Digital cameras and waterproofing

[Searider]

Evening all,

I am thinking about getting a digital camera and wondered what people are using.

In particular, what cameras are either waterproof or have dedicated waterproof housings. What sort of cost might I be looking at - I dont want to spend a fortune.

At the moment I have a Canon Prima AS1 film camera. This is built like a tank and waterproof to 5m and only cost about £120 a few years ago - but I now want to go digital.

I have a digital camera at work and it has 2M pixels and 3x optical zoom and gives fine pictures. - Anything similar that is waterproof would be ideal.

Regards



Duncan

[willowkis]

Hi Duncan

Take a look in here: http://www.shopgenie.co.uk/theme_the...a--uk_page_1_/

Kim

[Andy Beach]

Just happened to pick up the latest copy of T3 (Gadget Magazine) when I passed through an airport last week - it contains a waterproof digital camera group test, briefly as follows;

RICOH Caplio 400G Wide - £350 - 3.2mpix - 3xoptical - waterproof 1m - floats - 4-star [T3 rating]

PENTAX Optio 43WR - £300 - 4mpix - 2.8xoptical - waterproof 1m - sinks! - 3-star

SEALIFE Reefmaster DC300 - £350 - 3.3mpix - no zoom - waterproof 60m - floats - 2-star

SONY Cybershot DSC-U60 - £190 - 2mpix - no zoom - waterpoof 1.5m - sinks! - 3-star

FUJIFILM Finepix F240 & FX420 waterpoof case - £375 - 3.1mpix - 3xoptical - waterpoof 40m - floats - 5-star **T3 Best Buy**

No experience of any of these personally although I have another model Sony Cybershot which I am very happy with, and use a Fujifilm at the office which is equally as good.

Andy Beach

[gingercoastie]

I use an Olympus mju 400, with an Olympus waterproof housing.


Excellent picture quality and easy to use.

There is also a mju 300 for less money.

[Brian]

Duncan
Not mentioned are the Canon range of cameras. I have used Powershot A40's for a few years now (together with the underwater housing) and heve been very happy.
Time has moved on though, and I would think that an A50, A60 or whatever would be the current model to look at.
I have found the advantage of the housing to be not only the waterproofing but the shock resistance it offers as well. All controls are available through the housing and I have found that using large capacity cards and NiMh 2300ah batteries I can load the camera, use it for a 2 week extended trip (including reviewing sessions in the bar in the evenings), and still not run out of "film" or "steam" before returning home. You can then take it out of its housing and use it on dry land in "pocket" mode.
It takes mini-movies too.

[roohairy]

If you want a waterproof case for a camera, look at Aquapack's range. They are very good, I have one for a camcorder and use it for snorkelling and it's never let a drop in even though they don't claim that that particular one's waterproof. Probably not as good as a proper housing, but a lot cheaper, and I can't fault the picture quality though it pays to fix the focus, autofocus gets confused.

[robin]

Searider....the middle 2 shots on this thread were taken with the sony dscu60 cybershot. ....as per the link in Willowkiss' reply

www.rib.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5451


It's not a bad camera for snapshots like those.

Downsides ...There is no zoom (get closer?) and it is only 2 megapixel (good enough for snapshots)

Upsides are it is simple to use one handed (while hanging on with the other)
With a 128 meg memory stick will hold 240 ish snaps. It seems fairly robust too.

Cheers Robin

[Hightower]

Having only just lost my Digital Camera today, I guess this thread could also be of intrest to me as well.

Andy

PS: If anyone found it this afternoon on the east bound slipway at J5 (Eastleigh), M27. PM me! You can keep the camera all I want are the photo's I took this morning.

[geoff]

I have used a Ricoh Caplio 300G for a while and it has proved to be a great camera. Just rinse it under the cold tap at the end of the day and dry it off with a towel. The only complaint I have is that it does not tell you how much battery power is left.