Digital Camera

[Pierre Farrugia]

<font color='#0000FF'>Hello all,

Sorry if this topic has been covered before. I wish to buy a digital camera that I can use on land as well with a housing for underwater use. What I have in mind is something compact, not big ones, 4m pixle and that can go to at least 80m to 90m. Any suggestions? Will I have good pics with this system and not using a profesional one. What you think about Nikon Coolpix 4300 Digital Camera or Canon PowerShot A80 Digital Camera , anyone uses such system?

Sorry for the many questions.

[Tim Ingmire]

80-90m?  Well, I'm not sure that you will be using a plastic housing then Pierre - I honestly can't think of any such housings that can be used at those depths.

So, I guess you are looking at a metal jobbie and I can't think of many people doing such housings for consumer digicams. I know that you can certainly use Light and Motion Tetra housings but these are not cheap - about £1000!  Try www.fep.co.uk

Another thing to think about is lighting as you may not get a great deal of ambient light at those depths - however, have a look at Leigh Bishops site here.  He has a section on deep water wreck photography which you'll enjoy reading - one very useful prop is a tripod, sounds odd but if you look at Kyrre's photo's in another thread you'll see on the diver's using one.

So, in short, at those depths you are going to be limited by the choice of available housings and these will not be cheap.  Cameras that can be housed here are the Nikon Coolpix's and the Olympus jobs (5050, 5060 and some of the older 4Mp and 3Mp versions).

I've just looked at FEP.co.uk and they have a second hand 4040 camera and housing package for £930 (rated to 300ft).  This does not include strobes tho - but, as Leigh Bishop describes, you  may not need them.

Hope this helps.

Tim

EDIT. &nbsp;Sorry can't leave it at this.

As for image quality, a 4Mp camera can give you excellent picture quality - you will have no worries on this score if you choose either the Oly or Nikon's. &nbsp;Just don't expect great A3 prints at this resolution. &nbsp;If you want to see good examples of what can be acheived with such cameras (and I always say this) go to www.digitaldiver.net.

You knowI was going to suggest that you look at a housed DSLR like the Canon 300D or the new Nikon D70 given the cost difference between those and a new metal housed consumer model but that 2nd hand deal from FEP would make such a statement look silly.