Best Underwater(ish) Digital Camera?

[nick_sixx]

Im going to America this november and visiting areas where it will be snowing, and I am off to Fiji in December for a couple of weeks. Never in my life have I considered buying my own digital camera, but I would really like one for these two trips, and I need one that is pretty darn waterproof.

My two picks so far are:

Sony Cybershot tx10:
http://www.sony.com.au/product/dsc-tx10

(Obiously not the pink one)

and

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT2
http://panasonic.net/avc/lumix​/compact/ts2_ft2/

The first one is by far the better looking device, but I would be a lot more comfortable with the ruggedness of the Lumix. There is also the Lumix FT3, but it is quite a bit more expensive for not much more in terms of features - so I am disregarding it.

I need somebody who has experience with cameras to tell me which one is going to take better quality pictures for the majority of settings (ie night/day/indoors/underwater/etc).

So far my main pro's for the Cybershot are:
-Way better looking/much slimmer (ie better pocketability)
-Higher resolution photos
-Higher resolution videos
-Higher resolution screen
-1cm macro
-Lens is protected when not in use

Pro's for Lumix:
-Much more rugged - it comes with a silicone case so I would be much more comfortable throwing this in my bag/keeping it by the pool on bricks/rough concrete
- Waterproof to 10m compared to the cybershot's 5m
- Slightly cheaper
- Better zoom (4.6 compared to 4)
-Easier to use (my parents have a cheap panasonic secondary camera which has a 'happy mode' - it seriously makes it the easiest camera to use in any setting and the FT2 has the same feature).

Please camera gurus, guide me! And if I have missed any obvious candidates, please inform me (not interested in the Olympus Mju range as they apparently take crap photos and are the size of a house brick)

[guy 27]

i'd be going the panasonic over the sony.

[poita]

panasonic FT2 is discontinued afaik.

FT3 is the best I have used by far

[nick_sixx]

I might be able to buy an FT2 off my cousin for under $200 so thats why it has priority over the FT3....

[nick_sixx]

panasonic FT2 is discontinued afaik.

FT3 is the best I have used by far

What features does it have that you like?

Have you used it in water?

[poita]

not the features, the quality of the pics.

Although the new dual lock on the ft3 is a nice aaddition

Haven't used it myself underwater, but have seen pics and video from it

Very impressed

[nick_sixx]

I have seen sample photos from the ft2 and they are pretty impressive. The ft2 also has dual locks, the ft1 did not

[nick_sixx]

i'd be going the panasonic over the sony.

any particular reason?

[poita]

thats right the ft1 had the ssingle lock.

The thing i ddont like aout tthe wony is a touch screen and sliding front

If you use it under water a fair bit it will get clogged up and jam

The least amount of moving parts on a shock proof camera the best

[nick_sixx]

I ended up getting the sony because the image quality was quite a bit better than the lumix...also features like better macro and image stabilization were a big plus. Its also about half the size of the lumix. I might look at getting a 20m waterproof housing for it in the future. Overall I'm really happy with the camera so far

[Shay]

id get a gopro,

hi def pictures and video above and below the water...

no flash however

[delemonte]

id get a gopro,

hi def pictures and video above and below the water...

no flash however
Or built-in screen. Has to be added on... But a great camera - I've had a lot of fun with the GoPro HD