Sealife Ecoshot SL321 camera ?

[onthelake]

Just wondering if anyone has this camera. I'm not a camera person, but I want a good waterproof camera for snorkeling (not too much $$$). Easy to use and so I can us it in and out of the water. Most of the other camera's only go to 10-12 feet. So what happens if you dive down to get a closer shot?

Thanks for your help
Pam

[Steve S]

I believe this camera is very similar to the Vivitar 6200w which we tried out this year. It was very rugged and took good shots but there is no optical zoom. It is also a little bulkier than the average digital cam.

[Gromit]

You should PM DC Photo. She's a professional photog and she often gives excellent advice in this regard.

[onthelake]

Steve, Someone else mentioned the optical zoom to me.
What am I losing if I don't have optical zoom? And what other camera(s) would be a better choice?

Thanks Gromit ... thats a good idea!

[DCphoto]

Thanks Gromit for you nice comments! I bought my husband a Cannon 770 SW, with a housing. The reason for the housing is my Pentax died because the battery door came open during a snorkel and ruined it. So I am not taking any other chances with it being waterproof. We will be using that camera for the first time in Dec.
I really can't comment on any other camera other than what I use. I also have the Sea and Sea 1G with housing. It's 10.1 meg. Love it! I paid over a $1,000.00 for that camera.
I'm not an expert on underwater, I just play around with it while I'm on vacation. I take photos of politicians mostly here in Washington for a living. Pretty boring but it pays the bills. If interested in seeing my web site it is SLSphoto.com In one of my galleries I have some underwater shots that I took in St.John.

[Steve S]

Steve, Someone else mentioned the optical zoom to me.
What am I losing if I don't have optical zoom? And what other camera(s) would be a better choice?

Thanks Gromit ... thats a good idea!

With optical zoom, you are actually zooming in on your subject using lenses. Digital zoom is cropping your image and making it full screen.

For a basic example, say a picture is made up of 100 x100 squares or pixels. That's 10,000 squares in the picture. If you want to zoom in on the lower right quarter, say, an optical zoom will still give you a picture with 10,000 squares, a digital zoom will now have an image with 50x50 or 2500 squares so the final image may appear grainier.

I believe the 6200 is 6 mega pixels, so the photos will still have pretty good quality if you zoom.

In practice, I use optical zoom rarely under water. Because it is often hard to find your subject on the screen, point and shoot is quite literal under water. You'll almost always have to do some centering and cropping of your images afterward.

Where the digital zoom comes up short is out of the water. The dry-land photos are clear and true, but you can't seem to get close enough to your subject.

Just my two cents.

[onthelake]

Thanks Steve for explaining that. Now I see why it would be better to have the optical zoom.

DC I looked at the 770sw and it said 10 ft on one site, but I just look at the specs on another site and it said 33ft. And it does have 3x optical zoom.

Thank you both for helping me make my choice !!!

Pam

[DCphoto]

It does go to 33ft. Another thing to remember, some have a time limit that it can be in the water. Also make sure you rinse it off with clean water afterwards to remove the salt. My Pentax I use to have said a 1/2 hour but I went a lot longer than that with out any problems. The door problem was human error, I'm guessing. Do go with Optical, much better quality of photos.

[Lumiere]

I purchased the ReefMaster Mini. I never noticed a time limit for underwater usage.

I have a 20D w/pro lenses and just wanted something more practical for underwater use. I am happy w/it, but miss the better quality images I get w/my dslr. If/when we go back I will be upgrading to an underwater dslr. I was not to happy w/the digital zoom that it provides, but the video option is nice. Again, not pro quality and a little small, but all around I am happy w/the portability, upkeep and results (considering the camera).

I will post a couple of shots soon.

[Lumiere]

Here you go...hope this works.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3226/282 ... d3.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3182/282 ... 7.jpg?v=0/

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3098/281 ... 15bc_m.jpg

[cptnkirk]

Here are some pics from vivitar 6200. Like steve said same camera, should be able to get it for about $100 on the net. They will be bluer straight from the camera. I used picasa using I Feel Lucky and heres what ya get.

[alw1977]

I'm really confused - DCPhoto mentions the purchase of a Canon 770SW. When I do a google search for that, I cannot find a Canon model with that number, but I do see an Olympus 770SW. Is that what you're referring to?

[Steve S]

The 720, 770, 790, 850, 1030, and 1050 SW are all part of the Olympus waterproof and shockproof line-up. Some are rated at 10 ft others at 33 ft.

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_secti ... tal_sw.asp

[DCphoto]

Try googling Olympus Stylus 770SW Flip Flop just got back and had trouble with her camera flooding. I purchase a underwater case for mine, for that reason. I lost a pentax because of flooding out the camera. I don't want to keep relacing cameras every year for vacation, just a thought. It was couple of hundred more for the case.

Sandy

[DCphoto]

Sorry for the misquote. I don't know what I was thinking.