Looking to purchase a waterproof digital camera that won’t leak in the first half dozen times I use it, but also wish to avoid breaking the bank. Any recommendations or knowledge anyone can lay on me?
Much appreciated!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0030MITLW/
This thing is great. Use it for underwater video at the pool.
Bought my daughter a FujiFilm Z33 WP < 200.00 use it in the ocean and pool all the time. I would buy it again.
Thanks for the suggestions guys!
I also have the kodak playsport, kinda wonky at times. It seems to just get confused from time to time and lockup.
How about an 5th generation Ipod nano and this
http://www.h2oaudio.com/store/waterproof-cases/capture-waterproof-case-for-ipod-nano-5th-gen.html
You can use it to listen to music during your swim workout and use it as an under water video camera.
not good for still shots
I have to recommend that AVOID the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS2. Bought for my honeymoon in Hawaii. Followed instructions meticulously. It was never in more than 2 feet of water depth. Yet, the camera spring some sort of leak and starting getting condensation in the inside of every glass surface. Really liked the quality of pictures and video. But it just doesn’t seem as robust as Panasonic would want buyers to believe.
I’ve used quite a number of underwater cameras from DSLR’s in a housing to point n’ shoots.
There is a differentiation between “splash proof”, “swim proof” and a diving camera. With most swim cameras you can snorkel to reasonable (10 feet) depths for a quick snapshot.
I love the Pentax Optio and have owned several. The latest version, the W90 12.1 Megapixel has higher resolution, new styling and better ruggedized features.
x2 Pentax
I live in Kona and quite a few people swim with cameras daily. We jam them in suits, down cracks, in swim skins, wherever we can and this is by far the most reliable camera. Lots of people have them here.
I have a Kodak Playsport that does really nice vid, but I like the pentax better.
My wife and I went to Antigua recently and bought an Olympus Tough 3000 to use in the water. It worked great. Took good pictures, never leaked, never fogged, etc. One of my favorite things with it was the 1gb of internal memory…I like not having to have an SD card in it.
I have a Canon PowerShot D10 that I’ve been quite happy with.
http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1497
i love mine… have used it in the salty med and in swimming pools…
get a go pro. i surf with it, cycle with it, kayak with it, play with my dog in the ocean with it, snorkel with it, fish with it…etc. they are so so so fun and easy to use. i have surfed 6-8 hollow surf with it several times and never had a single problem!
Another bump for Fuji. I bought the Fuji XP 10 water dust shock and freeze proof camera off ebay for 100 dollars! I believe it is still 175 at Target. http://www.fujifilm.com/products/digital_cameras/xp/finepix_xp10/
I also have the Canon D10; got it specifically for use while fishing and boating, but it’s become our everyday point & shoot after my wife lost our Nikon coolpix. It’s been dunked several times, both by accident and on purpose, no problems. I’ve even taken it swimming a couple times in a lake and tried some underwater pics… don’t look for any of my work to show up in Nat Geo or anything, but at least nothing leaked or malfunctioned. I’d buy it again.
I’m still meaning to get another camera w/ a bigger lens for nicer landscape & low light shots, but that’s pretty much a limitation of all compact point & shoot cameras and especially waterproof models since the enclosure prevents a large/extended lens mechanism. When I did my research, the D10 rated really well overall and the few weaknesses like that were shared by all the other comparable choices.
I got a refurbished Olympus Stylus Tough for pretty cheap on amazon. Used it for a month long trip to NZ and it got wet almost every day. No issues, great pictures.
Thanks for the continued feedback!
I bought a Kodak HD video camera. I think still photos are only 5MP. Good for 3meters, so that should work for snorkeling, and most pool activities, but not diving. So not as high resolution for still images, but takes pretty good video, is about the size of a i-phone, but twice as thick. I’ve used it several times at the local pool to take home videos of our daughter. It takes standard SD cards.
Bought my daughter a FujiFilm Z33 WP < 200.00 use it in the ocean and pool all the time. I would buy it again.
We have that one too. It was great until we lost the battery charger. Now it is useless.
Most canon’s have underwater housings for them. Some are $100 some are a lot more. I like the underwater housings because they increase the volume enough that they float.