SONY RX 100 II or CANON G16?

[Shine Li]

Thank you, people! I picked up a few new things through all of your replies

WOW. *sweat* I never thought that UW photography requires so many accessories. I ask ways thought that I need a good camera/casing and maybe a flash/fisheye lens can come later. I might need to google abit on the 'strobe' haha!

Oh yes, definitely! I might share the ones I took with the gopro hero3 (my third/fourth time using it) from my recent trip to Philippines it wasn't that great - not sure what went wrong but anyway... will upload it and maybe yall can gimme a few pointers

 

[diver-hloc]

GoPro is 1st and foremost, a ultra wide angle 'Video' camera... not photo.

Quite alot of U/W DSLR users (including me) mount this to our camera as a video camera.

 

[aygcameras]

In terms of sensor abilities select the ONY RX 100

But if you'll use the small optical viewfinder on the Canon G16 you will get much better photos because the camera will be steadied towards your face and not waved about at arm's length.

 

[seeyoudownthere]

Excuse the late response to this but given I went through a similar experience a year or so ago I may have some advice too in addition to what's been said.

Manual controls are important...which camera has easy access to the menu/controls etc (menu logic isn't good for Sony from my on RX100 so makes things difficult)
Casing changes by model so realise you're locked with that hardware until you sell/replace. A newer camera version may not work with your original case.
$$ - don't scrimp and do your research. Look at the reviews as there is a lot of info on the web
Go-pros aren't the way to go...you have zero control!
Other accessories like slates, straps etc - budget for them too..you don't want to lose hard-earned kit!

Other observations (slightly OT)
How good are you with diving...you're losing potential use of both hands at times so think about not only your buoyancy skills but how confident you can do things without your hands. Also, adjusting white-balance means both hands being occupied if you use a slate/greycard. I really didn't realise the impact of this when I bought my stuff and only with experience will you learn but it is important to remember how to do things even with +100 dives. For me, losing the hands meant not taking the camera kit on night dives.
Last point - do you really care about the marine life? I was on a liveaboard with my stuff and whilst there were some excellent photographers, their behaviour underwater got me slightly depressed about the u/w photographers. These are experience divers but they way they set themselves up on subjects is shocking and the longer term damage will take years to recover. Multiply this by the number of photographers and you get a unrosy picture emerging. Those lovely macro pics you see are very intrusive to surrounding fauna...remember what you learnt on your open water about no touching. Try telling that to a u/w photog! If you do it, do it responsibly and with minimal impact to the surroundings.

 

[Vee Lee]

RX100MKII Recsea Housing. 22m Depth @ Gili Island

Color Abit Buay Swee

 

[Vee Lee]

Note Don't Bring Capture Down, My Lock Nut Rust After 1 Dive. LOLz

My Gear. I chose Sony

 

[Shine Li]

Hello guys, I took the G16 in the end! & it's a lovely camera with easy control and it was user friendly. I had a second hand fantasea housing at a good price too!

Everything was good for the first 2 months and I brought it underwater (finally) for its first dive.

I didn't know what to do with it other than to just use the 'creative' mode (underwater) to snap the live corals. I guess the pictures were taken better than those I took with go pro!

& little did we know.. That was also its last dive.. I misplaced the camera while on transit at KL coming back home. Oh well.....................

Now I'm back to square one

 

[aloe]

never mind. Lesson learnt. Claim insurance and buy a new G16.