Compact catch-up

Photo: Peter Rowlands

A year an a half has passed since I last reviewed underwater compact digital cameras in DIVE and, in keeping with the pace of digital life, each camera has been superseded by a newer model. As I pointed out back in October 2007, many of the advances in specifications have reached a plateau, so buyers can decide on a camera without worrying that something significantly better and cheaper will be released shortly afterwards.

Manufacturers, however, will have you believe that the latest models are so improved that they will render your existing camera totally obsolete, and that your photography will suffer if you don’t upgrade. With this in mind, we’ve aimed to find out what advances have been made since our last round-up, and to decide which are the significant improvements and which are the red herrings.

Cameras Underwater supplied some of its best sellers for DIVE to evaluate, and they make a pretty varied bunch, reflecting the state of the market. As a result, this review does not directly compare each camera, but rather highlights their individual strengths and weaknesses (if any), leaving you to decide what is right for your circumstances.

One thing is for sure, though, and that’s the incredible value for money that these cameras provide. The image quality on any of these cameras will satisfy all but the most discerning photographer. And if you are that discerning, the only solution is to spend megabucks on a digital SLR (single lens reflex) system – but even then, it’s still down to the person who presses the shutter release.

MEGAPIXELS The relentless march of megapixel capacity has continued unabated over the past year or two, with two of our review cameras topping out at a whopping 14.7 megapixels. This statistic is undoubtedly impressive and is probably the first one that a potential purchaser will consider when deciding on a camera, as it will provide a large picture that can be cropped yet will still result in a useable image.

Two other models do buck this trend, however: the Lumix LX3 from Panasonic maximising the performance of fewer megapixels, while Fujifilm says that its Finepix F200EXR tries to improve on the low-light performance of the company’s groundbreaking F30, which is now more than three years old. So, while the megapixel count may impress, it is the processing of the data that the pixels produce that is crucial to a camera’s photographic performance.

LCD SCREEN
As cameras get smaller and LCD screens get bigger, physical limitations come into play: the larger the screen, the less space there is for the camera’s push-button controls. This creates a real headache for housing manufacturers, as the buttons on the camera are operated by larger waterproof controls on the housing.

The size of LCD screens seems to have topped out at three inches, which is an ideal size. However, if the screens are to increase in size yet further, manufacturers may have to employ touchscreens to do away with the need for button controls. I would regard this as a step in the wrong direction, especially for underwater use with housings.

ZOOM
With compact digital cameras, there is a physical limitation on the zoom range. While this year’s models have a reasonable zoom range, they have not improved on it markedly. Underwater, this is not a significant problem, as wide-angle coverage is more useful.

LENS ANGLE
Over the past year, there has been a move toward wider angles of coverage: 35mm was the norm, with 28mm making an appearance, but 28mm now seems to be more popular, with 24mm available on some models. Underwater, the wider the angle of coverage, the more useful the camera will be. It also provides the extra benefit of increased depth of field (the area of a scene that is in focus).

SHUTTER DELAY
As technology improves, shutter delay becomes less of a problem. While the shutter performance will never be as near-instant as digital SLRs, shutter delay is much improved on most compacts. However, they will never be perfect for fast-moving fish portraits, and you’ll end up with lots of shots of fish tails if you don’t anticipate the action. Bear in mind that if you set your camera to ‘macro’ mode to reduce focus distances, this will greatly increase shutter delay, so should only be used for totally static subjects.

ISO RATING
The ability to shoot in low-light conditions is important for underwater photography, and this is one area that has seen marked improvements recently. Caution should be noted here, though, as the highest ISO settings should only be used when there is no alternative, as the image quality is affected by the introduction of colour noise, which is most evident in the shadows. Also, on some cameras, the highest ISO ratings are only possible at reduced resolutions.

MANUAL WHITE BALANCE
This feature is now an option on nearly all of these cameras, and it is especially useful underwater when taking shots by available light. The colours can be much improved by using manual white balance (MWB) and will satisfy the casual photographer. However, if you want to get the best colours, a colour-correcting filter combined with MWB will give the optimum results.

UNDERWATER MODE
Interestingly, only half of the cameras reviewed here have an underwater mode, and in my 2007 review, I found that the performance of this option varied considerably. As a result, understanding how to control a camera’s MWB will yield better results than relying on the underwater mode.

MOVIE MODE
One of the overlooked facilities of compact cameras is their ability to shoot movies. For me, there have been times in the UK where the movie mode has produced much better images than the still mode. When combined with the ability to record sound, this is a very useful facility indeed.

A significant improvement over the past 18 months is the ability of two of the cameras reviewed here to shoot ‘high-definition’ (HD) footage. I have added the quotation marks because it is the lowest quality that can be described as HD (1280 x 720 pixels), but it is nevertheless an indication that future technology will give us compact cameras that can shoot both high-quality stills and ‘full’ HD video (1920 x 1080 pixels).

A word of warning about the HD footage: it is subject to a high degree of compression compared to traditional tape-acquired footage, and editing such compressed video is only possible when using the very latest computers.