Advice on a good underwater camera??

lbjpryan · Post by **lbjpryan** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 4:50 pm

Wondered if anyone could offer any advice on a good underwater camera for our trip to STJ...We have used disposables in the past and were not very successful.

Looking for something digital if anyone has any advice. Thanks in advance.. John

promoguy · Post by **promoguy** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 4:58 pm

We bought a canon sd800 a few months ago and I debated on whether or not to get the underwater housing for $160ish more. Glad I did. First time I've taken more underwater than on land.

I think by the time you factor in the cost of the disposable and the cost of prints it will become a wash almost after one trip.

If you want to see some pix from the camera go to www.pbase.com/promoguy101 Go to the 2007 trip pix. Now I will admit I have a program that adjust the quality, so although they have been tweaked. They are not all there, but enough for you to get an idea.

Calif Girl also used a housing for her canon and you can check hers out on pbase also at pbase.com/thegripps

lbjpryan · Post by **lbjpryan** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 5:08 pm

Thanks...I have a Nikon D50 SLR so a housing is probably out for me unless I buy another small digital camera and the housing, which is an option.

sea-nile · Post by **sea-nile** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 5:15 pm

I used the underwater casing for a Canon SD600. It is a great camera and very small so with the underwater housing it made it just the size of a regular camera.
sample:
Click on the picture to view all of them.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sea-nile/687032874/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1325/687 ... 4aec2c.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="STJ 6-12-07 008e"></a>

beachluvers · Post by **beachluvers** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 5:33 pm

We purchased the Canon G7 and underwater housing for our trip. We'll use the underwater functions for the first time when we get to the island, so I don't have photos for you to see. The G7 is very easy to use and has a digital processing software that is just as good if not better than Photoshop. We spent about $600 for the camera and close to 180 for the housing, but the prices have already come down. Do a search on shopzilla. The Cannon website has a very nice product description for comparison between the models. By the way, over the 4th of July the camera was accidently (phew!) dropped onto concrete from about 7 feet. It still works!!!!!

Have fun shopping! Our thought was if we are going to spend all this money in paradise we want GREAT photos!

benchill · Post by **benchill** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 5:36 pm

There are two really cool newer digital point and shoots that are water resistent. Check these out and as long as you are just snorkeling or limited freediving, you will love either of them.

The Pentax W30:
http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/4228/fi ... o-w30.html

The Olympus 770SW:
http://www.popphoto.com/photonews/3700/ ... 770sw.html

I love the Olympus but the Pentax seems to score better in tests and reviews.

I hope this helps.

Ben

liamsaunt · Post by **liamsaunt** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 6:40 pm

I got really good results with the camera I ended up buying on St. Thomas--a Canon SD 800 with additional underwater housing. The two items were around $450 on St. Thomas. I did not try and bargain, I don't know if I could have gotten them cheaper.

To be honest, the best investment turned out to be photoshop. It makes an amazing and immediate difference in the quality of the underwater photos, just using the automatic settings. I was even able to go back and tweak underwater photos from film cameras (with limited succes, but still...) from prior vacations.

Here is an example. Turtle at Scott Beach, using the canon 800, with underwater housing and polarizing filter:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/872700112/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1164/872 ... 415e9c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="685"></a>

and the same photo after using the auto settings on photoshop:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/871848517/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1405/871 ... c4520f.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="turtle"></a>

Or, here is a fish photo. Before photoshop:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/872752854/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1360/872 ... 2e95e3.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="192"></a>

after:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/871901525/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1137/871 ... f59587.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="b;ue tang"></a>

jmq · Post by **jmq** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:14 pm

Wow SeaNile and Liamsaunt those are 2 great turtle photos. Awesome clarity,
Polarizing filter underwater? Thats a new one. Does it help? Dont know if my Canon fits into the case with the filter adaptor on.
JMQ

sillymom · Post by **sillymom** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 12:36 am

amazing photos,I think I really need to look into getting the housing for my Canon SD 700 .Anyone know if I will save money buying it there verses buying it here? Thanks for the info .

Noel

liamsaunt · Post by **liamsaunt** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:40 am

The filter came with the housing and snapped on to the outside. The manual said it would help diffuse the flash while taking underwater pictures, if I am remembering right.

promoguy · Post by **promoguy** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:50 am

Sillymom-Try Amazon. My housing was about 160.00 and if you have time, apply for the Amazon credit card because it gives you a 30.00 signup credit.

Liamsaunt-I shot all of the photos in underwater mode and I believe that filters out a lot of the bad blue stuff. A good photo program will get rid of the rest. The housing for the camera is only for flash and is not a polarizing filter. The underwater mode seems to do that.

sea-nile · Post by **sea-nile** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:04 pm

Amazon.com is where I got my housing too. I found it to be the best price.

I usually used the underwater setting also.

Gizzmo · Post by **Gizzmo** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 5:05 pm

Well... Now you have me thinking

(this could be trouble) I have looked at past post and it seems the general answer is to buy an underwater housing if you can. That is not an option for me. Does the housing fog up? I would think that would be a problem. Now I am looking at a Pentax Optio or a Vivitar 6200W. Neither have a underwater housing. Any info is , as always appreciated!

JJShaw · Post by **JJShaw** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 9:42 am

We have the Olympus 770 SW...we bought it on St Thomas while we were there...we love it..Im so glad we had it for our underwater pics while we were there. We use it here at home as well for quick snap shots out by the pool and in the house. Very versatile camera. Im so glad we bought it..and theres no housing needed down to 33ft.

RickG · Post by **RickG** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 12:02 pm

liamsaunt wrote:To be honest, the best investment turned out to be photoshop. It makes an amazing and immediate difference in the quality of the underwater photos, just using the automatic settings.

I agree, any kind of software that can adjust the color levels are great. CaliGal wrote a good treatise on this at http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... =photoshop, and jmq mentioned the free option of Picasa at http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... =photoshop

I use a relative old Canon S400 in an underwater housing. It has no "underwater" setting for the white balance. I could manually set the white balance, but photoshop does well enough for me.

I need to pick a pocket camera for our October trip. I'm thinking the Canon SD800/SD850 will work well. I've also been looking at the new Canon G7, but it weighs twice as much.

Cheers, RickG

usvi-on-line

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Advice on a good underwater camera??

Advice on a good underwater camera??