Olympus Mju 5000/8000 v Olympus c7070

[beckytheo]

Does any one have any experience and views on either these cameras. Im going diving for 6 months in the Red Sea and want a camera for both above and below water.

Thanks
Becky

[Hairball]

Diving for six months? Blimey! That's one HUGE notrox fill, a lorry battery to run the camera on and a two week safety stop at 5m!

Sounds superb!

[Scuba1]

Originally Posted by Hairball

Diving for six months? Blimey! That's one HUGE notrox fill, a lorry battery to run the camera on and a two week safety stop at 5m!

Sounds superb!

And can you get 100 gig DX cards ??¿¿

[Rob Dobson]

I have an mju 500 with 1 GB XD card and underwater housing. Takes some really nice shots (despite my lack of photographic talent). Fast start up time (Around 1 sec I think) and the underwater settings (wide and macro) are pretty effective.

The large LCD screen is perfect for underwater usage as well - no manual view finder but you can't use that down there anyway.

I really like it, as a point and shoot camera you can't really go wrong with it.

Don't know anything about the other one so I can't compare I'm afraid.

[The_Ferret]

sorry just doing a test !!!!

[Hairball]

Originally Posted by The_Ferret

sorry just doing a test !!!!

Damn, that's a bit harsh for a Sunday, how many did you get right then?

[beckytheo]

Cheers Rob
Thats nice to know. Perhaps I will go for one of the little ones as Im only a beginner diver and photographer. I think if I get a complicated one I'll be all over the place especially with my buoancy.

[Rob Dobson]

Oh, a couple more things... The battery lasts for AGES (or at least mine has so far), but when it's running flat the battery meter doesn't give you much warning - one minute it's showing the equivalent of 100%, then suddenly it’s looking a bit sick and then the next thing you knows it’s switched itself off. Just be aware that if you haven’t charged it for a while you might be better off letting it drain down and re-charging before the next dive. It charges really quickly so you can do this in a surface interval.

It’s much cheaper to buy the housing and the camera together in a package. A few places do good deals (Digital Depot and Pixmania are worth checking out).

You can get the 1GB cards for not much money these days if you shop around – like about £70 I think. As you can take over an hour of video on a 1 GB card I think it is worth getting one if your budget will stretch.

Also if you have an iPod think about getting an XD card reader so you can clear down your XD card even when you don’t have access to a PC (like on a boat).

Hope this helps.

[Neill]

Hi Becky

I'm very pleased with my mju 500 and housing. great for snappers like me. I have no above water expertise so just wanted something easy and the 500 was well recommended.

I don't think you can go wrong.

I want a strobe now!!!

Neill