USVI-On-Line

Has anyone tried this camera? Sounds tough, Shockproof and Waterproof to 10 ft it might be ideal for a trip to STJ. It came out last spring and caught my eye, the cost is $300 - 400.

Steve, I found this camera a few weeks ago too because my compact digital is getting beat up. I like the waterproof and shockproof features. The only negative I see is that it doesn't have a viewfinder, only a LCD. This can make taking photos difficult in bright daylight (i.e. the beach).

There are a bunch of reviews online (Google them) and reviews on Amazon.com. I'm still on the fence.

I've got one haven't tried it under water yet but the pics are great that I have taken will try it in STJ in Jan

waterguy wrote:I've got one haven't tried it under water yet but the pics are great that I have taken will try it in STJ in Jan

Please let us know how it works while on the beach and underwater.. Thanks.

Here is some info from JMQ who replied to me about a question on digital cameras a while back. This is a review for a similar model by Pentax. Just one person's opinion......

"If you don’t want to fuss with a housing, two newer choices for digitals that do not require a separate housing include the Olympus Stylus 720SW for $350-$400 that claims it is good to depth of 10 feet and the Pentax Optio W10 for $300, but I think it only goes to depth of 3-5 feet. There are also time limits those models can be in the water - usually 30 min or so.

However, 2 months ago I saw this reply to a similar thread on another forum: “I went through the same exact decision process this Spring before our April trip to Virgin Gorda. After what I thought was some pretty good research, I bought the Pentax WPi (recently succeded by the Pentax W10). It was a gigantic MISTAKE. Don't do it! The image quality is miserable. Plus, lacking an optical viewfinder, you must rely on the LCD screen and you absolutely cannot see it in bright daylight.

The WPi and W10 are rated for 30 minutes at 5 feet depth. Once I began using it, I realized how nominal that actually is and started worrying so much about it that I barely used it underwater except for taking a few pictures while standing in chest-deep water.

After returning, I felt like such an idiot for making such an absolutely lousy buying decision that I continued searching for better information. I then bought a Canon Powershot A620. What a wonderful difference in image quality and usability!!!

The A620 is available now at even a much better price than I paid for it 2 months ago - about $210-220 at Amazon. (The A620 is being superseded by the newer A700, but people seem to think the A620 is still a better camera because of cheaper construction of the A700.) Although the A620 is not itself underwater-rated, there is an auxiliary underwater housing made for it by Canon that costs about $150, and the A620 does have an underwater color balance setting built into it.

Even though I'm a professional photographer with too many expensive SLR cameras (all Nikons too), I'm beginning to rely totally on my Canon A620 for all kinds of snapshooting occasions, including fast-moving sports activities of our son. Overall, it's the best P&S camera either my wife or I has ever used.”

So that is another vote for the Canon set-up that I and others have extolled here. Maybe others with experience with the Olympus or Pentax can weigh in. Note the opinion above is from a pro – the image quality you get from an all in one camera might be good enough to your eye.

Before buying go to www.dpreview.com...best site out there by far for researching and comparing digital cameras."

Interesting thread on these cameras. The housing I was thinking about getting for my old C4040 last year was more than these new cameras! If anyone here is going to buy, check out the prices on Amazon - they seem pretty good, and the forum gets a commission:
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I payed 239 from a company out of NYC watch out they try to have you pay for over priced assories

$239 for the Olympus Stylus 720SW? That sounds like a great price. You do have to watch out for "grey" market stuff coming out of NYC when you see those great prices. Cameras and such sometimes are not real U.S. market merchandise, and the warranties etc. will be worthless is something happens to your gear. I am not saying this happened to you or that it happens a lot, but I have heard of the practice!

Okay you guys, did anyone purchase the Olympus?
My husband and I are leaving for STJ in four weeks and the underwater camera bug hit big time today. The first one I came across that I liked was the Olympus Stylus 720SW. I then went to one of my favorite websites - epinions.com. Four great reviews, one very negative one. The problem is with the 10 feet up to 1 hour. The one hour certainly won't cut it for us. I looked at the price of the housing - it adds another $300. I'll look at more of your suggestions.

I have one and it worked great when we were down in jan. here is a couple of pictures I took with it and cleaned up with the software.








you can click on them to see the full size in my album.
Tom

We just purchased one and used it for the first time yesterday - so far so good - used it underwater ie: put it underwater and took "feet" pictures - I know lame I'm sure, but didn't have a mask on so just wanted to try it out and feet were the only thing available that would stay still Downloaded pictures yesterday and they look good but the only thing that is difficult, is to see in the sunlight as there is no "peep hole" (don't know what you call that little old fashioned thingie you look through) only the screen, and it was hard to see anything in direct sunlight. I'll fill you in as we pratice more with it if you want.

Pia

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We just got one! our daughter bought us one for christmas to have on St John's this summer. Can't wait to try it out. So far the pictures we have taken are great, but of course have not tried it underwater. Would love to hear some reviews as well.

Luv ya too Jorge but sorry I haven't had a pedi in a while

Pia

Jeff and Russ have some comments on this camera.

http://www.on-stjohn.com/