Disposable Underwater Camera

Can anyone give me a recommendations for the best brand of disposable underwater camera. Friends of mine bought two and were very disappointed with their photos underwater. They said the camera was fine for photos taken where water was splashing around, (ie swimming with stingrays, dolphins) but pictures of fish taken while snorkeling etc did not turn out. I want to avoid this disappointment. Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Curious about this too! Don't want to waste money on a camera and then discover after developing that the pictures are of poor quality (aside from my picture taking capabilities) and not worth the paper they're printed on.

We have always used either Fuji or Kodak and had great results. Walmart seems to have the best prices on them.

We have also gotten them developed on the ship and they always seem to get the color just right.

Hope this helps!

First of all read the labels. Some say good for a fewfeet others are good for two to three meters. When you go to the store check all the brands out very carefully. If they are not sealed in plastic then they are the type that are only good for a rainy type day not under water. Also make sure the exposure rate is at least 400 (this is a minimum). The higher the exposure rate the better for you.

Good luck. Kodak and Figi are some of the better brands.

I doubt brand is really critical - we've had great results with Kodak & Fuji, I haven't seen any others.

Target has a reusable underwater camera. It works great and you can use what ever speed film you want. Just make sure it is dry when you change the film so you don't get water in it. It also has flash and is not but about $20.

DO NOT BUY THE TARGET YELLOW AND BLUE SUNPET UNDERWATER CAMERA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It leaked as soon as we got in the water and ruined the whole roll of film I took of my son's first snorkling trip in St. Thomas! It was a total waste of money, and very disapointing that we have no pictures whatsoever of it. Don't depend on it, buy a Kodak FACTORY SEALED camera for your important underwater pictures!

How bad is the quality? I'm really wondering if I wouldn't just be better getting one of those clear dry-bags and putting my digital camera in it, for under-water shots.

I used a Kodak Max in St. Thomas this past August. The diver with our BOB group took pictures of me on the BOB. I thought it was great! Check it out at -http://members.cox.net/rridgely/Photos.htm

WOW great BOB photos! I was wondering what that was like! How long were you under?

Back to the original question - we have used both Kodak and Fuji underwater cameras with great results.

I have a question of my own - do the stingray swim operators have any objection if you bring your own camera?

We used the Kodak on our stingray trip in Grand Cayman. I saw lots of other people using cameras on the other boats as well. We did two snorkling trips on our first cruise and two on the second and we took cameras on all of them and had no problem.

Rob&Nancy - We were under about 30 minutes. A really great experience. The crew gives you a quick instruction session on how the BOB operates, safety, etc. I was on the second group and in the water and away you go. I had to equalize the pressure in my ears twice, at the very beginning. You know, hold your nose and blow type of thing. I'd recommend it to just about anyone. The BOB site is www.bobusvi.com. I found out that they do not take direct bookings. In my case, I went thru the cruise excursion desk. Cheers!

Our pictures came out nice with a Kodak.

Have always been happy with Kodak one use underwater cameras. Look for the best quality they make - they now have faster speed film - worth the extra cost.

Check your expiration date as well. We got the Kodak ones and the date was just about up- a month or 2 before it expired. My pics came back a little fuzzy,

what is the price per. person for bob??

I always use Kodak and have had great experiences with them.

A few things about underwater photography.

Light is always a problem especially as you go deeper and it's not an intuitive process. The closer to the surface you are, the better your light and, thus, your photo.

Distance and composing is the other problem. You need to be closer to your subject under water than on land and should try to fill the frame with the subject as much as you can.

Parallax is the third problem that causes lousy underwater photos. Parallax is the difference between what you see in the viewfinder and what the lens actually sees caused by the distance between the viewfinder and the lens.

Above water an underwater camera works well and just as any other camera.

I have used the Fugi underwater camera for my last vacation because it was very highly recommended to me by a whole lot of people and websites. I was very excited for my pictures to turn out, but I was disappointed with the results. They seemed so grainy.. i took pics snorkeling, outside of water and in a pool.. all grainy..

I was wondering where everyone develops their film?

I took mine to Target for developing b/c i print my digital pictures there and they come out nice.. maybe next time I'll go to like a Ritz camera place or something.. I have my cruise next week and I want great pictures of snorkeling, especially to make up for the ones that didn't work out so great before..

I have a digital camera that is great but they dont make a underwater casing for it.. I am thinking about going to camera store and seeing if they have anything that might work, but I am afraid of breaking the camera :(

How bad is the quality? I'm really wondering if I wouldn't just be better getting one of those clear dry-bags and putting my digital camera in it, for under-water shots.

No, I don't think that the bag would be better...I find the quality to be pretty good.

I have used the Fugi underwater camera for my last vacation because it was very highly recommended to me by a whole lot of people and websites. I was very excited for my pictures to turn out, but I was disappointed with the results. They seemed so grainy.. i took pics snorkeling, outside of water and in a pool.. all grainy..(

What were the pictures of? Fuij is only good for soo many feet-- i thinkits 6 or 9 not sure. if it was the stingrays it may have been too sunny with the flash. I covered the flash with duct tape and they turned out wonderful.

I took pics underwater with the Fugi (pretty close up to fish), but even above water they didn't turn out very good..

I think it had to be something with the developing..

or maybe the airport xray machines?

We have used the Kodak and Fuji brand and had no luck. Both cameras had grainy results. We have decided to buy the underwater housing for our canon digital camera instead of wasting our money on underwater disposables.

DH and I are avid photographers and we have been so disappointed with the disposables when we return from vacation. These are our memories and we don't want to take any more chances.

Some seem to have luck with these, but everyone I know gets grainy photos, even with developing done in different places (including Ritz).

I have done some research, and I saw that there is a company that makes these thick bag like under water casings for cameras. I have a Kodak, and they dont make any underwater casings but recommended going to www.digideep.com ...

I believe the casings (at least this one) is made by Ewa-Marine..

Does anyone have any experience using a digital camera in one of these strange plastic bags? They look funny, but some write up's I've seen, people seem pretty happy with them..

I will probably post this question in another thread somewhere else incase someone that knows the answer isn't looking in this catergory.

thanks!