Sony VS Sealife

desiredbard

Hi there,
I migt not be totally posting under the right forum, but the way its set up here i get either photographers that might not dive or diver divers that might not photograph.

You can guess where this is going, I dive and I photograph, sometimes even simultaneously. About two years ago I bought, after seeing someone using it underwater, a Sony P100, without the housing, which was out of budget. I Finally succeeded in buying it 6 months later since SONY discontinues its camera's roughly 6 months after bringing them on the market, and thats the end of parts as well.

Anyways the camera does ok above water but onderwater, i mostly photgraph macro and i get a shade from my lens. (On Solid ground as well sometimes).
I take subject nowadays in the top right corner, and crop the dark corner out but some of the problem can still be seen:
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3



Now an external strobe costs a fortune, I have to McGuiver with my sony-casing...etc etc...

Now I stumbled on this "Sealife DC500" (comes with casing and external strobe and is priced great. Thing is .... has anyone any experience with it..... and whats the difference between a digital and analogue strobe. (Light is an Analogue system anyway?)

elven

Sorry, no personal experience, but I have found a couple of reviews that might help you decide ifit's worth it.

http://www.digitalcamera-hq.com/digital-cameras/sealife-dc500_reviews.html#user_reviews

Looks like some people prefer their Sony with a case to this.

How does the casing actually work anyway - does it protrude awfully far in front of the camera? I'm thinking about some way to diffuse the flash so that it isn't so directional, don't laugh but I've seen a home made diffuser that sits over the lens, that's made from a polystyrene bowl (the kind you get jelly & ice cream in at parties) and even though it might not help for the underwater stuff, it's possibly worth considering.

I just read up a bit and saw mention of taping up your flash so that you don't get such a harsh shadow - I think that will have the same diffusing effect as I was mentioning above.

As for a 'digital strobe', well, haven't a clue. I thought it was when you had an external flash that is set off by sensing the pre-flash on your camera, but to have it built in doesn't make sense... I'm stumped.

Borderfox

It looks like vignetting maybe caused by the case, the black at the edges. I would imagine that by digital strobe they mean digital control and that means faster pulsing, we use strobes in work for freezing fast running machines and they do cost a fortune. I cant remember what they pulse at but its something like 1000 times a second or maybe less.

mtracey

Sony I think to be honest. Known for their quality.