corcort

I've tried searching for something on this topic but haven't been able to find an answer so I'll ask. I've been using a Nikon Cooplix 5K for 3 years and have achieved some pretty impressive results. Over this time, my skills have grown but the camera has not been able to keep up and has some significant shortcomings. I've been thinking about moving up to a digital slr, but I'm questioning whether I really want to make that jump given that I'm truly not a professional, just a serious amateur. My question is, are there some really top end point and shoot cameras out there that people could recommend and are using? Obviously I would want features like a larger LCD, live preview, manual settings, good TTL, minimal shutter lag, descent macro capability, etc. I'm just not sure I want to deal with all the additional lenses, dome ports, etc.

I recently purchased an Olympus 5060 with a PT-020 housing for my wife. I'm looking for recommendations for an external flash. I am thinking about the Ikelite DS-125 like I have for my Coolpix 5000 in the Ikelite 6190 housing. I'm very happy with the DS-125 but I think it may be a little bulky for my wife. I want to know if anyone has used the Olympus UW flash unit and how it works or any other recommendations you may have. Thanks

Just a note to let you know, Ikelite sent me washers for the mounting screw which appears to have resolved the problem. The mounting post must have been pressing on something internally in the camera which was causing a short. Thanks for the responses.

Thanks for the response. It does appear to be some sort of short because no buttons, as previoulsy suggested are touching the camera. Actually I have tried it on other tripod mounts and it doesn't seem to be a problem. However, I think the screw on the Ikelite Housing may be a little longer and may be causing the problem. I may try a washer to reduce the length.

Thanks for the feedback. I thought that might have been a problem, but I don't see any buttons touching the camera. I'll look again and verify.

I have an interesting problem and wanted to see if anyone else has encountered it before I send it back for service. I have a CP 5000 with and Ikelite 6190 housing. When I mount it in the housing, placing the mounting screw into the tripod socket, the camera turns itself on. It actually isn't on becuase when you press the shutter release it just cycles through different modes and won't take a picture. It happened to me once on a recent vacation and I ended up wasting a dive not being able to take pictures. Anyone run into this?

Chris: I followed the advice in the article referenced above and was very successful for my first time out. I will forward you a link with some pictures from St. Vincent. The only problem I had (which you and I have already communicated on) was monitor brightness when in manual. I will be interested in hearing about your results. Tim

Dave: I did a search and was not able to find any information on the magnifier you refer to. Can you point me in the right direction? Tim

Thanks for the feedback. Actually, if I press the shutter slightly, the screen brightens momentarily, but then goes dim. After some practice this was long enough to do some rough composition. It would be nice if we had an option to display information in the monitor, not as the camera sees it, but with enough light to compose. This is similar to a 35 mm when you look through the lens, the aperture is wide open so you have enough light to focus. It may be a long shot but I asked Nikon if there was a possibility of a firmware upgrade. They are considering. Do you shoot in manual or automatic mode?

I have a question which I have sent to a number of different forums and sources related to the monitor brightness on the CoolPix 5000 when in manual mode. I purchased the CP 5K over the summer with a Ikelite 6190 housing and a DS 125 strobe. I recently took the camera for its first outing to St. Vincent. The difficulty that I ran into was the inability to adequately compose the shots when in the manual mode due to the monitor brighness dimming sue to the setting of the F stop and shutter speed. I did end up with some good results but I missed many shots sue to the inability to compose. Is there any way to place the monitor in the preview mode so that it is as bright as when in auto mode? It seems like I'm the only one who has this concern. Maybe my vision is just bad! I've tried using the modeling light on the DS 125 strobe, but that didn't really help. Any comments or suggestions?

I recently purchased a Coolpix 5000, Ikelite 6190 housing and a DS-125 strobe. I am just getting into uw photography and was wondering if anyone had any experience with this configuration and could point me in the right direction for user guides. I am also looking for documentation which may help me get started and how to best use this setup. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks!