Budget Waterproof/Underwater Camera

[2disneyboys]

I looking for recommendations from DIS's on a budget digital camera that I will feel comfortable letting my 10 year old run around with at the pool, waterpark and beaches. He loves to take pictures (and takes pretty good ones for a kid) He has a cheaper Nikon point & shoot digital camera, but we'd like something beach proof/waterproof. I've been researching into several of them, and am just a bit overwhelmed. We are not looking for professional quality photos here. Just something we can have fun with and hopefully get some decent pictures out of. I purposely put this on the Budget board rather than the photog board as the majority of the folks that post there have an entirely different thought of "budget" then I do. I'm thinking between $150-$250 max Any suggestions based on your experience would be awesome. Thank you!

 

[LuLuO]

We have the Kodak Easy Share Sport C123. It's $70 on Amazon now. Here is my photo book from Hawaii. Scroll along the bottom to page 103, select Full Screen and you can see a collage of the photos. It does video too. I videoed a puffer fish for quite a while. We also brought it along on the zip line adventure (didn't want to bring my slr) and the pics turned out okay. Those pics are on pages 88 and 89.

http://tashag.shutterfly.com/pictures/26

People have reported leaks, but I think that is because they didn't close the inner door on the battery/SD card compartment properly. The outer door can be closed even if the inner water tight door isn't shut properly.

 

[I married a king]

I just bought the olympus tough tg-830.. I love love love it. It is water proof up to 33ft, crush proof up to 220, drop proof up 6 ft I think, I used it in an indoor pool and the pictures turned out great, I managed to take video underwater and it was clear. At night I set the flash so it would go off with every picture and those pictures turned out bright and clear. I got it at best buy, Hope this helps.

 

[JessM]

I got my waterproof panasonic lumix on Amazon last year and I love it. I only ended up paying 150 for it (originally 275 I think) because they were coming out with a new model. I would watch Amazon or other retailers to see if you can score any deals. I have also noticed sometimes cameras will get marked down on Amazon if they have too many of one color. Mine was also cheaper because it was blue, the black and red ones were 200.

 

[tinkmom2]

I have the Fuji finepix. I take most of my blog pictures and most of the pictures in my trip report with it. It does a good job underwater.

 

[motherof2boys]

I second the Kodak Play Sport. Got one for my then 9 yr old for Christmas last year. He LOVES it! We used it at Discovery Cove & Aquatica in August. It took amazing pictures & videos. He also uses it in our pool. Taking videos will drain the battery quicker than still shots but it's a great little camera. He loves to make videos in his room with Lego guys & other little toys he finds in his room.

 

[turtlebean]

If you are looking for something inexpensive, the Target by us had a bunch of cameras on clearance. I got a Nikon coolpix s30. It is waterproof and shock proof. I was able to get it for $68 on clearance. They had a Vivotak (sp?) for around $58 or 59. I'm not sure how good of pictures it takes b/c we haven't tried it out yet. We have had a Nikon before and it took pretty good pictures.

 

[Swimalie]

I have the Pentax WG-1 that I bought about a year ago at Target. Now they have the WG-2 out and recently it has been on Groupon for $170, I believe. That's a good deal on the camera. The camera works great. I even used it yesterday to take pictures while bouncing at a bounce place. I was moving as well as my son and the pictures came out great. As a competitive swimmer, i take it to all the meets and get great action shots.

 

[amcnj]

If you are really looking for a budget underwater camera, there at least used to be disposable underwater cameras. My kids used those when they were very young. They also eliminate the fear of it being lost, aside from the loss of any photos on them. Of coure you will have to pay for developing too. My daughter now as an Olympus that was in the $100-120 range. Unfortunately I don't have the model info available right now, but it was very compact and she was very pleased with the photos.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I have the Fuji finepix. I take most of my blog pictures and most of the pictures in my trip report with it. It does a good job underwater.

My kids got these for Christmas from my parents a couple years ago. It's a great little camera and very reasonably priced. They bought an accessory kit, sold sep, that had a silicone case that slipped over it for in use protection. (like a cell ph case) also had an adjustable floaty type wrist strap. I think the camera was around $110 back then. Not sure what the kit cost.