  The solar oxygen abundance has undergone a major downward revision in the
last decade, the most noticeable one being the update including 3D
hydrodynamical simulations to model the solar photosphere. Up to now, such an
analysis has been carried out only by one group using one
radiation-hydrodynamics code. We investigate the photospheric oxygen abundance
considering lines from atomic transitions. We also consider the relationship
between the solar model used and the resulting solar oxygen abundance, to
understand whether the downward abundance revision is specifically related to
3D hydrodynamical effects. We perform a new determination of the solar
photospheric oxygen abundance by analysing different high-resolution high
signal-to-noise ratio atlases of the solar flux and disc-centre intensity
making use of the latest generation of CO5BOLD 3D solar model atmospheres. We
find 8.73 < logNoxygen/Nhydrogen +12 < 8.79. The lower and upper value
represent extreme assumptions on the role of collisional excitation and
ionisation by neutral hydrogen for the NLTE level populations of neutral
oxygen. The error of our analysis is +-0.04 +- 0.03 dex, the last being related
to NLTE corrections, the first error to any other effect. 3D ``granulation
effects'' do not play a decisive role in lowering the oxygen abundance. Our
recommended value, considering our present ignorance of the role of collisions
with hydrogen atoms on the NLTE level populations of oxygen, is
log(Noxygen/Nhydrogen) = 8.76 +- 0.07. The reasons which have led to lower O
abundances in the past are identified as (1) the lower equivalent widths
adopted, and (2) the choice of neglecting collisions with hydrogen atoms in the
statistical equilibrium calculations for oxygen.
