Underwater camera for snorkeling??

blessed2BaMama

blessed2BaMama

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jun 3, 2013
We are getting everything ready to go to Aulani in October and have a few questions:
1) are they really a necessity? We are going on a catamaran and dolphin snorkeling adventure, a shark dive and to Hanauma bay to snorkel as well as at Aulani and anywhere else on Oahu we discover . We will have a rental car all trip.

2) if so, we are trying to decide about whether we need to buy 1 or 2 digital underwater cameras for our kids for snorkeling. I wonder if my tween and older teen each need one!

3) I am in need of opinions as to good ones to buy(can't spend an excessive amount but don't want one that will break after one use) . I don't want disposable cameras as I want better picture quality!

Please give me your thoughts!!
 
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We bought a refurbished Fuji xp80 on Amazon after reading so many people on the Dis loving the Fuji. I was nervous about buying refurbished but it worked fantastic and we got tons of great photos. I bought a floaty strap for it too. I think SAMs and Costco sell the need model as a bundle, the xp90. I've seen them on sale for $170. I think we paid $120 for ours.
 
We also bought the Fuji xp-80, also because of seeing so many great pictures here on this thread. We tried it out in the pool last week and I cannot believe how great the photos are. I dont know if it is a necessity but it sure is fun. I personally would buy just the one, the novelty wears off quickly.
 
jlwhitney said:
What is really great for the camera is just for beach pictures and pool pictures and not worrying about ruining a regular camera :)
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This is a good point, the last time we were at Aulani, I saw many people with protective sleeves for their cameras and phones and I thought I would just do that but obviously you cannot take underwater pics with that kind of thing
 
alohamom said:
This is a good point, the last time we were at Aulani, I saw many people with protective sleeves for their cameras and phones and I thought I would just do that but obviously you cannot take underwater pics with that kind of thing
Click to expand...

you can, actually, and we even bought a sleeve thingimajig that's supposedly waterproof, but DH didn't want to use it. his reasoning is that it's better to ruin a $200 water camera compared to a $700 smartphone in a $10 protective sleeve. i thought that sounded reasonable.

having said that i do have a friend who very successfully used one of those waterproof cases with his iPhone and took great photos.

i'll need to dig around in my files to see if i can find the names of both cases.
 
Another vote for the Fuji xp. I actually have two of the same model, for about 3 years. Have used them at Disney, beaches, waterparks, snorkeling and for every day pictures. And I totally agree with everyone who recommends the floating wrist strap.

::yes::
 
I also attached a small floaty wallet to my camera strap that held my room key. It was wonderful and used that the entire stay. I liked having all my essentials on my wrist and didn't leave anything with any value at our pool chairs. I barely used my DSLR because I didn't want to 1. Get it wet and 2. Leave it sitting at our pool chairs. :)
 
jtba said:
you can, actually, and we even bought a sleeve thingimajig that's supposedly waterproof, but DH didn't want to use it. his reasoning is that it's better to ruin a $200 water camera compared to a $700 smartphone in a $10 protective sleeve. i thought that sounded reasonable.
Click to expand...

that is good to know, I might just get one anyway, thanks!
 
We bought a Fuji right before our Aulani trip last week. It was great! We used it in the pools, lazy river, In The lagoon, snorkeling, etc. it comes with a wrist float strap. We saw people with the phone case, but it is cheaper to replace the camera than iPhone if the case were to leak or it were to get away from us somehow. My DD loved taking selfies of herself underwater in the pool with it.
 
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jtba said:
you can, actually, and we even bought a sleeve thingimajig that's supposedly waterproof, but DH didn't want to use it. his reasoning is that it's better to ruin a $200 water camera compared to a $700 smartphone in a $10 protective sleeve. i thought that sounded reasonable.
Click to expand...

My DH said the same thing, and so glad we went with the Fuji. Love that camera!!
 
Ok I'll chime in with one other recommendation....just in case DIS'ers buy all the Fujis!! LOL I have a Panasonic underwater that I gave about $180 for, and my friend has a similar Olympus. We both love them. I fourteenth (or however many) the floaty strap ;)

ETA and just a tip--get a color that will show up if you drop it!! LOL
 
I used the Joto bag and the life proof nuud case, both kept my phone dry but neither allowed me to press any buttons on the screen. For me the best camera for underwater snorkeling was the go pro hero 4 silver. It takes 1080 video at 30fps and snaps a 12MP picture every 5 seconds. Hope this helps.
 
We bought the Olympus tg3 for our Aulani trip. My husband enjoyed using it while snorkeling in the cove.

We have several other cameras, including a DSLR.
The Olympus was our most used camera at Aulani because we did not need to worry about getting it wet. We kept it with us in the pool and lazy river, while touring various beaches all over the island.

One tip: rinse the camera in fresh water after each use in the saltwater.
 
Also make sure to wipe off the lens when you are taking out of water photos, as many of our best photos have water spots on them! We used the Fuji that everyone else had. We got some fun surprise pictures and videos when we got home and downloaded the photos, as we let the girls take the camera by themselves on the lazy river and slides one day. Pretty fun to see what they photographed and took video of!
 
You'll LOVE the Fuji XP!! We bought 2 of them at Coscto ... we bought the XP70 bundle for $149 - also had a coupon for Costco 100 prints for free, about 3 months later, we bought the Fui XP80 when they had it as a bundle - also with 100 prints for free.

The quality is STUNNING for an underwater camera! We let each kid use one - not for snorkeling, but in the pools. They got dropped & covered in sand, and they are our preferred point & shoot. The kids love them because the are real cameras & they are allowed to use them. The HD video quality on the XP80 is fantastic too.

I have the GoPro Hero 4 Black, which also takes fantastic pics & can take a beating, so to speak, but you have to be willing to commit to that price tag, then all the extra accessories.

For fun, here are 3 pics I took last night with my 7-year old at the local pool (Fujifilm XP80 was used). They were taken at 7:30pm-ish, Chicagoland, beautiful evening, but definitely not even full sun.



 
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