Yesterday, I posted a feature-per-feature comparison of three waterproof cameras — Pentax Optio W80, Olympus Stylus TOUGH-8000 and Canon PowerShot D10.
That entry is of particular interest to me because I am planning to buy a waterproof camera so that I can take my macro photo shooting to a new level by taking underwater macro photographs.
While I have not tested any of these cameras, I am more or less convinced that Canon will come out top in terms of image quality.
Today, DPReview posted a group test of five underwater cameras — Canon Powershot D10, Pentax Optio W60, Olympus Tough 6000, Olympus Tough 8000 and FujiFilm Z33 WP, and proclaimed the D10 to be the overall winner and put the Pentax Optio W60 as the runner-up.
Reviewer Don Wan has one complaint about the D10 though, similar to the one I have, namely its disappointing focal length. It starts at 35mm and ends at 103mm which Don says, “is neither very wide nor is it very telephoto.” I don’t think I can live with that.
So the choice is now Pentax Optio W80?
Anyhow, if the older Pentax W60 can play runner-up to the D10, would it safe then to assume that the newer Pentax W80, announced less than a week ago on June 25, is better than the W60, and therefore can be as good as the D10 in terms of image quality? If only the law of physics can flow as smooth as the law of logic, that would have to be the case with the W80.
And then there is the law of the wallets to consider too… the W80 is cheaper than the D10 and with HD video to boot. And on top of that, it beats the D10 in terms of focal length as it starts at 28mm and ends at 140mm, the range I can live with. I think I have just found my underwater camera.
[UPDATE July 22: the W60 fares quite badly among its users. Hopefully the W80 will be able to overcome the W60 image quality issue... because I can actually live without a wide angle lens, but not poor image quality]
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