Digital Underwater Cameras

[LENAAPPLE1974]

Hello all,

After my last vacation to Florida in 2009, I had decided before my next trip there, I would purchase a digital underwater camera. Upon looking around, I have found a few reasonably priced ones - and wanted to see what you guys all thought. Maybe you own some? I do not want a housing for my DSLRs or Nikon P80 - I just want a not overly priced seperate camera that will only be used for the water parks. The reviews honestly did not do much in the way of help.

Vivitar ViviCam 8400 8.1mp
Canon PowerShot D10
Bell & Howell Splash WP5 Waterproof 12 MP Digital Camera with 5X Zoom

Thank you in advance for your help!

[jml79]

The only one I have used is the Canon D10 and it worked great. Snorkelling in the ocean was not a problem and it takes decent pictures out of the water too. Check DPreview. They did a roundup of water proof cameras last year.

[Aleix]

Hello,

Take a look at the Pentax Optio W90.

Optio Point and Shoot Digital Cameras - Official PENTAX Imaging Web Site

Greetings

Olympus has several models that are shockproof, waterproof, freezeproof, dustproof and even crushproof. (All within specific tolerences.) You can see them at their website...

Shockproof Waterproof Digital Cameras Olympus

[lem238]

I have a Canon D10 that works wonderfully underwater and for those times you're a little nervous about it getting wet. I love it, and it seems every family vacation I go on someone else in my family has picked one up.

[inkista]

Fujifilm's just announced the Finepix XP30, which has GPS/geotagging capability.

[turtleman]

I've had the D10 for almost two years now and am very pleased with it. The picture quality at the lower ISO settings is top of the line for a point-and-shoot. This means that even in the dry it won't disappoint. The design is extremely resistant but also relatively bulky, which makes it slightly cumbersome as a carry-everywhere pocket camera. The lack of manual controls might annoy the SLR-accustomed photographer; OTOH a range of modes are available, to suit most creative needs (macro, night, sync flash, just to name a few). Playing around with modes and other settings (ISO, exposure compensation) will give you a certain amount of control over the shutter speed... while the aperture setting seems to work in mysterious ways (normally between 1:2.8 and 1:4.9 depending on the zoom, but some of my shots show a value of 1:8, 1:10 or even 1:14).

This camera is always with me at water parks, in the rain and in the snow!

[mrteacherdude]

I rented a Canon D10 for a trip to Mexico. I played around with it while snorkeling, messing around in the pool at the resort, the hot tub, , while out on a hobie cat, on the beach in the sand, and I shot photos of stuff growing in buckets of water in my yard. Overall I found it to be very durable and it shot really nice pictures, even in the hot tub Oh yea - my current avatar on this site was a picture I took with that camera; had the camera underwater facing up, while my face was down close to the surface of the water looking down at the camera (I was going for the fish's perspective).

The camera does have limitations though. The "nose" is bulbous and gets in the way of flash and macro. The images taken are still good, but you can only keep the middle portions.

I've read very good reviews about the other cameras that have been mentioned here though.

[candidrachel]

Cool replies! I was about to start my own thread but found this. I think I'l invest in a canon D10 for snorkelling and waterpark shots on holiday!

[kmtk24]

I Purchased the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1 on 02/3/10 along with the Panasonic marine camera case. One of the main reasons for purchasing the Lumix DMC-TS1 was the "waterproof" camera itself. I thought in the seemingly rare case that the marine housing were to leak the camera itself would be "waterproof". I thought I had a good back up plan. However on a shore dive (only the third vacation of using the Panasonic camera and housing), the housing leaked allowing water in the case. The shore dive was fairly shallow, no greater than 30 feet.

When I returned to the resort from the dive, I quickly removed the camera from the housing that was 1/2 full of water. I rinsed the camera off with tap water to rid the salt water. I let the camera air out for 24 hours before reassessing. I expected the camera to turn on, when it failed to turn on I was shocked. This is the first time the camera ever came in contact with water and it was while it was in the marine housing. My brother has a Canon that accidently got wet when his housing leaked and it still works, and it is not advertised as being a "waterproof" camera.

So I have two failed pieces of equipment from Panasonic each costing over $200 dollars. It happens to be 3 weeks over the year warranty . I have the wonderful opportunity of mailing in the defective equipment ( at my cost) and for $45 I can have their technician look at it. After it has been assessed , a repair fee will be given and thankfully I can apply the $45 dollars to the repair fee.
I have a Sealife camera and marine casing th
at has never leaked over the years of use. If you are planning on taking pictures while diving, you might want to consider other cameras.