Under water camera suggestions?

[Illyse]

Only 4 1/2 weeks until our trip!!! Can anyone suggest a decent "disposable" underwater camera? I know Kodak and Fuji make them. Who has had good luck with one?

Also, anyone know about the cost of renting snorkle gear at Cinnamon Bay? We are debating renting versus buying/bringing as we are only going to be there for 4 days.

THANKS! I love this forum!

Illyse

[michigancouple]

I've used the disposable Fuji cameras and have been happy with the results. One suggestion I would make is that when you get the film processed is that you have them burn you a photo CD also. This way you can take the images to your computer in a program such as Picasa and edit them to your liking. I used it to remove some of the green cast, crop, enhance color saturation, etc.

Here are a few of the pics I took with the Fuji:

[olivias dad]

While I don't own one (yet), I hear the Cannon D10 is reasonably priced and is pretty rugged. Google it, I have heard decent reviews or click below to get a review from CNET...

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras ... 29078.html

[Steve S]

Has anyone tried the new Fuji offering? It's in the $150 -$175 range.

http://www.fujifilm.com/products/digita ... pix_z33wp/

[Illyse]

Thanks for the info - and PICTURES! The disposable Fuji looks fine. I read somewhere that kodak offers a special developing for underwater film which reduces the blues and enhances the colors.

[casco]

I saw some underwater pictures taken with the Canon D10 (posted on this forum) and decided to research my own camera. I just got back today and looked at the pictures I took with my new Canon D10; on my 58" plasma,some of the underwater pictures are stunning. The best pictures were those taken on the several sunny days we had. The pictures did not have as much pop on the overcast days.

I found the website and article below when researching underwater cameras. This is a long article but you need to cycle through the pages by clicking through the "next" button at the bottom of each page (easily missed if you look at the page quickly). Hope it helps.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q209waterproofgroup/

[2beachbums]

We just got the Olympus Stylus Tough 8000 and loved it for our recent trip. It took great pictures underwater and above water. When I figure out how to post pics I will!

[Illyse]

Just thought I'd report back after our trip with our thoughts on the disposable Fuji. We weren't in a position to buy the Canon D10 (which seems to take fantastic pictures) and we probably won't need an underwater camera again for a very long time, so we went with the Fuji disposable.

Sadly, our pictures were no where near the quality of those posted above! I did get the CD and was able to do some enhancement. (I'll try to post some of the photos later, as they are downloaded onto a different computer than I am using now...)

Here are some of my thoughts: It's easy to use (big snap thingy to take photos, big wheel to advance film). The viewfinder is TINY so it was very hard to see (through your mask!) what you were actually taking a photo of - felt a bit more like aim and hope! However, for only spending 9 bucks on the camera, 11 bucks for the developing and the CD it's hard to complain. If I were to do this again I would be sure that I am taking pictures as close to my subject as possible and only when the water was quite shallow and VERY sunny (I think this is true for even the better digital cameras).

One last thing - we have all become so used to taking digital pictures that it was odd to take a picture and not be able to see it right away. I also realize that I took way more pictures "carelessly" forgetting that, unlike digital photography, I only had 27 shots. Of course, when we finally spotted a turtle and then a spotted eagle ray, all the photos were used up! Oh well, I've got the "internal photos" in my head!

[GraysonDave]

I am a novice AT BEST on this stuff. I have used the disposables before, and was disappointed. I might get one decent shot from an entire roll.

My daughter went to the Cayman Islands last fall, and before she went I bought her a $99 digital underwater camera at Walmart. Don't remember the brand offhand. Although more expensive up front, she took literally hundreds of photos and only paid to have the best handful printed. It'll work out far cheaper in the long run for poor photographers like me and her.

I'll be taking it with me on my visit to St. John a week from now.

In my experience the only good pics I have taken were in shallow water on very sunny days.

[tipsy]

Used the Kodak disposable last May in Aruba and pics were great. Like previously said, takes getting used to,having to look in the viewfinder, so lost some good shots in beginning till remembered. Wished knew about the CD part when developing,so could have them on computer too.

This time for our trip, already picked up a fuji one, but going to be buying few more so might switch back & forth between brands to test it out.

Might look in Wal-Mart for the $99 one. only been snorkeling once so can't justify a more expensive one yet.

[pmk]

A cheap alternative is the DiCAPac underwater housing for your point and shoot.

http://www.amazon.com/DiCAPac-WP-500-Un ... B00161BY4I

I've used the same one for the last two years and have had good luck so far.

pmk

[ClevelandDave]

I picked up a soft bag with a hard lens fitting to allow for zoom.

http://www.waterproofcases.net/aqp-420.html

The bag was great but the lens had a tendancy to shift a bit when not zoomed. Just left it partially zoomed and was all set after that.

That's the nice thing about digitals. You can practice all you want and even stop and check as you go (on shore, of course)