Camera Choice... Please HELP!

[Ben_Leeds]

Hi Guys,

Have got my shortlist down to the three below, just wondering if any of you use any of them? What I'm most interested in is the delay between pressing the shutter and the camera actually taking the picture, I've been informed the Sony is the quickest >.3secs, anyone care to tell me otherwise?

The shortlist:
Sony DCS-P200
Olympus C-765
Nikon CoolPIX 5600

Cheers

Ben

[Tim Ingmire]

Sorry, can't help with any of those.

Did you consider the Fuji f810?

Try asking the same question over at www.digitaldiver.net

[Hairball]

Recently has the Sony DSC P200 Cyber-shot shipped over from the states. Very pleased with it.

7.1mp in such a tiny camera and a great 2" LCD screen on the back. Also got a 1gb memory stick, also from the states at about a third of the price Amazon UK wanted for it!

Just wish they did an underwater housing for it!

[Tim Ingmire]

For housing info check out the excellent www.digideep.com

make sure that a housing is listed for your camera before doing anything else.

[botswana]

Hi Ben
I use an older Sony DSC-P5. Although this is only 3.2Mp and getting on a bit now, I have managed to get some really good underwater shots. the only time it is a problem, may be with all digital cameras?, is when you or the target are not still enough for the camera to auto-focus - and then it can take a while to shoot. But then again, that could be me!

Good luck with whatever you end up with.

[daveyclayton]

Howdy mate.

Can't comment on the 5600, but I've got a Nikon coolpix 775, coolpix 4300 (but it flooded) and a 4100. They all have outstanding optics, but shutter lag IMO is a problem when shooting things that are moving.

I now also own a Sony DSC P100. As far as I can tell it's a much quicker response than the Nikons. However as stated earlier, the autofocus is a little slow. I haven't noticed on land but I took the camera to Trefor at the weekend and was disappointed how many of the photos came out blurry. Bear in mind that I am a bit crap at photography anyway.

The flash position on the sony means that mega closeups in macro mode can have strong shadowy areas in, which never occured with the nikon.

I've used Fantasea housings with Nikon (neither of which had on-off access, and the battery life with nikons that take 2xAA is pretty terrible) and I've got a Sony housing for my DSC P100 - which is real quality. And it's negatively bouyant.

Nikon 4300
http://www.davidclayton.com/photogal...uth/eye_06.jpg

Sony DSC P100
http://www.davidclayton.com/photogallery/trefor/03.jpg

[MisterBlue]

Hi Ben.

No experience with any of these, sorry, I was just intrigued why you picked the three listed, they seem very different models and I think there may be better UW choices, but don't know your rationale!