Hey guys
Long time listener, first time caller.
I have a dilemma. I need to decide, and I need to decide pretty soon. I want to buy a compact for my upcoming diving trip. I have a budget of about 1000 - 1500 USD, where 1500 really would mean "I went all out". This budget must include everything, so meaning the compact cam and the underwater housing - maybe even a flash.
So after consulting the interwebs, I narrowed down my choice to just 2 cameras… which is still 1 too many. But I have no idea, how to eliminate one or favour the other.
The cameras are:
Sony RX-100 (mark 1)
Canon G1X
Both cameras fit my budget. On the Canon I could get the Canon Housing - for the Sony, there's a affordable ikelite Housing. Both options would more or less total 1K (I live in Switzerland)
Now… feature wise, I know that some things are more important than others, when it comes to diving pictures and/or video. Unfortunately it seems that both have very strong arguments… I can't decide. Maybe some of you out there have some experience with both of them, or can put some of the features in perspective…
As far as I understand, these are the features that are the most paramount for diving fotography:
- Good battery life (with 700 shots, the G1X doubles the Sony)
- Large Sensor (light is rare. And if I don't have the money to afford a whole flash system, light is vital. So Sensor size might be the most important feature? or am I mistaken?) but then again:
- Wide aperture (RX100 f/1.8 vs f/2.8 wins… meaning more light?)
- BIGGIE: Macro Capability (this is the one that makes it a tie breaker. Macro photography is probably the most important for my diving… and here the G1X is far behind the RX100… 20cm vs 5cm)
- RX100 with double the ISO at 25,600… does that also mean more light in my pictures, when taking pics in sub 15m dives?
as a noob, I used this here to help me weed out the other cams (
http://snapsort.com/compare/Canon-G1X-vs-Sony-Cybershot-DSC-RX100)
Until recently it was G15 vs G1X, but now that I've seen the RX100, I think it is just between the G1X and the Sony.
The Sony seems the first choice… but how much more awesome would pictures be with the G1X, in non-macro situation? how much more would the G1X with it's sensor excell?
Or do I overrate the sensor for my situation? I also thought G1X + Housing + Macro Lense… but that would mean the expensive G1X non-Canon Housing + Lense = very expensive. With the sony I could go for the ikelite housing plus a cheap strobe setup, with the motto: better than nothing. For example the Fantasea Nano Storbe at 100 Bucks, or the Intova ISS2000 ISTR Slave strobe around 130USD.
Would love some input from you guys! I'm stuck!