Thanks everyone. I knew this would be a stretch at $1500, but am trying to get something a bit better than Swann/Q-See. This is good input. I'm a bit flexible on the number, but one of the reasons I'm doing this is to watch construction of the backyard landscape and koi pond ... so that's where the vast majority of the budget needs to go.
For the underwater camera, I am initially looking at the Lorex Pro CVC-6991. A few friends have that in their pond and are happy with it.
As far as weather ... Atlanta tends to be pretty nice. For the pond, I expect to use 2 cams with overlapping fixed views under a first story roof eave. Furthest part of the pond will be about 30 feet from a camera. The third cam will be on the other side of the pond pointed back to the house for a "wide" view. A final camera will either be underwater or mounted high to get a top view of the pond - not sure which is better to see the koi.