

[nwdiver2]

I would first see if a housing is available at a price you want to pay for the camera you want. I have students all the time; ending up with custom or obscure housings for their cameras because it is not a camera that has a widely available housing.

Oly has more housings than Sony or Canon and some Sony’s are hard to find housings for. When you resell in a couple of years the housing ordered from Japan at $500+ will not get more than the $!85 housing bought stateside. Take a look at the next 2-3 years of use then jump in.

 

[Cecil]

Jeff and all what I was trying to say is there is a lot of middle ground between the snapshooting tourist and National Geographic photographer. I prefer the minimalist approach, just enough camera to get a good shot which means I'm willing to compromise on some shots.

I also do the crossed arm camera carry, which keeps the camera ready for a quick shot.

One other nice feature of the Sony is out of the water. When I'm on vacation, the Sony gets a pant's pocket and I'm ready to go. A bigger camera would be left home more often.

Spike if you go digideep.com they have all the ratings and which case works with which camera. A must site if your looking.

 

[Dee]

Spike...You don't have to keep asking the same question in different threads!

 

[TURTLE696]

Why have 2 strobes? What does this do for you? Can you get them for the Sony and what kind of Sony would you recommend?
I see the Olympus C-5050.

 

[sailor025]

I'm in a bad mood tonight (I had a bad day) so I might as well start a fight. The real question is why have a strobe at all?

Strobes are the product of the film camera age. They have a use in the digital age for 1) when it is too dark to take a photo; 2) when you need the strobe to "stop" action. There might be some other minimal reason for a strobe but I can't think of it now.

Digital cameras that have the ability to manually "white balance" can adjust (correctly I might add) the colors according to available light. So, at 60 feet, without a strobe you can "show" the camera what white is and it can adjust all the other colors accordingly, giving you perfect pictures at 60 feet without a strobe. Film can't do that without a strobe. The reason is that film is set to certain light conditions (ie daylight) at the surface. Since those conditions don't exist at depth, you need a strobe to make the proper light exist. With digital, forget the strobe unless you are in poor visibility, night diving, or want to stop extremely fast action.

The C5050 will allow you to adjust the white balance; I don't know about the Sony.

The C5050 gives you a macro and super macro setting; I don't know about the Sony. Macro is used for the best photos of most of the photographers of this website. I don't think super macro is used that often. If the Sony has macro, it will probably equal the 5050 macro.

From what I've learned, the C5050 allows you to buy a cheap housing; I don't know about the Sony. Ikelight makes a housing for the C5050 and "Ike" from Ikelight reads this website. His housings have been around for a very long time and they obviously have a good reputation...but they are more expensive. I would have bought an Ikelight housing but I ran out of money so I got the PT 015 and love it. I would have been proud to say I owned an Ikelite (or Ikelight) housing, and it has some great features that the PT 015 doesn't have.

The C5050 gives you control over most of the camera settings or you can use the program mode and it's a point and shoot. I don't know about the Sony. If you are not interested in learning how to set the camera for the effect you want, then the manual settings of the C5050 have no value to you.

The C5050 is a 5 megapixel camera; I don't know about the Sony. This is only important if you are blowing your pictures way up or cropping most of the photo out. An example is if you want to crop all but a small part of the photo out--with a 5 megapixel camera, you have proportionately more pixels to work with in the cropped photo and can make a tighter, detailed crop, as compared to a 3 megapixel; which is proportionately better than a 2 or 1 megapixel.

My problem with the C5050 is that its auto focus is slow; I don't know about Sony. No one but me seems to have that problem. My wife has a Nikon D100 and trust me, the C5050 is slow. But, the D100 housing is about $1,500 and she'd kill me if I flooded her camera, so I bought the C5050.

Most likely, you will be happy with either camera. (Psychologically speaking, if you spend that much money on something there's no way you'll admit you made a bad decision.) So, look for the features you want and determine which camera has those features. A friend of mine just ordered the Olympus C740 because he wanted more control than the "D" version cameras (point and shoot) and he wanted the 10X optical zoom as opposed to the C5050 3X optical. I can't help but admit I wish I had a 10X for surface photos.

Having said all that, forget the strobe unless you want to take night photos and look for which features are most important to you and find those features in a camera and buy it. But, before you buy, call Ike (or search for other alternatives) to get the price of a housing 'cause without a good housing, you only have a land camera. Overall, I'm happy with my C5050 and my PT 015 housing.

Sailor