I don't really know much about cameras, we have a nikon ( I have no idea if it's a good one or not LOL) but we have a friend who's into photography and she told me that you can take good pics with any camera, as long as you're paying attention to the light of the day or the sun. Usually the light of the sun must be behind the person taking the pic. And if that's not possible you have to look at the shadows around you and try to go by them and it's not very hard especially since cameras nowadays have the screen so you can see the pic before you take it. HTH
The hard thing about pools and water is that the sun glares off of it. That's difficult to diffuse. Most of the time I hear people say that the best times to take pics outside is when the sun isn't directly overhead or at its hottest, so not between the times of 10 am and 2 pm. I'm not sure if a polarizing filter would help out, would a blue filter? Hmmmm. That would just make everything look like it was in a Tim Burton movie.