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Bonaire Photography & Videography: UW Digital Camera w/ CD Storage
Bonaire Talk: Bonaire Photography & Videography: Archives: Archives 2003- 2004: Archives - 2003-09-01 to 2004-08-14: UW Digital Camera w/ CD Storage
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tod Lube (BonaireTalker - Post #65) on Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - 11:10 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Just received an insurance check from an accident, and it is burning a hole in my pocket. We are looking for any insight into a digital camera that stores the pics on a CD rather than a flash card. Reason.. no laptop to take along on trip to DL the pics after a dive, it would be easier to just put in a new CD.

Its been 346 days since we last saw beautiful Bonaire :-(

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Freddie Hughes (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #5082) on Thursday, August 12, 2004 - 7:07 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Tod, there is a little book size device called a Road-Stor that you can download cards onto and preview your pics on a tv.. try a google search on the name.. I think BTer's Susan F and Darlene have one and I am thinking along those lines as well... do a BT search on "Road Stor" and you will go to the thread I mean...
Good luck..

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By DARLENE ELLIS (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1125) on Thursday, August 12, 2004 - 10:02 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

The RoadStor is awesome! It is small light weight and easy to use and you can keep adding to the same CD after each dive. It will also play DVD's when attached to a TV.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Johnson (BonaireTalker - Post #25) on Thursday, August 12, 2004 - 10:20 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Tod:

I am not sure about your level of knowledge in this area so please forgive me if I am providing information that is too basic. And I have no idea about your budget so...

BTW, a decent website on the general topic is http://www.wetpixel.com/ although I am sure others have their own favorites.

The Sony Mavicas are the only digital cameras I am aware of that record directly to CD-Rs. That said, I am not sure that I would go with that option. I think you will find that every camera has some limitations and one of the raps on the Mavicas is the slow time to write a picture to memory. I also don't think the Mavicas can do TTL flash. Here are a few sites with camera reviews: http://www.dpreview.com/ , http://www.dcresource.com/ and http://www.steves-digicams.com/ .

There are ways around the no laptop thing. The most obvious would be to purchase a fairly inexpensive (even used) laptop. Another approach would be to purchase a "digital wallet" that allows you to download pictures to it. Another option is that some internet cafes will allow you to download the files to a CD (and I would not be surprised if a photo shop would do the same). Finally, you can even use an adapter to download the pics to an iPod. All of that and digital memory (such as compact flash) is getting cheaper all of the time.

A housed underwater camera really consists of major three parts: a) camera; b)housing; and c) strobe(s). All three really need to work together and, for that reason, it is a good idea to think of all three when you make a decision.

An external strobe is the single best thing you can do to improve your photos -- it allows the flash to get off the focal plane and thus greatly mitigates backscatter (the "snow" you will see on many photos). So, even if you can't afford one now I think it is worthwhile to plan on it for later (in other words make sure the camera and the housing support that option).

So, you can always start with a camera, then add a housing and finally a strobe. (And with that comes things like cables, strobe arms, tray, etc.)

At the top end, I personally would look at the Nikon D70 and Canon Digital Rebel. These have lots of advantages -- little shutter delay (can be real annoying, especially underwater); interchangeable lens; great metering and resolution, etc.

Expect the housing to cost at least as much as the camera. (I actually considered forgoing my annual two dive trip to finance a D70 and housing but just could not give up the trip.) And a strobe (or two) would be on top of that...

More in the middle, I might look at a Canon. Something like a G3/G5 -- you could probably do that set up (single strobe, housing, ports, camera, etc.) for about half of the D70 setup.

At the low end, I might look at something like a S40 (probably used) with Canon Marine housing (less than $200). Adding a strobe later is difficult though...

In the end, I would suggest that you: a) think about your budget and what it needs to cover; b) think about what camera features are most important and narrow down the camera selection; c) check and see what housings are available (i.e., you want to be able to operate most camera features, add a strobe and strobe arms, it needs to be durable, etc.); d) see what others are saying about your potential choices.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carole Baker (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3911) on Thursday, August 12, 2004 - 11:57 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Tod, I have the Road-Stor, as well, and it is fast and very handy to have for multiple reasons....photography, music CD's, DVD's etc. Carole

PS I can smell the "smoke" all the way over here in soggy New Jersey! LOL.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cecil Berry (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3655) on Thursday, August 12, 2004 - 8:21 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I would skip the CD writer option. You really do not want anything that moves in a camera, there are to many options for donwloading your pictures while on vacation. Which by the way, is the only time you'll need that capability.

One other option on Bonaire is to show up at Michael's computer store with some coffee or NY times and full memory cards and have him make a CD for you.

What type of camera you buy really depends on your budget, needs and abilities. The big three UW cameras are Canon, Olympus and Sony (they all make UW housings for some cameras).

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tod Lube (BonaireTalker - Post #66) on Thursday, August 12, 2004 - 9:06 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thank you all for the assistance. I greatly appreciate the help as I am new to U/W photography and obviously a little behind the power curve on the tech side of things too :-) Once again I thank you all.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By herman mowery (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #404) on Friday, August 13, 2004 - 11:14 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi Todd,

I recently went digital and had some concerns about storage as well but after a couple of trips I think I have settled on an acceptable option for me. I just use several compact flash cards,
2-256 and 1-128 to be exact. This gives me about 500 pictures using me Oly C-5050 5mp camera in a med hi res format. The pictures are completely acceptable for at least 8x10 prints at this setting. With 500 pictures available and the ability to delete bad ones on the fly, I just don't need any more storage and if you do adding 512 or 1gb cards is always an option and as a final option to have them burned to a CD at a photo shop or Michael's is always there. By the way, as a reference, I can get about 250 of my pictures on a CD.

 


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