Underwater Cameras

This is a tricky topic to say the least.  My first disaster experience was on a trip to hawaii.  My only camera
at the time was a compact Olympus Point and Shoot basically.  Before that i had the Olympus Ultrazoom and the quality and pictures were excellent so i thought the compact camera would do.

The first day i took a handful of shots, and then I put it in the underwater enclosure.  This enclosure was brand new, and i tested it for seal many times before the trip.  While underwater the camera took about 3 shots and then the lens retracted. So I tried to use my mother's 35mm film camera, and the pictures turned out less then stellar.

I lost 2 days of shooting while i looked for a replacement camera in Hawaii.  That is now Canon became my main camera of choice. What happened is that the gears that extend the lens broke a few teeth, and thus the lens would go right back in.

Now here is it 2012, the present day of fear as my next underwater shoot will be in Australia.  Back to the rub of underwater cameras. I've come to the conclusion that i don't want to risk my lens or even my backup camera underwater.  I've looked at compact cameras that are waterproof and all the reviews.

In the end i went with the sealife dc1400 with the external flash.  I've looked long and hard at the cameras out there. This camera will not do raw like i wish, but this is just to document the trip so i think it will do just fine.  It's also rated to 200 ft of water.  The canon dc10 was a close 2nd choice, and third was the gopro.


I'll do a follow up review of the camera once i field test it, wish me luck :).