Posted by H on February 18, 2003 at 10:16:40:
In Reply to: Canon Powershot S230 Digital Elph??? posted by Jan on February 17, 2003 at 17:49:32:
Like almost everything, whether or not that camera will suffice is a matter of you. Personally, I think the actual camera is the least expensive part of the underwater system, so it doesn't make any sense to try and cut corners.
Figure that, unless you're using the cheapo Canon housing, and BTW don't, the housing will be more expensive than the camera. You're going to want at least one decent strobe, and since we're going digital we might as well go with something good like the DS-50 from Ike, which is a good $500-$600 with the TTL sensor. Two is better. So the $200 you save on the camera really doesn't matter that much when the rest of the package comes in at $1500-$2000.
Canon makes decent Prosumer level cameras, but if you want to go consumer I'd recommend the Olympus because the cheap Oly housing runs circles around the cheap Canon version. Sony generally has the best optics, although they are expensive.
I haven't ever heard of anyone shooting UW with an S230. Just about everyone in that price range who does UW work goes with something like the Oly4040 or whatever the newer model in that series is.
Chris gave you good numbers on the resolutions. I shoot at 4MP, which gives me plenty of room for cropping and image manipulation. Definitely get ahold of Adobe Photoshop, which will make a huge difference in your end product, regardless of what you shoot with.