Sea&Sea MX5 II

[Busty]

Hi

Off to the Red Sea in a few months, and was thinking about buying this.  Usually, I am one of those people that doesn't mind spending a lot of dosh on the best equipment, but I have been told to watch the pennies (the missus   &nbsp

So, as this is an entry level camera, can anybody give me some insight as to picture quality/clarity?  Basically, if the shots aren't crisp and clear, then I would think it was a waste of money  

I am a big believer in u get what u pay for, but am just hoping that the MX II is actually pretty good.

Thanks, and regards

Busty

[Fiona]

<font color='#0000FF'>Busty

I had an MX10 and one guy at our club had the MX5, he took some really good shots with it. &nbsp;I think unless you have used an underwater camera before don't expect quality pictures from any camera no matter how much you spend. &nbsp;I had some good pictures and some bad ones, that was me not the camera. &nbsp;I have also taken some not bad one with those underwater &nbsp;disposable ones. &nbsp;Your right you get what you pay for however knowing what your doing helps. &nbsp;I have since sold mine, used it for about 5 holidays, there are only so many pictures of clown fish one needs. &nbsp; There is however a very good market in second hand cameras so if you buy new you can always sell it on and upgrade.

FB

[Big Steph]

Hi Busty

I have the MX 5 and find it to be a very good camera which takes very sharp shots both above and below the water.  The only drawback is the flash, it can cause backscatter in some conditions.  I have been told to cover the flash with a finger to reduce this.  My mate Billy has one and has underwater photo's on his diving club web site at http://uk.geocities.com/gssac/gallery.html
Hope this helps

Stevie

[John Gulliver]

I have the old MX-5. I had major problems with back-scatter until I bought the special close-up lens, which has largely eliminated the problem. I still get back-scatter when I don't use the close-up lens but remove it with Adobe Photoshop 5.0 LE (=Limited Edition), which came with my scanner. E-mail me if you would like to se some pictures taken with the camera on a recent Red Sea liveaboard trip.

[Big Steph]

Hi John
I did not realise that close up lenses were available for the MX5. &nbsp;I suppose they are readily available?

Stevie

[Fi]

<font color='#736AFF'>From memory I got my macro lens from Denny Diving for about £29. &nbsp;I think they are pretty easy to source elsewhere too. &nbsp;I had the MX5II &amp; macro lens &amp; strobe for sale recently (personal ads - now sold tho') - as I was upgrading to digital.

I got reasonable results from the MX5 II, but wanted the zoom, the ease of manipulation on PC and also reduce the wastage on regular film.

The macro lens is easy to fit and remove underwater.

Fi

[John Gulliver]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Big Steph @ June 26 2003,00:40)]Hi John
I did not realise that close up lenses were available for the MX5.  I suppose they are readily available?

Stevie

Yes, they are. I believe they cost about £20 in the UK (£55 here in Sweden, but then you can buy the camera for £115 in the UK [Divers warehouse], compared to almost £200 here in Sweden).

[John Gulliver]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Fi @ June 26 2003,14:19)]From memory I got my macro lens from Denny Diving for about £29.  I think they are pretty easy to source elsewhere too.  I had the MX5II &amp; macro lens &amp; strobe for sale recently (personal ads - now sold tho') - as I was upgrading to digital.

I got reasonable results from the MX5 II, but wanted the zoom, the ease of manipulation on PC and also reduce the wastage on regular film.

The macro lens is easy to fit and remove underwater.

Fi

I got the developer to put my my Red Sea pics (7 films in all, 24 exposures per reel) on a CD (didn't bother to print them), then picked out the best 39 shots and manipulated them on the computer (removed back-scatter) where necessary. The results are quite nice. Most of those taken with the close-up lens (not macro, minimum distance 37 cm from the object) required no doctoring. Unfortunately, the extra strobe only fits the MX-5 II, not the old model, which I have.
I have the close-up lens attached to the camera with string, ready to put on at any time.

[John Gulliver]

Here's a pic taken without the close-up lens. I removed a lot of &nbsp;back-scatter with Photoshop.