Shutter speed ???

[colinicky]

Ok I had more or less decided on a F50fd or a Ixus 75 but then some salesperson says to me " oooh no you don't want either of those they both have lousy shutter lag/speed
Now I now nothing about cameras so I am now lost as to what to do .
So firstly are they lousy on shutter lag/speed ?
secondly is one significantly better than the other ?
thirdly is there something else that is better & is still very easy to use ?

I was leaning towards the Ixus purely because I was told by underwatercameras that it is less menu/button pushes for manual setting of white balance ?

Please help !!!

[Scubee]

Shutter lag means the difference between being able to get the pic you want, or the one that happens shortly after. The shortly after varies from camera to camera, with Olympus haveing a reputation for a fairly long lag.

Mine (the Nikon P5000) has failrly minimal shutter lag.

The number of button presses to get it to measure and alter white balance, is 2, if you have it correctly set up, and are in the right shooting mode.

[samui13]

camerasunderwater are very good at their jobs and are very informative. if they have listend to what your requirements are and recomended that particular camera, then i would go for that one.

[Scubee]

Originally Posted by samui13

camerasunderwater are very good at their jobs and are very informative. if they have listend to what your requirements are and recomended that particular camera, then i would go for that one.

It depends on who you speak to. I know of a few people who have spoken to C/U, given very similar requirments, and come away with different recommendations. One person phoned once, then again about a fortnight later, and got a different recommendation.

Like any professionals... they will have their own biases and preferences.

[StuartC]

Shutter lag was certainly a big issue for me when I bought a 2nd hand Olympus C2020 to begin my u/w photography.

I found it took an age to snap the image and was useless at catching fish...

so, when I bought a new one, Heather at Alan James Photography recommended the Sea&Sea DX5000G, which had the best shutter lag at the time.

I've since upgraded the camera to the 8megapixel version, which uses the same housing
Ricoh Caplio GX8 digital camera specifications: Digital Photography Review
(NB: Sea&Sea re-badge consumer cameras and the DX5000, 8000 and the new 1g are all Ricoh jobbies)

Times change and kit improves, so this website might be a useful resource for getting impartial reviews and stats on the latest cameras you may be recommended.

Digital Camera Reviews and News: Digital Photography Review: Forums, Glossary, FAQ

Cost may well be a deciding factor in your choice, but here are some other factors to consider in addition to the shutter lag and the ease of setting/changing white balance.

Adding an external strobe made a big difference to the quality of my shots, and I'm adding a wide-angle lens shortly.

Using standard batteries is a useful option in the event you forget the charger.

hope you get something you're happy with!

[StuartC]

Originally Posted by Scubee

Like any professionals... they will have their own biases and preferences.

[cynic mode]
or they'll push whatever they have in stock that generally meets your requirements....
[/cynic mode]

caveat emptor etc etc

do your independent research and get additional opinions as you are doing now before splashing the cash!

Like any company they're in business to make money, and if they provide the customer with a service they believe meets their needs then all the better for future trade. However, if a suppliers main product line is Canon and you fancied a Sony, then don't be surprised if you end up being recommended a Canon to meet your needs!

After all, they're there to sell you what they stock and not what others stock!

PS: I have absolutely no axe to grind against any retailer on this. I just believe it's worth spending a bit of effort understanding what I can get before somebody tries to sell me what they have in stock.

[David P]

Don't be unduly slewed by (i) "button presses for white balance" or (ii) number of megapixels. The F30/F31 still looks v strong when compared against the F50 (particularly for usable high ISO). 6MP vs 10MP is irrelevant - it's how the camera uses the pixels that counts. I'm very happy with the F30 - but will always use my Canon DSLR for "ordinary" photography given the chance (the results are so much better, in fine detail - even though the number of pixels is similar). Equally, I can happily sort a manual white balance, and then take 3-4 pics, during a single snorkel dive, on the F30, so it can't be that difficult

[colinicky]

I have been told that it takes 8 button pushes on the fuji & only 2 on the canon to set the white balance ? I hate menus my VR£ is a nightmare & after diving my ccr for nearly 2 years I can just about switch to bailout on the computer side !

[David P]

I make it 5-6 pushes on my F30 (I have it in front of me). All I can say - as before - is that it's much easier than it sounds, with a tiny bit of practice. But it's all down to what works for you.

[Scuby]

One of the main reasons I got the Fuji (admittedly the F30 not the F50, but don't suppose they've made it worse?) was the very short shutter lag. Much better than any similar type camera I tried (Canon, Olympus, Sony, etc)

If however they mean shutter speed, then I wouldn't worry about it - I can't think of any reason underwater you'd want a really fast shutter speed, nothing really goes that fast underwater. And it does 1/1000th of a second so not like it's slow anyway.

David