Bonica SEA PIX 5.25 Megapixel Underwater Digital Camera

Personally, for your budget, I would look at the Olympus and Sony camera &
housing packages. Unless you intend to go deeper than 40m/ 130ft then they
would be my 1st choice.

The Olympus and Sony do two ranges at that price, the very small units which
give very good resolution & quality, and the larger models which offer a
greater range of manual override, a better lens, other functions. In the
right hands all will give good shots.

The models that spring to mind are the Olympus C50z/C60z and matching
housing (PT-014/PT-024) and the C5060 with PT-020 and the Sony DSC-P150 and
MPK-PHB.

If in the unlikely event that you are intending to go deeper than 130ft,
then Ikelite also do housings for these cameras which are rated for 60m /
200ft and offer additional functionality, especially with external flash
units.

sparty smith <mr_doc124@yahoo.com> pounded away at his keyboard
resulting in:
:I was thinking of buying this camera. I want to spend about 500-800
:dollars on an underwater camera. Does anybody have any experience
:with the bonica.

This is my experience with Bonica.
I bought one and it flooded first time in the water.

The dive shop owner would not exchange it. He said that he would have
exchanged any brand except bonica, but that I would have to deal with
the company directly.

The company said they would exchange the camera, but that shipping was
at my expense. I argued and got free shipping.

They sent me another camera which flooded first time in the water.
Neither bonica nor that dive shop have seen any of my money since.

Having said that, for the price range you stated, you can get a Sony
or Canon 4 Mpixel camera and a housing.

Dan Bracuk
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.


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"Tony Howard" <tony@samesamediving.com> pounded away at his keyboard
resulting in:
:The Olympus and Sony do two ranges at that price, the very small units which
:give very good resolution & quality, and the larger models which offer a
:greater range of manual override, a better lens, other functions. In the
:right hands all will give good shots.
:
:The models that spring to mind are the Olympus C50z/C60z and matching
:housing (PT-014/PT-024) and the C5060 with PT-020 and the Sony DSC-P150 and
:MPK-PHB.

I have a Sony P73, and a housing, and no strobe. Anything marked new
on this page, http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/underwater/index.htm was
taken with that camera last month.

I am sure that Olympus and Canon also have very good products. But,
as was alluded to in the last sentence of the first paragraph, the
most significant feature of any camera is the person using it.

Dan Bracuk
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.


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> I have a Sony P73, and a housing, and no strobe. Anything marked new
> on this page, http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/underwater/index.htm was
> taken with that camera last month.
>
> I am sure that Olympus and Canon also have very good products. But,
> as was alluded to in the last sentence of the first paragraph, the
> most significant feature of any camera is the person using it.

Dan,

All I was saying is that cameras from known camera manufacturers may offer
advantages. I appreciate your input however, I was only endeavouring to
highlight some of the options. For example, the Olympus C5060z has far
more manual override options than many of the smaller compact cameras such
as the Sony, and in addition, also has a much brighter f1.8 lens, compared
to the standard f2.8 or smaller on most compact units. Also both the
Olympus and Sony models (and many others) have a better resolution and can
be fitted into Ikelite housings for greater diving depths.

Whilst we appreciate the review of your web-site photos, no web-site can
give any real appreciation of image quality, other than composition and some
idea of lighting and exposure. This is because a good print needs a far
higher resolution so as not to look 'grainy' or 'pixedlated' than is
possible on a computer screen. A good colour printer will have at least
1200dpi , (dots per inch), many are much higher , this compares to
approximately 100dpi on an average 17" screen (1280x1024), and finally, due
to internet connection speed, a RAW 5.1mp picture would take a significant
time to download and view, so the assumption is that your images have had a
reduction in their resolution from the original source data.

Regards,

TonyH

I wouldn't touch a Bonica Sea Pix camera again if you paid me.. here's why:
I got one as a gift for christmas, it leaked first dive, I got a
replacement from my kind dive shop... It leaked first dive.. I got a new
one from Bonica, that was tested and proven perfect.. Guess what.. It
leaked first dive also..
NEVER AGAIN!
Bonica sucks, I still haven't got any pics underwater, but I'm waiting for
the dive shop to get in a Reefmaster digital for me to try.. we'll see if
it passes the under water test.

--
Message posted via http://www.scubamonster.com

"Chris Cashmore via ScubaMonster.com" <forum@ScubaMonster.com> pounded
away at his keyboard resulting in:
:Bonica sucks,

I agree. I had the same leaking issue a few years ago. Sounds like
your dive shop is handling it better than mine did. Neither Bonica
nor that dive shop have seen dime one from me since.

Dan Bracuk
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.

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I was thinking of buying this camera. I want to spend about 500-800
dollars on an underwater camera. Does anybody have any experience
with the bonica. I am interested in the amount of time between shots.
How does this compare to other digital underwater camers
thanks

Personally, for your budget, I would look at the Olympus and Sony camera &
housing packages. Unless you intend to go deeper than 40m/ 130ft then they
would be my 1st choice.

The Olympus and Sony do two ranges at that price, the very small units which
give very good resolution & quality, and the larger models which offer a
greater range of manual override, a better lens, other functions. In the
right hands all will give good shots.

The models that spring to mind are the Olympus C50z/C60z and matching
housing (PT-014/PT-024) and the C5060 with PT-020 and the Sony DSC-P150 and
MPK-PHB.

If in the unlikely event that you are intending to go deeper than 130ft,
then Ikelite also do housings for these cameras which are rated for 60m /
200ft and offer additional functionality, especially with external flash
units.

"Tony Howard" <tony@samesamediving.com> pounded away at his keyboard
resulting in:
:The Olympus and Sony do two ranges at that price, the very small units which
:give very good resolution & quality, and the larger models which offer a
:greater range of manual override, a better lens, other functions. In the
:right hands all will give good shots.
:
:The models that spring to mind are the Olympus C50z/C60z and matching
:housing (PT-014/PT-024) and the C5060 with PT-020 and the Sony DSC-P150 and
:MPK-PHB.

I have a Sony P73, and a housing, and no strobe. Anything marked new
on this page, http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/underwater/index.htm was
taken with that camera last month.

I am sure that Olympus and Canon also have very good products. But,
as was alluded to in the last sentence of the first paragraph, the
most significant feature of any camera is the person using it.

Dan Bracuk
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.


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---= East/West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =---

> I have a Sony P73, and a housing, and no strobe. Anything marked new
> on this page, http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/underwater/index.htm was
> taken with that camera last month.
>
> I am sure that Olympus and Canon also have very good products. But,
> as was alluded to in the last sentence of the first paragraph, the
> most significant feature of any camera is the person using it.

Dan,

All I was saying is that cameras from known camera manufacturers may offer
advantages. I appreciate your input however, I was only endeavouring to
highlight some of the options. For example, the Olympus C5060z has far
more manual override options than many of the smaller compact cameras such
as the Sony, and in addition, also has a much brighter f1.8 lens, compared
to the standard f2.8 or smaller on most compact units. Also both the
Olympus and Sony models (and many others) have a better resolution and can
be fitted into Ikelite housings for greater diving depths.

Whilst we appreciate the review of your web-site photos, no web-site can
give any real appreciation of image quality, other than composition and some
idea of lighting and exposure. This is because a good print needs a far
higher resolution so as not to look 'grainy' or 'pixedlated' than is
possible on a computer screen. A good colour printer will have at least
1200dpi , (dots per inch), many are much higher , this compares to
approximately 100dpi on an average 17" screen (1280x1024), and finally, due
to internet connection speed, a RAW 5.1mp picture would take a significant
time to download and view, so the assumption is that your images have had a
reduction in their resolution from the original source data.

Regards,

TonyH