What underwater camera do you use for SCUBA?

[turtlegirl2]

Hi all, I've been thinking about getting another UW camera for our upcoming cruise/dive trip. Several years ago I had an Olympus UW that I really liked (it was the mid-range version, not the 5050) and it had a nice UW case. Got it online and used it for several dive trips to Cozumel. Well, the camera started acting up and I never did get it fixed, so basically I've been without camera on our last few dive/cruise trips (Cozumel, Belize, Grand Turk) :(

 

We will be diving in November in Southern Caribbean ports and I'd like to take some pics again. What are you using these days and/or what would you recommend?

 

Thanks,

Jacque

[jimw]

I've been using a Nikonos 5 for 25 years but just bought a cheap digital and housing. It hasn't been in the water yet, but looks like it will work well. It also is an Olympus; FE360 in the Olympus PT-044 housing. Bought the used camera on ebay and new housing from Adorama in NYC online--total of $138. I considered Ikelite's Nikon point and shoot and others, but went as cheap as possible. I ran into Backscatter's best uw tests for 09 and this is the recommended setup in the point and shoot category. Google Backscattter Photo. I expect they might have a new recommendation soon as the camera appears to have been discontinued. It is still available new however.

[underseahunter]

SEALIFE DC camera. Made by Divers for divers. You can stop wasting your time looking for a digital camera that had someone else make a housing for it as an AFTERTHOUGHT. The Sealife cameras also have special software for UW photos, they shoot video, they have more settings than you will EVER learn to use... Plus they are GUARANTEED to 200 feet. It's really a no brainer.

 

But I guess I am repeating myself.

[heydn62]

Sealife makes good underwater cameras. I've been happy with my EcoShot. They're no longer distributed by the manufacturer, but I've seen them for sale at various places. The thing I like is you don't have to worry about an enclosure and it's good to 75 ft (I've used it deeper). Also takes decent photos in the "real" world. Newer models are nice, but can get expensive. I think you can get the EcoShot for under $200, probably less if you search a bit. As with most cameras, the built in flash doesn't help a lot once you get deeper. There is a "sea" mode that helps a bit.

[cruzegirl]

I use the Olympus sp 550 uz. Love it. It's an excellent camera on land as well. It comes with a housing for underwater photos. Check out my link to photos. Photos from Hawaii 09, Tahiti are all with the Olympus.

As far as Sea Life cameras, wouldn't buy one. Wouldn't take one for free. I used one when I first started diving, horrible. Always had problems. They replaced the camera/housing/strobe several times. Finally gave it away to a friend that snorkles. Then another friend of mine bought one, against my advice, for Tahiti. Nothing but problems as well. Horrible quality photos as well. And he's an experienced photographer.

[King Neptune]

I use a Canon Powershot A540 (its no longer available but I think they have an A560 or something now) with the underwater housing. I've had it for three years and have been very happy with it. It has an underwater setting and I get pretty good shots with it, or at least good enough for me.

[diverearl]

My main setup is a Canon S3-lS with a Ikelite housing which is a really good mid range Camera and a first class housing. It is pretty bulky but can get a fairly decent picture or video underwater with a little practice. Expect to spend over a grand for the two.

 

The first decent subsurface camera I had and still am extremely satisfied with is a Sony DSC-P7 Cybershot Digital Camera 3.2-MP cameras with the Sony Marine Pack (we already had two and just bought another last week on eBay just because the price was right). I like this set up as a quality backup but it would be a great primary underwater picture getter. You can pick up either piece on eBay, the Marine Pack for about $100.00 and the camera in like new used condition for about $50.00.

 

In the right hands this very reasonable set is capable of near professional pictures, imo. There are many other really good combinations these are just my two choices with either capable of at least 140 feet.

 

I'd like to try my Nikon D60 Under the Seas but I have 1500 reasons I probably won't get the chance, they are all dollars as that is the cost of a Ikelite housing for the D60 (ouch), then another $1500 or so for a good light setup for the rig (double dang ouch :eek:).

[Pilot70D]

I still use an assortment of Olympus Stylus 500 cameras for my dive trips. I also have two of the Olympus underwater housings for these cameras.

 

The Stylus 500 takes reasonably good underwater pictures and very good pictures above the water, has a large LCD screen on the back and can still be purchased on eBay every now and then for under $50. I bought my original camera and housing from Olympus via eBay about four years ago. The Stylus 500 has been phased out completely by Olympus and when they did so they sold their remaining inventory of underwater housings for that camera at $40 eaach. I bought a second underwater housing too.

 

Between eBay and Craigslist this set up can still be found for very few bucks. Enjoy that next ddive trip.:)

[BlueC5Kitten]

I've posted about it in other threads with photo examples, too...but it is just a little Casio Exlim EX-Z1050 with underwater housing. Good topside and UW to 40m depth, stills, manual white balance compensation, custom UW housing from Casio, video capability and a great long battery life (which is something I can't say for my diving friends' SeaLife cameras...seems they were always changing the battery between dives), and 10.1 megapixel resolution for when the macro function doesn't work so well, too. :D

 

Happy Diving and photoging!

[jijaybajay]

I'm planning to buy one of those too. What's the deepest depth of an underwater camera could reach? I need some suggestions.

Please help. Thank you. :)

 

 

 

 

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[CaribQween]

I use the Olympus sp 550 uz. Love it. It's an excellent camera on land as well. It comes with a housing for underwater photos. Check out my link to photos. Photos from Hawaii 09, Tahiti are all with the Olympus.

 

As far as Sea Life cameras, wouldn't buy one. Wouldn't take one for free. I used one when I first started diving, horrible. Always had problems. They replaced the camera/housing/strobe several times. Finally gave it away to a friend that snorkles. Then another friend of mine bought one, against my advice, for Tahiti. Nothing but problems as well. Horrible quality photos as well. And he's an experienced photographer.

 

I'm sorry to hear negative things about Sealife cameras. I've been considering a Sealife DC 800 or DC 1000. Could you tell me what model you and your friend had problems with?

[highflyingrealtor]

I had an older Canon s400 that I bought a housing for on ebay - around $100. Couple trips so far and no problems other than wishing I had more flash. Nice to have the housing for land & boat use in rough weather too.

[BlueC5Kitten]

I'm planning to buy one of those too. What's the deepest depth of an underwater camera could reach? I need some suggestions.

Please help. Thank you. :)

 

What's the deepest depth you can reach? :D I would say you want a camera that can go at least as deep as you can dive safely plus 10 feet/3m.

[turtlegirl2]

Thanks for all your feedback! I've looked at a few options on Ebay but I'm a little concerned about buying a used set up even if the seller says it's great. My Olympus set up looks great until the darn camera shuts itself off mid-dive. That really was upsetting the last time I used that camera! Not a lot of options when you are diving and you need to open the housing to turn the camera back on :mad:. I'll keep looking and checking out the tips here and will hopefully get this wrapped up soon!

[ardie42]

we have this camera also. We have been diving with it for about 2 years. We took it to Hawaii and the Caribbean as well as some stateside places. It takes really nice pictures. You will love it.

[cruzegirl]

I'm sorry to hear negative things about Sealife cameras. I've been considering a Sealife DC 800 or DC 1000. Could you tell me what model you and your friend had problems with?

 

Hi,

I had the Sealife dc 350. It was horrible. Last year, another friend of mine bought the Sealife dc 800 against my advice. Nothing but problems. Short battery life, flooding, poor photo quality prior to flooding. And horrible photos on land prior to underwater shots. It's a poor camera.

[scuabacruiser]

Thanks for all your feedback! I've looked at a few options on Ebay but I'm a little concerned about buying a used set up even if the seller says it's great. My Olympus set up looks great until the darn camera shuts itself off mid-dive. That really was upsetting the last time I used that camera! Not a lot of options when you are diving and you need to open the housing to turn the camera back on :mad:. I'll keep looking and checking out the tips here and will hopefully get this wrapped up soon!

My DW has 2 Olympus w/matching uw housings and loves both of them. 1 is 560 uz and the newer one is stylus 760. Olympus up grades there camera so fast, after 2 yrs or less, its obsolete. No problems with either one. She is able to access every function on the camera under water through the housings. Both also take good surface pix as well. I would look for close out deals to get a good price on the camera/housing, and I would get the factory matching housing to go with them. That's just me.

[jimw]

Since I first wrote here, I've made some dives with my Olympus point and shoot FE 360 and Olympus housing PT 044. No leaks on dives to 100ft--or to 20 feet for that matter. Amazing picture quality for the price using the internal strobe--especially on macro. It make a very small package too, unlike the box full of stuff I need with my Nikonos. The strobe diffuser on the housing really does a nice job. Macro and close focus wide angle are both lit well within 2-3 feet. It's WELL worth the $138. I spent for both camera and housing..................

 

2 divers we regularly dive with have Sea Life cameras and both have trouble with them--for a month or 2 recently-neither of them had a camera to use. The company is pretty good about replacing them, though it sometimes takes a few weeks or months.

[turtlegirl2]

I'm curious as to where you bought the Olympus set-up for what seems to be a really good price! Was is new or used? Do you have any pics you can share to show the quality? That sounds like a really good deal!! Thanks for sharing!

 

Since I first wrote here, I've made some dives with my Olympus point and shoot FE 360 and Olympus housing PT 044. No leaks on dives to 100ft--or to 20 feet for that matter. Amazing picture quality for the price using the internal strobe--especially on macro. It make a very small package too, unlike the box full of stuff I need with my Nikonos. The strobe diffuser on the housing really does a nice job. Macro and close focus wide angle are both lit well within 2-3 feet. It's WELL worth the $138. I spent for both camera and housing..................

 

2 divers we regularly dive with have Sea Life cameras and both have trouble with them--for a month or 2 recently-neither of them had a camera to use. The company is pretty good about replacing them, though it sometimes takes a few weeks or months.

[jimw]

Camera used on ebay $38. with shipping---new housing from Adorama $99. free shipping.

Of course I had to buy an Olympus memory card--kind of high priced compared to SD cards. The camera also uses MicroSD cards with an adapter that comes with the camera--they are phasing out the Olympus XD card. I bought a new 2 gig on ebay for $16., also bought a new 2 gig MicroSD at Sams Club for $10. Take a look at http://www.backscatter.com for their recommendations. I will try to figger out how to post pics here--they are on my computer now anyway.

[jimw]

http://picasaweb.google.com/jwood1138/BlueHeronBridge02

 

A few pictures from Olympus FE 360 and Olympus housing. I hope this link is good!!! As you may have guessed, I'm new at this..............

[tommy2tone_1999]

I use a Canon A570is with the matching Canon U/W housing (WP-DC12). I also use an Ikelite Substrobe S. I have also installed the CHDK add-on to increase the camera's capabilities (mainly to allow it to save photos in RAW mode).

[SCUBA Mark]

I use a Sealife Reefmaster Min (SL 320) with a wide angle lens and an external flash. It is a 6 MP digital camera and takes awesome pictures.

 

I have found that the external flash makes all the difference in the world. I have used an external flash on a different 2MP digital camera and those pictures came out great also.

 

I have used the Reefmaster Mini when I snorkel without the flash and it takes great pictures without the flash in shallow water.

 

See some of my pictures below

 

Mark

[jamga02]

I have a Sea and Sea DX-1G that takes very good photos, especially macro, and is fine unless you want to shoot raw. Then it is sloooooow to write the info to the sd card.

 

Currently using a Canon 50d with a Ikelite housing and DS125; awesome pictures but super bulky, expensive and a steep learning curve.

 

I second the previous postings on Sealife, I bought one last December for a backup camera for my wife, returned it the day after receiving it!

 

I would really try to pick up a used setup on Ebay or wetpixel.com. Also, I believe that you must first start off with a great camera, and then ensure a good housing is available. Check Consumer Reports for the best cameras in your price range, then use the internet to check for a housing. Pay attention to the strobe needed to work with the setup, most cameras can take a good picture/but no cameras take a good picture without light.:)

[turtlegirl2]

Those pictures are great Jim! Thanks for sharing!! Looks like your Olympus was a good buy! :-)

 

Where was the dive site? We vacation in Florida each year and would like to find a good dive location within driving distance of Tampa/Clearwater Beach, which is where we stay. We are not interested in the dives from Tampa -- too far and not much to see. We usually drive to Orlando for the theme parks but a dive trip would not be a bad bonus if we can get some good recommendations. Thanks!