S95 vs SD4000 vs SD4500 vs ????

[divertimmy]

So I've been wrestling with what do to about my underwater rig for awhile. Here's my dilemma: My wife's preference for P&S and the cost of DSLR keep me away from a DSLR rig. At the moment, I have a Fujifilm F200EXR with Fujifilm's housing. I haven't been terribly impressed with its ability to take photos, however. The noise is much greater than my old Canon SD630. So I'm considering getting a new camera.

The S95 seems to have the best sensor and lens, but I hear there are issues in some of the automatic modes which may make my wife frustrated taking pictures of our 1.5 yr old.

The SD4000 seems like a great lens and sensor, but it doesn't take any level of HD video.

The SD4500 has the worst sensor and lens (just 10x zoom), but takes 1080p video.

Are there some other alternatives not listed here?

Additionally, I could just toss the money a strobe since I don't have one yet. Would that solve most of the noise issues on my Fujifilm?


Thanks for your time.

 

[dogdrjohn]

Strobe or good lights like INON LE-550W will really help pictures in so many ways - faster focusing, better color rendition, etc. 10x zoom is more than enough. I think the S95 works fine as a P&S in auto or program mode, but it certainly is more camera than your wife needs if that is all she is going to do with it. You do face some of the same difficulties taking pictures of toddlers and fish - a constantly moving target.

 

[diver 85]

Strobe or good lights like INON LE-550W will really help pictures in so many ways - faster focusing, better color rendition, etc. 10x zoom is more than enough. I think the S95 works fine as a P&S in auto or program mode, but it certainly is more camera than your wife needs if that is all she is going to do with it. You do face some of the same difficulties taking pictures of toddlers and fish - a constantly moving target.

@ least on the toddler, you can tie him/her & make them stable----for a while.........

 

[Nemrod]

So I've been wrestling with what do to about my underwater rig for awhile. Here's my dilemma: My wife's preference for P&S and the cost of DSLR keep me away from a DSLR rig. At the moment, I have a Fujifilm F200EXR with Fujifilm's housing. I haven't been terribly impressed with its ability to take photos, however. The noise is much greater than my old Canon SD630. So I'm considering getting a new camera.

The S95 seems to have the best sensor and lens, but I hear there are issues in some of the automatic modes which may make my wife frustrated taking pictures of our 1.5 yr old.

The SD4000 seems like a great lens and sensor, but it doesn't take any level of HD video.

The SD4500 has the worst sensor and lens (just 10x zoom), but takes 1080p video.

Are there some other alternatives not listed here?

Additionally, I could just toss the money a strobe since I don't have one yet. Would that solve most of the noise issues on my Fujifilm?


Thanks for your time.

If I purchased an expensive housing for a camera (or actually I think the other way around, housing first, camera second) I would dedicate that camera to underwater use only. One might look a bit foolish with an expensive housing and a camera knocked on the floor by accident at a birthday party.

N