It also has the added sweetness of not being too large, which is really nice when you have to manage a rebreather, and complex dive profiles. I’ve never been much of an underwater photographer, but there has been countless times that I’ve wished I could take some simple snapshots of the things I’ve seen. As far as I can tell, this little housing do the trick nicely.

That is, until I had the chance to play with an Olympus C7000. While my complaints about the Optio were few, I had always wished that it did a better job of focusing in macro mode. I had tested other cameras for close focus, and had found none that would do a better job than mine, so I just assumed it was a limitation of the electronics, and accepted it. When I tested the C7000, however, I was amazed at how well it pulled focus in macro mode. Indeed, given decent lighting, it could focus nearly right on the glass, and the focus was amazingly fast.

The other thing about the C7000 that had me running to check my ATM balance was just how little shutter lag it had. Having gotten used to a fairly long delay with the Optio, the Olympus had me feeling like I was shooting film again. My arguments with Casey about how my Pentax was “just fine” were quickly falling apart. I loved the Olympus. I wanted it, but I could not swing the $500 bucks, so I just kept on wanting it but shooting with my Pentax.

That is, however, until Casey bought one. He was with me when I tested it, and apparently he was pretty impressed with it as well. He was not impressed enough though, and in short order offered me a great deal on it, so he could turn around and buy an Olympus C8080. I handed him the cash and never looked back.

It is great in most light situations, and I continue to be impressed with the minimal shutter lag and amazing close focus. I’m not really sure that I need all seven megapixels though. I rarely need to do much cropping, but I’m sure I’ll be glad to have them when I do. The only thing I’m wishing for now is a bigger XD card.