A620

[kctan]

Hi all,

I'm considering getting the A620 for my diving. Can I check with the pros out there for expert opinions and advice? Thanks in advance.

[cat64fish]

I think there are threads discussing the A620 ... I've posted on them. It's a pretty good camera ... its relatively cheap, has a good macro ... and it runs on AA batteries!!

What more do you need to know? :P

Cheers, Jeff

[kctan]

Originally Posted by cat64fish I think there are threads discussing the A620 ... I've posted on them. It's a pretty good camera ... its relatively cheap, has a good macro ... and it runs on AA batteries!! What more do you need to know? :P Cheers, Jeff

Thanks Jeff,

I was wondering how it performs underwater. WOuld you happen to have pics to show? I'm considering between that and an sp 350. Just came back from Tioman with a friend who was trying out his new 350.

Thanks again.

[howeikwok]

Heard from users that the sp-350 is a piece of junk, hehe..
very slow focussing and bad sutter lag i think... anyway the only diff between the 2 cameras is the sp-350 has raw capability and it's 8 mega-pix versus 7 mega-pix for the a-620...
anyway dun see 3rd party housings for the sp-350 so that's saying something about the camera??

[Tuffatore]

Originally Posted by howeikwok Heard from users that the sp-350 is a piece of junk, hehe.. very slow focussing and bad sutter lag i think... anyway the only diff between the 2 cameras is the sp-350 has raw capability and it's 8 mega-pix versus 7 mega-pix for the a-620... anyway dun see 3rd party housings for the sp-350 so that's saying something about the camera??

Hi Alvin

Think u do not have much time to read up in the net nowadays. Must be busy in school I guess. Please check links below. If they are not 3rd party, I dun know what is. Try and use then u know mah.

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/oly_sp350.html

If SP 350 is a piece of junk, then why Inon comes up with the following for SP 350?

1)AD Mount Base PT-030
2)UFL-165AD Underwater Fisheye Lens
3)UCL-165AD Close-up Lens
4)UWL-105AD Wide Conversion Lens

http://www.inonamerica.com/news.php?...d=48&newscat=0

[howeikwok]

Well this much i know, was diving with a group of brits in kapalai in june. This guy left his sp-350 home and brought his c-7070 instead. Told me the sp-350 wasn't very good. (heard the term a piece of junk a couple of times from various other users)

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/olympus/sp350-review/

Well you can't trust any review but i've found this website pretty obejective. The reviewers conclusion? Performance of the camera wasn't very good; noticeable shutter lag.
I was very tempted to buy the sp-350 b4 i got the c-7070. Even with the c-7070 the shutter lag is noticeable. Overall i feel the A-620 offers more value for money. Only thing is it doesn't take RAW.

Have a great weekend!

[Tuffatore]

Originally Posted by howeikwok anyway dun see 3rd party housings for the sp-350 so that's saying something about the camera??

This little quote of yours doesn't do any justice to the product. The A620 is just as bad with worse limited 3rd party add-ons. Does that means that the thread originator shouldn't get the A620 too?

The Brits were rite in saying that the 7070 is better than the SP350. So are the 5060, 6060, or the 8080 even though the size can kills. But u have to remember that the Cx0x0 series were better than SP350 in certain ways. If a small compact like SP 350 can do better than a prosumer cam in terms of shutter lag, something is wrong. It's like comparing apples to oranges. There's is no one camera who can be small, large range of F/stops, 14mm-200mm and excel in most areas. Else who will buy prosumers cams/SLRs? If so, I can say bye bye to my Canon 350D and my Sea & Sea housing. For example, 8080 is a very good cam. But look at the size of its housing and the lack of accessories for it. Wet lenses? Zilch!

Dpreview does gives reasonable, objective reviews of gears at times. However, their reviews and users' feedback can also differs. Look at their review of Sony A100 Alpha http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydslra100/page30.asp

A highly recommendation with a average 8.0-8.5 ratings from them?!

Meanwhile, there are users @ Scubaboard that thinks that SP 350 is a godsend. Check out http://www.scubaboard.com/forumdisplay.php?f=198

Does that means that they are right? We wouldn't know until we ourselves use it.

Dun worry that you broke my heart with the comments of SP 350, I dun own one though I love to find one cheap (2nd hand) to try out.

BTW, good u/w shots from your 7070 in your blog.

[kthan]

cool, differences in opinions. Exactly where this board needs. Yet criticisms are offered in a civilised manner, and no name calling.

Tuffatore, welcome aboard.

[howeikwok]

Pardon my limited camera knowledge then...
Anyway i've tried both cameras on land and i find not much difference in terms of performance.
What i like about the canon is
1] reasonable price (think it's cheaper than the oly, not sure about now)
2] uses 4 AA batteries compared to 2 with the oly (should work out to better battery life, 500 shots compared to?? oly dun publish it's camera battery life figures)
3] uses sd cards comapred to the xd card for oly (darn sd cards are even cheaper than cf cards nowadays!)

anyway my 2 cents worth.
I'm sure both would turn out to be pretty good buys...

[howeikwok]

oh yeah forgot to add that if you're getting the oly housing for the sp-350, watch out for the screws on the hotshoe, my 7070 housing has a few cracks there already. not sure if the 350's housing will have the same problem...
cheers!

[kctan]

Originally Posted by howeikwok Heard from users that the sp-350 is a piece of junk, hehe.. very slow focussing and bad sutter lag i think... anyway the only diff between the 2 cameras is the sp-350 has raw capability and it's 8 mega-pix versus 7 mega-pix for the a-620... anyway dun see 3rd party housings for the sp-350 so that's saying something about the camera??

Well, the pics taken are pretty decent actually, considering my friend only used the internal flash.

As for add-ons, I believe there are more for the SP 350 than A620, not that I intend to go beyond a strobe. I'm not even such if I need raw, considering it takes a fair bit of waiting before the next shot. Anyway, I still prefer focusing on diving than taking pics under water. I have enough problems taking pics on land as it is already.

[howeikwok]

Well if you're looking at just point and shoot cameras then your choices could move beyond these 2 cameras.

[Tuffatore]

Hi kctan,
The latest price in the 2 cameras tt interest u in the 1st place

SP350 + u/w housing + 1gb xD card = $840
A620 + u/w housing + 512mb SD card + 1 AA batt charger = $800

SP350 gtg discontinued soon. Hence drop in $$. A620 is discontinued.

[Tuffatore]

Originally Posted by howeikwok oh yeah forgot to add that if you're getting the oly housing for the sp-350, watch out for the screws on the hotshoe, my 7070 housing has a few cracks there already. not sure if the 350's housing will have the same problem... cheers!

Think it's a generic problem with polycarbonate(?) casing made by Olympus. Did u mount a LED torch on your hotshoe as a modelling light for ur D180 strobe? If so, this may/could explain why. Perhaps I'm wrong. I like the robustness of Ikelite but not the price. Time for u to change to Ikelite?

One question (for anyone who cares to explain): How in the world do i take decent, unblurry photos in mild current short of holding on to something (eg corals or using a tank banger rod as a monopod)? Excellent bouyancy and corrective finning don't seems to eradicate movement under water. Do i miss out of something?

Thanks

[Tuffatore]

Hi Eric
Thanks for extending the welcome.
U have nice pics over at the gallery. Will be needing lots of advices from the folks here. I'm a very very new newbie in u/w photography.

When do u guys have meetings again?

[Tuffatore]

Check out the shutter lag comparisons of most P n S compacts. Maybe can help u in deciding what u wan.

http://www.cameras.co.uk/html/shutte...omparisons.cfm

Else go to the oly forum @ dpreview and read wat ple say abt SP350 and see their pics in RAW/SHQ mode. Beautiful

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=19335166
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=19411216
http://thewarmland.com/p45525556/

[lovells19]

had my feel of the SP350

comparing it to my C5050.. i really feel the inferiority on it as the SP series is suppose to be the successors for the C series. apparently, it was disappointment in terms of the technical aspect.

I really had expect oly to produced a much better improved series to take over the C series. but other then the size, there's not much difference. especially the battery life.

I would have stuck to oly.. but then the grass on the other side was greener and more vivid! so i jumped

but still the photographs are works of the photographer.. and not the camera.. having a camera with better features makes it a lot easier..

[Tuffatore]

Hi lovells19

Which cam u got urself for after considering the SP350? I'm also looking for one for my gf to use u/w. Looks like all have strong and weak choices

[lovells19]

I jumped to Fuji

fast focusing, almost no shutter lag, good battery life,

but.. flash recharge slow, bad low light focusing, no supermacro, built wise also not as good as oly.

but the color fuji produces is making up for the short cuming.

i think when it comes to choice, its more to budget, and how serious you really wanna go into photography. there're a lot of cameras and choices out there.. even DSLR is not perfect for underwater photography, cos cannot switch from macro to wide underwater.

give up some, gain some, then make full use of what you gain

[howeikwok]

Originally Posted by Tuffatore Think it's a generic problem with polycarbonate(?) casing made by Olympus. Did u mount a LED torch on your hotshoe as a modelling light for ur D180 strobe? If so, this may/could explain why. Perhaps I'm wrong. I like the robustness of Ikelite but not the price. Time for u to change to Ikelite? Thanks

Din mount anything on the hotshoe, apparently it's a problem with a number of the oly users for the c-7070 housing. A friend told me it might be because there's a tiny air pocket bet the screw and housing that expansion and contraction of air during diving that may have caused the problem. So i unscrewed the whole thing keep my fingers crossed. anyway i've ordered the ikelite housing liao, hehe... Got a pretty ok price for it so waiting for it to arrive, heheh...