Underwater Housings?

I'm curious if anyone here uses an underwater housing for their digital
camera, and what your experiences are.

We have been buying disposable waterproof cameras for snorkeling on our
vacations, but they have a number of problems:

1. They need to be "hand checked" at airport security, coming and going.

2. They need to be developed when we get back home

3. The printed pictures need to be scanned back into my computer to have
digital versions (or pay extra money for the picture CD).

4. It's difficult to look through the little "view finder" when you're
underwater wearing a snorkel mask, meaning you often miss the shot you're
trying to get (usually a moving fish).

5. The picture quality isn't always the greatest.

I have a Fuji F10 digital camera, and can get the underwater housing on
Amazon for about $123. That's expensive, but we just paid a bit over $50
for three disposable cameras and the developing costs. It would only take
a couple of trips to pay for the housing.

My biggest worry is water leaking in and damaging my camera. I have some
other "waterproof" bags and whatnot, and on a couple of occasions they
have leaked. Thankfully, I had the contents double-bagged and they
weren't that sensitive to moisture anyway.

So before I spring $123 on a waterproof housing, I'd like to know how
finicky and/or reliable the water seal is. Especially after it has been
opened and closed a few times.

Does your digital camera take good pictures under water?

Any problems with "fogging" inside the case?

Is it difficult or time consuming to take the camera in and out of the
case?

Thanks,

Anthony

"HerHusband" <unknown@unknown.com> wrote in message
news:Xns991556D122670herhusband@216.196.97.136...
> I'm curious if anyone here uses an underwater housing for their digital
> camera, and what your experiences are.

I've got a WP-DC700 housing for my Canon Powershot A70.

> So before I spring $123 on a waterproof housing, I'd like to know how
> finicky and/or reliable the water seal is. Especially after it has been
> opened and closed a few times.

I've used it a dozen or so times in warm and cold water down to thirty
metres or so and never experienced any problems. It's also been used for
taking pictures in rainstorms.

> Does your digital camera take good pictures under water?

The pictures are no better or worse than they were with my old "chemical"
camera but (a) with the digital model I can check what I've taken and
reshoot immediately if necessary; (b) I can take a few hundred pictures on
each dive, so even with an abysmal success rate I'm bound to get one or two
half-decent ones; and (c) I don't have to pay for all that expensive
processing just to discover that 35 out of the 36 shots on each film are
only fit for the waste basket.

> Any problems with "fogging" inside the case?

No, although I believe some people stick a bag of silica gel in the housing
to suck up any moisture. Whether or not this works I can't say.

> Is it difficult or time consuming to take the camera in and out of the
> case?

Not at all. You just need to make sure the outside of the housing is fairly
dry before you open it up to ensure that no water finds its way in.

HTH,
R.

HerHusband wrote:
> I'm curious if anyone here uses an underwater housing for their digital
> camera, and what your experiences are.
>
[snip]
>
> I have a Fuji F10 digital camera, and can get the underwater housing on
> Amazon for about $123. That's expensive, but we just paid a bit over $50
> for three disposable cameras and the developing costs. It would only take
> a couple of trips to pay for the housing.

$123 for an underwater housing is not expensive! Like you said it will
only take a few trips for the housing to pay for itself. Try housing an
slr or video camera and then things start to get expensive, about $700
at the cheapest. My latest housing retails at over $3000. Now that is
expensive.

> My biggest worry is water leaking in and damaging my camera. I have some
> other "waterproof" bags and whatnot, and on a couple of occasions they
> have leaked. Thankfully, I had the contents double-bagged and they
> weren't that sensitive to moisture anyway.

That is always going to be the biggest worry when taking a camera
underwater. Fortunately these little housings are quite good at keeping
the water out, but it is a good idea to have insurance of somekind to
cover the eventuality that you will have a flooded camera at some point
in the future. It is not a matter of 'if' but 'when'. It may be
possible to add a rider to your home owners insurance to cover this.

> So before I spring $123 on a waterproof housing, I'd like to know how
> finicky and/or reliable the water seal is. Especially after it has been
> opened and closed a few times.

The seals on these consumer housings are almost idiot proof. It is a
very rare occasion that they fail and when they do it is almost always
user error. All you have to do is make sure that you prepare and close
the seal carefully every time. The polycarbonate housings have the
advantage that you can see the sealing surfaces through it and check it
visually that way. To be careful you should do a bubble test when the
housing has been sealed. Simply submerse the housing in a tub of water
and look for bubbles, though be careful not to mistake bubbles coming
from air trapped in the external features of the housing.

> Does your digital camera take good pictures under water?

Mine does and so can yours, have a look at
http://www.digideep.com/english/digi...0-Zoom/12/2026
there are some sample shots from your model of camera.

> Any problems with "fogging" inside the case?

This can be an issue and you can help eliminate it to a degree by
preparing your camera and housing in a low humidity environment.
Usually in your airconditioned hotel room. Dessicant packs can help but
I think that they need to be sealed in at least a few hours before you
plan to shoot to let them hoover up any stray humidity.

> Is it difficult or time consuming to take the camera in and out of the
> case?

Not difficut or particularly time consuming. You just need to be
careful when sealing it up.


HTH

jon

http://www.camerasunderwater.co.uk/
Bought mine here
Excellent service, wise advice.
I intended to get a housing for my 20D (!) but they suggested a small "bag"
for my Fuji550. Excellent advice and I've had some great results with it,
by my standards! After all I only use it on holidays and only go
snorkelling but it works. Just forget using a viewfinder sensibly and don't
even think of reviewing pictures underwater. Wide angle, flash on, get as
close as possible, point in the general direction of .... and hope! It may
not be the most elegant of solutions or the most "professional" modus
operandi but it's a lot of fun, it was cheap and my 20D remains safe.
Never had a fogging issue, and I leave it in the bag for most of the day
unless I have to change memory cards or batteries.
Hope this helps
DP

"HerHusband" <unknown@unknown.com> wrote in message
news:Xns991556D122670herhusband@216.196.97.136...
> I'm curious if anyone here uses an underwater housing for their digital
> camera, and what your experiences are.
>
> We have been buying disposable waterproof cameras for snorkeling on our
> vacations, but they have a number of problems:
>
> 1. They need to be "hand checked" at airport security, coming and going.
>
> 2. They need to be developed when we get back home
>
> 3. The printed pictures need to be scanned back into my computer to have
> digital versions (or pay extra money for the picture CD).
>
> 4. It's difficult to look through the little "view finder" when you're
> underwater wearing a snorkel mask, meaning you often miss the shot you're
> trying to get (usually a moving fish).
>
> 5. The picture quality isn't always the greatest.
>
> I have a Fuji F10 digital camera, and can get the underwater housing on
> Amazon for about $123. That's expensive, but we just paid a bit over $50
> for three disposable cameras and the developing costs. It would only take
> a couple of trips to pay for the housing.
>
> My biggest worry is water leaking in and damaging my camera. I have some
> other "waterproof" bags and whatnot, and on a couple of occasions they
> have leaked. Thankfully, I had the contents double-bagged and they
> weren't that sensitive to moisture anyway.
>
> So before I spring $123 on a waterproof housing, I'd like to know how
> finicky and/or reliable the water seal is. Especially after it has been
> opened and closed a few times.
>
> Does your digital camera take good pictures under water?
>
> Any problems with "fogging" inside the case?
>
> Is it difficult or time consuming to take the camera in and out of the
> case?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Anthony

In article <Xns991556D122670herhusband@216.196.97.136>,
unknown@unknown.com says...

> I have a Fuji F10 digital camera, and can get the underwater housing on
> Amazon for about $123. That's expensive, but we just paid a bit over $50
> for three disposable cameras and the developing costs. It would only take
> a couple of trips to pay for the housing.

Personally, if you're only doing snorkling depths, I'd look at one of
the new waterproof compact digital cameras. e.g. Olympus 770SW is rated
to 33 feet. It's a bit over $300 new. But that's still only six trips
at $50/trip, and the rest of the time you'd have a camera that doesn't
mind rainy days.

--
josh@phred.org is Joshua Putnam
<http://www.phred.org/~josh/>
Updated Infrared Photography Gallery:
<http://www.phred.org/~josh/photo/ir.html>

Josh,

> if you're only doing snorkling depths, I'd look at one of
> the new waterproof compact digital cameras.

Hmm... That's something to keep in mind. Digital pics without worrying
about an "accident" with our main digital camera.

We probably won't be snorkeling again anytime soon, so I have plenty of
time to look into it. Thanks for the tip!

Anthony

In article <Xns991756A58A750herhusband@216.196.97.136>,
unknown@unknown.com says...
> Josh,
>
> > if you're only doing snorkling depths, I'd look at one of
> > the new waterproof compact digital cameras.
>
> Hmm... That's something to keep in mind. Digital pics without worrying
> about an "accident" with our main digital camera.

Good for more than snorkling, too -- I took my wife's Pentax Optio body
surfing in California, great to be able to take pictures of the kids
without worrying about the camera getting wet.

--
josh@phred.org is Joshua Putnam
<http://www.phred.org/~josh/>
Braze your own bicycle frames. See
<http://www.phred.org/~josh/build/build.html>

Josh,

>>> if you're only doing snorkling depths, I'd look at one of
>>> the new waterproof compact digital cameras.

>> Digital pics without worrying about an "accident" with our main digital

> great to be able to take pictures of the kids without
> worrying about the camera getting wet.

Yeah, I've used the disposable waterproof cameras for the same thing. I can
go out in the water and get pictures of the family without worrying about
the camera. But, that's when I discovered how poor the quality of the
disposables was. They seemed nice for snorkeling, but the "above water"
pics were terrible. So it made me wonder how much better the under water
pics could be with a digital.

> I took my wife's Pentax Optio body surfing

I saw the Pentax Optio waterproofs on Amazon yesterday, but the "30
minute" limit for underwater use seemed kind of restrictive. We certainly
spend more than 30 minutes snorkeling. What experiences have you had with
it?

Anthony