Underwater/waterproof cameras, cases and housings

[MichelleinMaine]

I just got an Olympus 850SW. Have only played around with it, sticking my hand in the pool. (Too cold to swim here still!) I love it! As others have said, it's not the best indoors or at night, but I bought it mostly to use at the beach/pool.

I read several comments about the seal failing. Seems the thing is to make sure not to get sand in the gasket and to keep it oiled as PP said. For extra assurance, I actually bought mine at LLBean. (It was at the outlet, so only 11 cents more than it was at Walmart. ) If anything happens, I can deal with Beans vs Olympus!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Perfect timing. DPReview has just come out with a comparison of waterproof cameras. Their results:

Best: Canon Powershot D10
Runner Up: Pentax W60

Others: Olympus Tough 6000, Olympus Tough 8000, FujiFilm Z33 WP

Keep in mind that Pentax has just upgraded the W60.

 

[RosiePosie35]

Perfect timing. DPReview has just come out with a comparison of waterproof cameras. Their results:

Best: Canon Powershot D10
Runner Up: Pentax W60

Others: Olympus Tough 6000, Olympus Tough 8000, FujiFilm Z33 WP

Keep in mind that Pentax has just upgraded the W60.

When you say the W60 has just been upgraded, do you mean there is a newer version than the one that was used for the review?

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I believe that Pentax has just superseded the W60 with a new model called the W80.

 

[tripodjw]

I bought a Pentax w60 to take snorkelling on our recent vacation. It performed pretty well.

The video has a slight feeling of their being a frame or two missing every second but the pics are pretty clear.

I chose the pentax over olympus so that i didn't have to go and buy different storage media. I have lots of SD cards for my nikon dslr and didn't want to have yet another carry case with extra cards in it.

 

[wdw-ocd]

Wow, all of this information is great (and a little overwhelming for a non-tech gal like myself!)!

Thanks for the starting point for my "research". I take it from the posts that underwater cameras generally don't work well indoors and/or low light. That's a shame 'cause I don't think dh will let me buy 2 different cameras!

 

[disneymom2001]

Does anyone know of a good waterproof digital camera that is not too expensive? I was looking at the Fuji and Olympus, but have found mixed reviews. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[annnewjerz]

Here is a recent thread on waterproof cameras. I'm just too lazy right now to type out my whole response again, sorry!!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2216695&highlight=waterproof

 

[disneymom2001]

Here is a recent thread on waterproof cameras. I'm just too lazy right now to type out my whole response again, sorry!!



Thank you for the link! It was very helpful. Do you use the camera for indoor and outdoor pictures too? How do they come out? Most reviews of waterproof cameras say that they are not very good.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I bought a Pentax w60 to take snorkelling on our recent vacation. It performed pretty well.

The video has a slight feeling of their being a frame or two missing every second but the pics are pretty clear.

I chose the pentax over olympus so that i didn't have to go and buy different storage media. I have lots of SD cards for my nikon dslr and didn't want to have yet another carry case with extra cards in it.

If I remember correctly, the W60 has to video resolutions. At the high resolution, it is only 15 frames per second. That's too slow for smooth motion, so it looks like a high resolution old-timey film. If you are shooting something moving (which is pretty darned likely since it is video), you are better off at the lower resolution.

Also, when shooting video, you want the shutter speed to be between 1/30 and 1/60 of a second. Anything slower and you'll get blurry movement. Anything faster and you'll get choppy looking movement. Unfortunately, you can't control the shutter speed on still cameras that do video, so you often get choppy looking video in sunlight.

 

[annnewjerz]

Honestly I can't make a generalization because this is the only waterproof camera I have had and the pictures seem to have come out as well as I expected. One thing I wasn't crazy over was the lack of viewfinder, however it seems like most p&s cameras have LCD screens only these days anyway.

Outdoor, I think that the pictures came out just fine (there are some outdoor pictures I took in the link I posted earlier but here are some of them again).

Indoor, I don't really recall, plus it will depend on the amount of light you have.

This was taken technically outdoors, but in very dim lighting and I don't believe I used a flash.

This was indoors but in a VERY dim room---don't believe I used flash for this either, but I could be wrong.

This one was indoors in a lobby with a lot of natural light.

So was this one.

 

[ukcatfan]

I do not know if this was mentioned in the other thread, but DPReview recently did a roundup. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q209waterproofgroup/ The Canon got the highest marks, but the Pentax was a very close second. The gist I got was that if you wanted a camera mainly for the water, then go Canon, but if you wanted one that would sometimes be used in water then go with the Pentax. There has also been a newer Pentax model released since they did their testing that should be even better.

 

[disneymom2001]

Thanks! I will check the reviews.

 

[ilovehuhu]

I recommend the Olympus Stylus Tough 6000 .

Waterproof Equivalent to IEC60529 IPX8/JISC0920

 

[wdwwishes]

I have the Canon D10, my DDs have the Olympus Stylus'. Both take nice shots above and below the water. I use my D10 just for water parks etc. as I have a Canon DSLR. Between the D10 and the Stylus cameras, I can't see a huge difference. The Stylus's we have are 8 mp and the D10 has 12. Both have a lot of the same features and both are easy to use. Between the 2, I'd go with the Canon for the couple of extra megapixels.

 

[zackiedawg]

Also somewhat depends on the form factor you want.

The Canon seems to be the better cam overall, but is also a bulkier camera not meant for pockets. If you don't mind the size, you should get the best overall quality. But if you want a slim design, then you need to look at one of the others from Fuji, Oly, Panasonic (which wasn't available at the dpreview review time, so hasn't been compared to the others), or Pentax.

 

[ukcatfan]

Both have a lot of the same features and both are easy to use. Between the 2, I'd go with the Canon for the couple of extra megapixels.

I do not disagree with your decision, but do disagree with your reason. Having 12MP out of a p&s is just too much. The "sweet spot" has always seemed to be in the 6-8MP area. Once you go above that there seems to always be side effects of less detail, more noise, etc. Unfortunately, MPs is a great marketing detail b/c the general public always thinks more is better. No offense to you, I just want people that read this to be informed.

 

[anbouk]

Anyone have this camera? Do you recommend it? I was looking at the Olympus Tough Model (The middle priced one) as it seems more durable, shockproof, etc. Wondering how the quality of pics is out of the water, too. Thanks for your input!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I have no personal experience with them. DPReview just did a roundup of waterproof cameras and the Tough series didn't rate too well.

 

[wdwwishes]

My DDs have the Stylus models. They're a year or so old and we paid $300 for them. I think the newer Stylus models have gone up. My DDs (10 & 13) love them. They're easy to use, take good shots as well as movies above and below the water. They've been dropped a few times and are just fine. For them, they've been perfect. As with any camera purchase, get out and play around with them.