Canon A570IS or SeaLife Reefmaster dc600

[Raiderswim]

Been looking for a 1st underwater camera and have narrowed down to two models.  Anyone have experience with the Canon A570IS?  How do you like it?  Any problems? 

[Colin]

This may help you make a choice...being a SeaLife Dealer, I got this via E-mail recently;

March 10th, 2008
Dear SeaLife Customer:

SeaLife is happy to announce the new DC800 digital underwater camera, planned for delivery in May 2008.  The DC800 unique advanced dive modes make it easier than ever to capture sharp, colorful underwater pictures.  It features the latest digital technology with its 8 megapixel image sensor, large 2.7\" LCD and long battery life to last for a whole day of diving.

The DC800 will have a suggested retail price of $549.95 and will also be available in popular combination sets.

It should be noted that the DC600 is no longer available for immediate orders.  Any orders that were placed at DEMA for Spring shipment, will be honored as well as continued warranty support and service.

More information on the DC800 including specifications and pricing will be released shortly.


Thank you,


SeaLife Underwater Cameras

Colin.

p.s. whatever model you choose, I'd recommend getting one that has RAW capability, as this allows more creative control over the final image. If you just want snapshots, then virtually any model of camera will do.

There is also a great thread on wetpixel.com:

[ethanb]

I've had very good luck with the A710IS, which is the "big brother" to the A570IS.  Before this I used a Canon S410.  I'm a huge fan of the canon compact cameras and their underwater housings - I've had extremely good experiences with both.  You're not going to get the quality of photos that you can with a housed SLR and wide-angle lens, but it's a unit you can carry with you on every dive and still enjoy the dive without the camera getting int he way.  With larger units, the dive ends up being "about the camera."  If you plan to use the strobe at all (i.e. anything but silhouettes or dives shallowed than 15 ft), you'll definitely want an external strobe, unless you're going to use it exclusively in 100+ ft viz. 

I wouldn't worry so much about raw mode - the sensors used in compact cameras don't really have the sensitivity to benefit as much as an SLR with a larger sensor.  There's a firmware hack (CHDK) that works on nearly all Canon A, S, and SD cameras that enables RAW mode, but I haven't seen huge benefits from it.  I really appreciate the real time histogram, overexpose marking, and improved battery meter it adds though.  I wish Canon would get onboard and support some of the features natively.

I'm not sure what differences there are between the A570 and A710, but I haven't seen anything bad in this series of cameras....

Ethan