USVI-On-Line

My husband and I spent our 40th on St. John last July. I now have a new favorite place to dream about. We loved to snorkel, and spent most of our time on island doing just that...
The only big disappointment was, when we had brought a Panasonic Lumix underwater camera to get some good shots of our times underwater. Well we were able to use it a total of three times before it started fogging then it died on us all together....We were very careful to use/ and care for it correctly too.
So I was wondering if anyone had a suggestion as to what camera to buy for next year, so we don't have the same problem as this last year.
I have been looking into the Hero3, but am afraid to bite the bullet, even reading the great reviews( the lumix had great reviews too).

Any opinions or suggestions will be gratefully excepted.

I keep looking at the GoPro. My old Canon with the waterproof housing takes great pictures, but does not have a white balance setting for underwater.

Cheers, RickG

Rick,
Thanks for the quick reply.
The Go pro looks temping. I have heard that there is less fisheye with the newest one (Hero3 black.) I would like to use it out of the water too, so less fisheye to me the better. Its way more costly then the others tho... Not sure I want to spend that much...but I really want something dependable.
If you end up getting one please post your impressions.

Get an Intova, does all the GoPro does and has easier button capability. You can get a Sport model for under $300. I started my u/w photo career with one and it is a great investment. Great all around camera, does nice land shots as well.

The Intova looks interesting. I really like that the GoPro has a wifi access point builtin that would let me control it from an smartphone or tablet. That helps a lot if its on a boat's rail or top of a vehicle.

Cheers, RickG

Rick:

Learned from several friends who have GoPro's mounted on their m/c helmets that WiFi makes it a battery hog. Less of an issue if you disable WiFi.

Best of luck w/ your decision.

JohnM

Thanks for the suggestions...
I will check into the Intova. Thanks for the heads up.
Wifi would be nice..but If I could just be able to spend the week getting some good shots, and maybe a couple of videos...Id be a happy gal. The extra bells and whistles would be just that...extra.
My big wish is for no leaks, and good photos.

JohnM wrote:Rick:

Learned from several friends who have GoPro's mounted on their m/c helmets that WiFi makes it a battery hog. Less of an issue if you disable WiFi.

Best of luck w/ your decision.

JohnM

JM, I was imagining the fun things you could do on a boat with the wifi video - clamp to the bow for mooring, up the mast, time lapse in the cockpit... and snorkeling. I'm not bringing a laptop on the next trip and the wifi capability would let me preview photos and videos. It's easy to recharge a camera on a sailboat.

Cheers, RickG