USVI-On-Line

Can anyone recommend a good underwater camera for less than $200 dollars?

Check out this link. Not only will you get a great deal but it will help support the board.
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... 9707#49707

Thanks Xislandgirl, I'm always up for supporting the forum but I would still like to hear from people who have used any of these cameras and what they thought of them. I have an old canon digital 200S and was wondering if it was worth it to just buy a cheap underwater camera or get a waterproof camera cover.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Naturegirl,
I used one of our friends canon s500 cameras diving in the BVI's and it worked great. If your camera is still in good shape I would just buy the underwater case for it. I just bought a new Canon 570 IS and a new underwater case for it so hopefully it will work as well as the one I borrowed last year. My old s10 Canon finally died this summer after 8 years. It looks like the case you need is the wpdc-600. I found it on Amazon for $170.00. I bought my case on ebay and the new camera from Beach Camera.
Jay

CaptainJay and NatureGirl,

I was looking at the Olympus 560 at the digital photo show on Friday (8 megapixals over the 550's 7; and it has face recognition). It seems pretty nice. I need a camera, since our old point and shoot broke for the second time a few days ago (good timing!).

I was also looking at the underwater housing. It's good to 130 feet. I don't think I'll be at that depth, AND it's dark down there, anyway; so most of the usage will be for snorkeling and while at down to 30 feet, say, on a sunny day.

The housing sure makes the whole thing a lot bigger! And both reps we were talking to could not emphasize enough the importance of testing your O rings after each dive. You have to take them out (one pair), inspect them, lubricate them with silicone and tuck them back in. Put the camera in, close and dunk in a bucket to see if it's leaking. Oh, you also have to put a silica pack into the housing to prevent that nasty condensation or you'll get pictures that will bring to mind the old vid of Marianne Faithful doing "As Tears Go By".

Something else to add to my day that finishes with dunking the wetsuits and cleaning the BCs (Just once I didn't clean the wetsuits properly and *they stank*.)

CaptainJay, do you dive with Bruce & Co from Dive In at Sapphire?

We're probably picking up the camera at CircuitCity today. Oh, and you need a different kind of chip for this that an older camera, probably.

Cat

Saphire,
I had realy good luck with my old canon so I bought another one. The one we bought is the a570 is. It was only $175 from beach photo. It has image stabilization and face recongnition and auto red eye. I've only had it for a few days but I like it alot and think it will do fine.

Here is a link to some photo's I took with my friends Canon S500 diving.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJqLyc0KeZA

I haven't dove with the guys at Saphire. We usually dive while we are on charter. I am still up in the air on bringing my dive gear this trip as we may not have time to get any in. Its a short trip and we have some business to take care of. My wife as a second interview for a job while we are down and I am likely going to look at some real estate and or a boat or two while we are down.
Jay

Hi Jay,

Thanks for the photo show. I can't believe how white the coral is becoming. I've heard different things about the causes.

We got the Olympus today, as per above message, and guess what -- it has 3 underwater settings, including a macro. What will they load into cameras next? Oddly, the reps didn't even mention this (at the camera exhibition; and one guys was a diver and talked about how the co was sending him on all these delicious trips to promote the camera. Well, that's a whole other topic, isn't it?)

We're going to be on Sapphire Beach some of the same time you are. We hope to do some beach sitting and some snorkeling so maybe we can say hello to each other.

Cat

captjay-I couldn't find that particular housing on Amazon. Do you have a link to it?

Sapphire-How much did you pay for your underwater camera. If you have an underwater camera do you still need to buy housing for it?

Nature Girl,

Here is the link.




http://www.nextag.com/Canon-WP-DC600-Wa ... rices-html

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/ ... 35-6722230


http://www.helixcamera.com/fs-canon-ps- ... OAod5iYmWQ

Jay

Thanks so much CapJ!

I like my old Canon S410 with the canon provided housing. It does just fine for what I use it for. My shots from November are at:



Instead of taking it out of the housing for land photos, I bought a Canon S850 IS to take around in my pocket.

Cheers, RickG

RickG, those are some incredible shots, particularly the jellyfish and the turtle's. We are definately buying the housing for our S200!

We are planning to upgrade to a digital slr in the future but in the meantime, is it difficult to take the camera out of the housing in order to get the land shots? My husband is taking his ancient canon AE-1 that still works great but I'm nervous about leaving it on the beach while we are in the water.

After ruining my Canon SD630 recently, I've been researching cameras. My original plan was to get another Canon Elph (maybe the SD800 or 850) and an underwater housing for it. Now I'm having another thought. I'm still interested in the Canon, but instead of getting an underwater housing, I'm thinking about also getting an underwater camera (either Olympus or Pentax). The housing would cost a bit and for a bit more I could pick up a second camera of lesser quality but of much greater durability. Amazon is selling the Pentax Optio W30 for $219 right now.