Underwater camera that costs less than $200?

Teresa_Rae · Post by **Teresa_Rae** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:21 pm

I'm thinking about buying a relatively cheap underwater camera. The underwater housing for my current camera is so expensive that I'd rather just buy an underwater camera and be done with it.

I know there aren't many underwater cameras for less than $200, but does anyone have any recommendations?

Here is one I found for example:
http://www.anchorexpress.com/product_de ... m?pid=9395

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

VayCay · Post by **VayCay** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:34 pm

http://www.amazon.com/Kodak-Water-Sport ... B000066HUG

27 exposures...don't have to worry about wrecking it. at least 10 trips worth of camera's for half of your budget

alw1977 · Post by **alw1977** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:41 pm

Teresa, have you considered looking on ebay for a used or refurbished Olympus? There are plenty of 790's listed for the $130-$200 range.

jimg20 · Post by **jimg20** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:43 pm

That's our camera. We have the floating strap also. And here is it's work.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3108/253 ... 895d82.jpg

We took some time to learn how to use it, but it worked well. It would have been better if we took it under water and used ti before we left.

JIM

Post by **Anthony** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:55 pm

Steve S reported on this camera:

<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=caribbeano ... FFFF&f=ifr" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>

Here: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... 4848da1156

jmq · Post by **jmq** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:02 pm

Think there was some discussion here (edit: there it is above - thanks Anthony) re the Vivitar Vivicam 6200W, which may be had for less than $200 (actually $131.99 direct from Vivitar, even less when in stock from Amazon).

I’m real picky about photography, so I might only consider it as a secondary camera for the kid, as the cost of shooting a couple single use/disposables plus developing adds up over a couple of trips and those photos are rarely good IMO (lotsa grain, etc.)

From what I can surmise from reviews, results can be pretty good. It doesnt have optical zoom, which could limit it as a land camera (image quality suffers with digtial zoom). It does have 6mp, important so images can be cropped as UW shots are hard to frame. Again, as with any camera, image quality ultimately depends on who is pushing the button. It takes SD cards, which can be had dirt cheap. I just picked up a 2gb card for $10.

http://www.vivitar.com/en-us/Products/6Megapixels.aspx

http://www.vivitar.com/ecms.aspx/3986e1 ... +6200w.pdf

http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&q= ... a=N&tab=wf

http://www.amazon.com/Vivitar-VIVICAM-6 ... B000QCI65I

Steve S · Post by **Steve S** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:24 pm

The Vivtar is on sale at target.com for $99. (Sorry, Anthony, don't mean to take business away from you.)

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/re ... B000QCI65I

And I agree with JMQ, I bought it as a 2nd camera for the kids. It worked fine underwater, but no optical zoom limits you on land.

Toodles.

Teresa_Rae · Post by **Teresa_Rae** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:38 pm

The Vivitar is out of stock right now...and I leave in two weeks...hmm...otherwise I'd be sold.

Thanks folks, I really appreciate the input!

sherban · Post by **sherban** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 6:29 pm

Try the link Anthony provided it is instock.... $99.-

cptnkirk · Post by **cptnkirk** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:12 pm

Teresa the Vivatar takes pretty good pics as long as you tune them up on your computer I used Picasa. My only complaint is no optical zoom pics get grainy using digital zoom really bad at 4x. Heres some pics from the camera. For $100 its a great deal.
http://s179.photobucket.com/albums/w310 ... =slideshow
The pics that are really blue have not been tuned up the land shots are also from the camera.

kingConch · Post by **kingConch** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 11:20 pm

We got a great deal on a Olympus 770 ---$160 from fry's (it was their last one, the demo)

We've had a 770SW for just over a year and have taken hundreds of pictures underwater (...and under-beer... and under-cider. Nothing like taking pub pictures from inside of pints!)

The underwater pictures are fantastic. I jumped at the chance to get a 2nd one for my daughters to use on St John in less then 2 weeks! YAY!

The demo took great pictures above water. And i assume the one picture it took of the bottom of our pool was great, too.

We'll never know.

It flooded as soon as the flash went off.

Oh well. I imaging being manhandled by the mass of humanity in a big box electronics discount store for 1 year is tougher then being crushed in a block of ice.

Teresa_Rae · Post by **Teresa_Rae** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 10:50 am

That’s weird, the Vivitar was out of stock yesterday and is back in stock this morning! You can't beat $99.

I think I’ll go with that camera since it’s the cheapest option.

Thanks everybody, I really appreciate your help!!

usvi-on-line