Sea & Sea DX8000G

[AggieDad]

I was looking for a new Underwater setup, im currently using the oly stylus 400.

I did shortlist a few cameras but then today I read a review on the new Sea & Sea DX8000G. I imagine this is just an updated version of the Sea & Sea DX5000G.

Here is my Shortlist

Olympus 8080
Fuji F810
Sea & Sea DX8000G

The thing that has attracted me to the Sea and Sea camera is the fast shutter speed. Does anyone have any comments on the choices above?.

Cheers
Adam

I feel for you. I just went through the decision process, although mine was clouded by the fact that I am a complete PHD camera type, i.e. Push Here Dummy. Like Pacific Flyer, I travel all over the place and looked at everything from the Canon A-95 to several thousand dollars pro outfits, I didn't say I was smart. I finally went with the Oly C-8080 for several reasons. 1. 8 mp , 2. Price 3. Features that I thought I would use. I didn't want to buy something and then a few weeks later be wishing I had just waited. This camera has to do it all for me. I also bought the Oly PT-023 Housing. One comment. This outfit is big. No underwater time yet. In fact I just put the camera in the housing tonight and took some pictures in the house with it. It took great pictures. Now I am facing the problem of TTL. The Oly housing doesn't support it without conversions. Do I need it? Do I know what it does? The Ikelite housing does support the OLY TTL system. Now I am thinking of selling the Oly housing and buying an Ikelite, strobes etc.
Then next year....video...oh well you needs to retire.

Let us know what you do. A friend is going with the 8000G because of the shutter speed and the size. To each his own.

Dan

 

[Dive-aholic]

Dive Aholic,

Cheers. Check out E-Bay. I have the Sea & Sea DX 5000G also. I found out on my last trip to Japan that the 8000 is out and fits in the same housing. I fly to Japan often and will check out the price next trip. But I also looked online and found both the Ricoh Caplio GX (5000 G) and the Ricoh Caplio GX8 (8000) both for sale with english manual. Seems to be from Hong Kong. They were priced at $365 and $439-$490 respectively. Just do a search at their digital camera section for Ricoh Caplio. Good luck.

Pacificflyer

The 5000 and 8000 are interchangeable, but Ricoh didn't do that with the 3000. I did check ebay - no luck. I also checked Ricoh's website - again no luck without travelling to Japan. I did manage to get a refurb for my 3000. I will be selling it and sticking to a camera I know I can easily replace.

 

[sharky60]

I rented the 3000 for several years and really had some nice results with it.

I just purchased the DX5000G earlier this year and so far have been very happy with it. the 5000 & 8000 have more buttons and functions on them then the 3000 that's why the 3000 is not interchangable with with the other 2 housings. I don't think the 3000 has the "ADJ." button for adusting settings on the fly.

All three are very nice cameras for point-n-shoot style underwater photography, small/non-bulky packages compared to some of the SLR's, light weight, easy to learn and use, a great jumping off place for the diver trying to get into u/w photography.

All the underwater pics in my gallery were taken with either the 3000 or 5000, and then some were touched up with photoshop. Photoshop is a wonderful thing!!!!

 

[Dive-aholic]

The 3000 housing can handle all functions that the camera has. I haven't seen or used the 5000 or 8000, so I don't know what the differences are other than MP and shutter speed.

 

[sharky60]

That's one of the nice things about the Sea & Sea packages, the housing buttons are all true to the camera so there is no additional learning curve. This is not always true when it comes to u/w housings.
I think one of the functions the 5 & 8's have that the 3 doesn't have is the 'white balance' adjustment, you can make a comparison of the 3 and 5 here http://www.seaandsea.com/
Sea & Sea still doesn't have the 8000 on it's website yet for some reason.