Purchasing A New Underwater Camera

CoralN00b

CoralN00b

New member
With my upcoming trip and my tank looking better than ever, I had decided a while ago to pick up a new underwater point and shoot camera. Mainly for vacations coming up and for taking shots of my tank.

I finally narrowed it down to the Panasonic Lumix TS5 or the Nikon AW110.

Link to the Nikon -

Link to the Panasonic

I've looked at reviews and they are 50/50 really. I thought I would see if anybody on here has used either and had some feedback since most of you are probably the users closest to what I would be using it for. Mainly as a vacation point and shoot and also as an underwater video, photo and macro camera.
 
Thanks Mai!

I do like the Nikon J1 and that will be my next purchase on a camera. I needed a rugged one for outdoor use and stuff. Not just water but for hiking, rafting and stuff too. I went with the AW110 for the rugged one.

For my everyday point and shoot I will get the j1 soon. We already have a DSLR and that one is my wife's camera.
 
If you get the J1 for $175 or so, it's a good value. However, it's inferior to the more expensive Olympus EPL-5 or Sony Nex. I have the J1 and my sister has the EPL-5. Pretty big difference in depth of field and IQ when both using f1.8 primes. But I still love my J1 because it's cheaper and it does the job.
 
depends on exactly what you want, for perforance in a point and shoot i would go cannon g series or s series.
 
By trip I hope you don't mean dive trip. These are fine for a pool but for diving it's a whole other animal. I find that in the small compacts Panasonic leads in optics quality and features. I've had both of these brands and Nikon are good quality but for the price and features definitely Panasonic.

If you are diving, I can recommend some economical alternatives, but depends on your planned depth and comfort level. Underwater photography is as if not more expensive a hobby than reef aquaria. Camera, case, strobes, gaskets, color filters, mounts, arms, lens, straps, batteries, silica, etc.

Hope this helps.
 
When I did a discovery dive..i think 30meters...I took my Pentax Optio...it worked great but the pressure of being under water...I saw that the screen was caving in...after I came back up everything went back to normal...camera was only $200 incl. bunch of accessories and mem card...
 
30 feet for discovery dives. I don't think you would want to chance a $200 camera. I have seen dive cameras drown in less than that. My 2 cents.
 
Hsolano said:
30 feet for discovery dives. I don't think you would want to chance a $200 camera. I have seen dive cameras drown in less than that. My 2 cents.
Click to expand...

Lol metrics screw me over. 30 feet sounds much more realistic. Either way not saying go with the $200. Just sayin from my experience my camera looked like it was about to implode but all functionality worked photo/video w audio.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Thanks for all the info guys.

I am actually not diving. I might snorkel though. For that, the Nikon I chose seems to be recommended for underwater video.

I also needed something rugged for hiking, camping etc so the Nikon again was rated best for picture quality and video audio and picture.

I also wanted something that was good with Macro shots and the Nikon was second for that. The olympus rugged was better but it was $100 more. I'll take the just as good one and save the $100. I needed an all around for different outdoor activities. I am comfortable with my purchase. I actually got to mess with one in the store last night, I liked it even better in person.

It arrives tomorrow so I am looking forward to getting some shots on here before I leave!

I do appreciate everyone's input. I'll be referring back to this for my point and shoot.
 
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