Digital

[Roboray]

Just go rid of my Sea and Sea.... I know, about time...Looking for some advice on a good UW Digital that wont break me..... I have a Canon 20d that I tought about buying a housing for but that just scares the heck out of me..20d aint cheap ...so I desided to start from scratch?

[Dive-aholic]

There are quite a few cameras out there that will run you somewhere in the $200 range that also have housings that run about the same. So for $400+ you should be able to pick up a decent system. I just bought a 8mp Canon plus housing for just over $400. The nice thing is if it floods, it only costs me $200 to replace it!

[thor]

Originally Posted by Roboray

Just go rid of my Sea and Sea.... I know, about time...Looking for some advice on a good UW Digital that wont break me..... I have a Canon 20d that I tought about buying a housing for but that just scares the heck out of me..20d aint cheap ...so I desided to start from scratch?

I'm in the same boat. I three Canons: An A95, which got wet and takes photos, but non of the menus work, an S40 ( which I loved) which shuts off after 5 minutes, no matter what kind of battery I use, and 10D, which I don't want to take into the water at this time, but I may. I'm also looking to upgrade to the 30D and don't want to be stuck with a 10D housing. I'm not sure I want my next underwater camera to be a Canon since I have had such problems with them. I was looking at the S70 or S80, but both are a bit pricey

[Roboray]

Thanks for the info....this Forum is gona make it a lot more fun to get wet again.....

[namabiru]

Not to hijack, but what might a good budget camera be? I'd love to take photos during my Blackbeard's trip, and ST will rent me a camera for $125. But I figured why not see if I could put a bit more money together and get something to keep? I know I can get a cheap film camera, but who uses film anymore anyway? Plus you have to develop photos and haul them around the world and it's heaps easier to have them on your computer.

I'm not a professional UW photographer--I'm more of an underwater tourist who just wants some memory shots.

And, silly me, I purchased a regular digital camera for which they don't make waterproof housings. I dont' think this one I have now would take good UW photos anyway.

[torrey]

There are a few of us here who have Olympus SP-350's and love them. Unfortunately, they were discontinued not too long after being introduced (seems the nature of the business with camera manufacturers), so they're hard to find new anywhere. I've seen a lot of discussion elsewhere about Canon Powershots and Nikon Coolpix cameras, and there seems to still be a huge market for older models on ebay.

You could probably easily get any one of these three brands plus a housing for under $400. I paid less than that for my camera and housing new. Not to take food off of Larry's table, but if a rental is going to be $125 anyway, you're almost halfway to a new setup that you can practice with and use over and over...and eventually sell when you're ready to step up. By the way, when looking at housings, only look at hard housings...stay away from the bags. As a matter of fact, for your price range I would get a housing made by the same manufacturer as the camera. There are other housing manufacturers that are better, but they tend to be pricey. If you narrow down your search, I'm sure we can help with the pro's and con's of each.

[namabiru]

Originally Posted by torrey

Not to take food off of Larry's table, but if a rental is going to be $125 anyway, you're almost halfway to a new setup that you can practice with and use over and over...and eventually sell when you're ready to step up. By the way, when looking at housings, only look at hard housings...stay away from the bags. As a matter of fact, for your price range I would get a housing made by the same manufacturer as the camera. There are other housing manufacturers that are better, but they tend to be pricey. If you narrow down your search, I'm sure we can help with the pro's and con's of each.

Yep. And, not to be disrespectful to ST at all either, but I was thinking the same thing. Why not invest the $125 plus a couple hundred dollars more and just get something I can keep?

I have a Fujifilm F470 digital camera, and I don't believe I can get a hard housing for it... I've not checked extensively yet, though.

One pro to buying a separate digital camera for UW is that if I did something stupid and flooded the housing, at least I wouldn't be completely SOL on not having a camera at all.

I dunno about my price range yet... will have to have a look around.