Hello,

I got the following issue.
I have currently a Canon A80 with Canon housing and external flash INON d-2000. Unfortunately, my A80 is not working anymore – So I plan to purchase a new set of equipment compatible with my strobe INON. After many searches on Internet, I short listed two configurations:
Olympus SP-550uz + PT-037 + optical cable/cape INON W37
o Pros:
- Lens starting at 28mn
- Inon kit available for the PT-037 housing
- Several underwater mode (UW macro, UW 1 and UW2…)
- Seems good macro mode
- Good Underwater Housing

o Cons:
- Quality of the SP-550uz compared to the Powershot G7? Start-up speed, focusing time in low light?
- 7 Mp versus 10 Mp
- More expensive (~760 Euros) than Canon Solution (~436 Euros)
- Seems no possibility to attach WA lens on PT-037?

Canon Powershot G7 + WP-DC11
o Pros :
- Powershot G7 seems to have better feedback on several reviews than the Olympus sp-550uz
- Cheaper price
- Possibility to connect Wet Wide Angle lens by purchasing Dyron kit.

o Cons:
- No kit INON for Canon housing WP-DC11 – But I will try to connect it on the internal flash plate (If I do that, I don’t know if it is causing issue for the DYRON lens kit?)
- WP-DC11 housing requires to use multiple keys combination for Aperture and Speed adjustment

I have excluded Ikelite + flat port solution as it is too much expensive and difficult to find in Thailand.

I am going to Maldives in two weeks but I still hesitate on the solution… Please help me !!!

Thank you in advance for your help…

Best Regards…

Maybe another option would be the Fuji F30/31. This is a great camera that takes very nice photos. I have the following equipment:  Fuji F30, Fuji WP-FXF30 housing, Inon D-2000 Strobe, ULCS Tray, Handle, Arms, Clamps, Inon Optical Cable and Mount Base.  I just purchased the strobe and associated gear but have used the camera for a number of dives and was very happy with the results.

Do some further research on the internet and you can see what some other folks have done with this camera.

Just my 2 bubbles !!

Just a couple of observations on the SP-550:
The lens (on paper) offers a zoom range of 35mm equivalence to 28mm to 504mm.  That’s a huge range, and is probably achieved with the use of alot more glass than is found in the G7’s more conservative 35mm to 210mm.  It is possible, and in all fairness probable (although I have no evidence to back this up) that the olympus lens introduces more aberrations (loss of quality) than the G7’s lens. 

Also, the Canon’s mechanism may be simpler and perhaps less likely to break down.

Another aspect you did not list, is that the Olympus can shoot in RAW, whereas the Canon cannot (although there may be a ‘hack’ on the internet that you can use to enable the camera to shoot RAW).  Many u/w photographers consider RAW to be a big benefit, as they can change white balance, control sharpening, and rescue small amounts of over-exposure after the photo has been taken.

Another difference is the the Oly runs on AA batteries, the Canon uses a Li-Ion battery.  AAs can be a benefit if your battery or charger gets lost or broken, and you are not near a service centre:  you can run the camera on standard batteries that are available almost anywhere.  I find that rechargeable AAs don’t hold their charge as well as Li-Ion batteries when not in use.  On paper, statistics suggest that the AAs give better endurance than Li-Ion batteries.

If you’re leaning towards the Canon G7, you might also want to consider the Canon A640 or A630.  Very similar spec levels to the G7 apart from the telephoto end of the zoom range (35-140 instead of 35-210), but cheaper.  The G7 may have a physically bigger (faster) lens, (I don’t have figures on this to hand), and the G7 employs DIGIC III processing whilst the A640 and A630 have DIGIC II processing.  Whether this makes a notable difference, I don’t know.

Hopefully some of that helps!