Digital camera advice

What a brilliant thread which will be helpful to a lot of us, not just 30boat, when we come to replace or first purchase a digi camera. Seems like there's a lot of photography expertise amongst forum members, amateur and professional.
 
Have to agree about the Fuji S5500, superb quality piccys, 10x optical zoom and complete manual control, it is actualy 6mp quality for £230, I also have the fuji 203 as well, fits in top pocket and uses the same software.
 
OK then, can one of you experts please suggest what digital camera I should buy.
It's got to be tough, sprayproof, relatively compact, easy for a dimbo to use and cost less than £250. Will be used purely in an amateur way, often on the water and pictures that are any good will occasionally be printed by myself.
I don't know enough about the practical use of the technology, referred to in buyer's guides to decide for myself.
Thanks
 
Re: Underwater camera cover.

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we try not to go deeper than 20 meters even between 5 and 15 meters theres lots to see

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Depends where you are diving. Scapa flow - you will need 30+ metres and will need to de-compress as you surface.
other good ocean drop-offs may be quite deep as well.
 
Re: Underwater camera cover.

Thats very true! In fact ive often seen other divers going down to almost 60meters with the same padi cert that i have.and haveing to change bottels as they surface.

Down there when i hear the discriptons great,I took my course to be able to clear my anchor if it had to be,at least that was the reason i gave!

I like diving but so far have managed not to go much deeper than 20 Meters,have found aircraft wrecks but i dont dive for that but the fish and coral or rock faces, and when im on a face that goes down perhaps 100+ meters into the dark cold
depths its rather worring! i do prefer when there are flater sea beds! to look at.

When i was wondering if a hole might have a lobster in it i found an eel!!
 
Re: Underwater camera cover.

I am really only interested in wrecks as a place where there is more sea life! underwater photography suits my style where I can wander around slowly and look at the underwater life, trying not to disturb it, but rather enjoy the view:
dive_jetty.jpg
 
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It's got to be tough, sprayproof, relatively compact, easy for a dimbo to use and cost less than £250. Will be used purely in an amateur way,


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whisper, I'd suggest an Olympus Mju 410 from amazon.co.uk, good reviews for amteur use, easy to use, within your budget and is sprayproof (not waterproof). have dropped in price in recent months.
 
Re: Underwater camera cover.

Wonderful (not to mention you can post an image!)The colours are great.And the fish come up so closly.i once had one in front of my mask wondering what sort of fish i was!

Thats the great bit about digital, you can see the results at once,not a few days later.

Another reason for no going deeper is im not always fit,and can get cramp!!

In the Baltic i hope to dive but in areas (if there are) that are not so deep. Its cold there and i only have a wet suit!!I hope i wont get cramp! i walk and cycle but my muscels are never fit for diving.

Ive only nearly had cramp once, but im affraid of getting it.
 
Re: Digital camera advice - bounce & float??

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It's got to be tough, sprayproof, relatively compact, easy for a dimbo to use and cost less than £250. Will be used purely in an amateur way,


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Does weatherproof mean I can take fotos of the boat while swimming? Iv got a Minolta 35mm point and shoot and its more fun and resistent (wash under tap). My question is: are there any digital p&s that bounce and float?
 
I would only consider two brands Canon and Panasonic/Leica, the Panasonic/Leica have the best lenses and Canon have the best sensors. The advice to buy the 300D was a good one and you won't go far wrong with it. The Panasonic/Leica is less of a point and shoot but is capable of better pictures because of its lens.
 
I have just aquired a Canon 300D Digital SLR camera, its great. It is only 6million pixies rather than the 8 or 10 that is available with some products and it will not do 'movie'. However I believe that this is all offset by the fact that you can buy additional lenses and it has all the manual overides you could want. Fact is I cannot ever see me using all the features!
 
Whisper, He's considering adding a new category for me.... no, apparently it's a glitch - I (and some other users) had exactly 10 posts at the time of the software cutover, which has left us in limbo, forever to trot the forums as new users... he's got a fix but has to apply it individually, havnt bothered him about it yet though, reckon he's probably busy enough.

the Mju 410 is a good snapper camera - went looking for one on behalf of someone else, and bought one for myself too.

BBilly - weatherproof for the Mju410 only means rain proof, maybe a bit of spray - it's definitely not waterproof. I have seen some waterproof digital somewhere, dont remember where though. Wasnt one of the mainsteadm makes I think.
 
I recently bought the Nikon D70. Here are two pix, on ethe original and the second one is the croped version. I'm very happy with it.

Jolly_sailor1.sized.jpg


Cropped version.

Jolly_sailor2.sized.jpg
 
My two-penneth. I also used to sell Nikons, Leicas, Hasselblads, etc. and use plate cameras for studio work. I love photographs and photography.

My advice - don't buy any camera on some kind of technical merit analysis (blokes love this talking in numbers and f-stops stuff) only then not to use it much.
Cameras are there to be used as much as possible, and any shot taken on any camera is better than a zillion pixels at 1/2000 and f2 sitting safely inside its zazzy leather camera bag. In fact, that's the great beauty of digital photography - you can take loads of pics, all the time, and it costs nothing. So, do it.

Me, I bought a new Olympus mu, which was great although I did find it almost too blimmin' light and compact. It was stolen in Barcelona. I bought a cheaper, slightly bigger and heavier Olympus C-350 secondhand via EBay. It too, was great until I was mugged near Marbella. I've just bought another C-350, cheap through Morgan (they advertise in the computer mags and sell off end-of-line and reconditioned stuff). Returned stock, refurbished by Olympus.

On a technical note :-) an optical zoom is a must, I must say.


Happy snapping!!
 
I use a Canon EOS 20D with 3 main lenses, Canon EFS17-85mm,ultrasonic with image stabiliser. A |Canon 75-300mm Tele-photo zoom,again ultrasonic. And for the BIG ultra-tele-photo zoom, i use the Sigma 50-500mm (nicknamed The Bigma ! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif That is one hell of a lens.
I also use a Sony DSC & an Olympus MU.

My advice is go for a camera as best as you can afford, that has a high mega pixel, an optical zoom (as said above A MUST HAVE), & the biggest memory card you can afford.
 
Heavens above, I'm impressed! ;-)

But don't spend all your dosh on Stuff. Leave some money aside to spend time with the family, go places, go sailing, give to the RNLI - and take pics. Remember, just like computers, even the cheapies are better than the expensive stuff of two or three years back, and even they were more than adequate for most everything.

It's not what you've got, but what you do with it, that counts.

P.S Amazing website you've got. Congrats.
 
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On a technical note :-) an optical zoom is a must, I must say.




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I have a 70-300mm zoom as well. On digital this works out at around 105-405. Really good for long stuff. I also use a Pentax 645, which is a bit bulkier for hauling off to sea, but a great piece of kit IMHO.
 
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