ccokae
This summer I'm going snorkeling for a few weeks in the Great Barrier Reef and I would love to get some great underwater photos. I have a Nikon D7000. Is there a certain kind of case I put around it to take underwater (this may sound completely ridiculous)? If not, what are some semi-high quality but affordable (under $300) underwater cameras?
Answer
The spacial waterproof cases for Nikon are quite expensive. Sometimes it is easier to buy waterproof camera instead.
Latest waterproof cameras are quite good. On very rare occasions they come faulty, but the same is with regular digital cameras.
If you want camera, that makes good quality pictures on land or underwater, then I would suggest to look into these three cameras: Sony TX5, Panasonic Lumix TS2 and Olympus Rough 8010.
And all three of them cost less than $300 on Amazon.
You just need to decide which features you need more:
Sony TX5 is waterproof to 10 ft, when Panasonic TS2 and Olympus Rough 8010 are both waterproof to 33ft. And Sony TX5 has got the lowest resolution from these three. It's just 10.2 megapixels. Panasonic and Olympus have a resolution of 14MP, which is quite a great difference.
All cameras are shock-, dust-, sand- and freeze-proof. But Olympus 8010 is also a crushproof and designed to withstand a weight up to 220 pounds.
Sony TX5 gives you the opportunity to capture panoramic pictures with it's Sweep Panorama feature. Your images are automatically stitched together, which gives you the extra-wide view of the scenery.
Olympus 8010 has got the panoramic shooting option too. It also comes with a built-in 2GB memory, which is more than most cameras available on the market.
Panasonic TS2 has a good quality video recording. Although all these cameras record video in HD format. But Panasonic TS2 seems to be the most expensive out of them.
But if you do not need waterproof camera right now, Sony are releasing a new Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX10 in April 2011. It will have a resolution of impressing 16.2 megapixels. And it is going to be the first waterproof camera that can capture 3D still images. You can pre-order this camera and it costs $330.
The spacial waterproof cases for Nikon are quite expensive. Sometimes it is easier to buy waterproof camera instead.
Latest waterproof cameras are quite good. On very rare occasions they come faulty, but the same is with regular digital cameras.
If you want camera, that makes good quality pictures on land or underwater, then I would suggest to look into these three cameras: Sony TX5, Panasonic Lumix TS2 and Olympus Rough 8010.
And all three of them cost less than $300 on Amazon.
You just need to decide which features you need more:
Sony TX5 is waterproof to 10 ft, when Panasonic TS2 and Olympus Rough 8010 are both waterproof to 33ft. And Sony TX5 has got the lowest resolution from these three. It's just 10.2 megapixels. Panasonic and Olympus have a resolution of 14MP, which is quite a great difference.
All cameras are shock-, dust-, sand- and freeze-proof. But Olympus 8010 is also a crushproof and designed to withstand a weight up to 220 pounds.
Sony TX5 gives you the opportunity to capture panoramic pictures with it's Sweep Panorama feature. Your images are automatically stitched together, which gives you the extra-wide view of the scenery.
Olympus 8010 has got the panoramic shooting option too. It also comes with a built-in 2GB memory, which is more than most cameras available on the market.
Panasonic TS2 has a good quality video recording. Although all these cameras record video in HD format. But Panasonic TS2 seems to be the most expensive out of them.
But if you do not need waterproof camera right now, Sony are releasing a new Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX10 in April 2011. It will have a resolution of impressing 16.2 megapixels. And it is going to be the first waterproof camera that can capture 3D still images. You can pre-order this camera and it costs $330.
underwater video camera help?
ejl792
im looking for an underwater video camera and something that goes preferably more than 10ft underwater. ive heard about the sanyo e1 but that only goes to 5ft but is that a good camera overall? and are there any other good underwater video cameras?
Answer
The cameras designed for immersion (when they say "5 ft", they're basically saying, swim but don't dive) are never the best camcorders around. Those Sanyos offer average video quality at best. Another one from Panasonic, the SDR-SW20, is similar: operation to 5ft, and moderate at best standard-def video quality. On the other hand, you're only spending $350... can't expect a miracle.
The other option is, of course, to enclose an existing camcorder. If you don't have any, this will certainly up the cost, perhaps by quite a bit.
Awhile back, I got a lower cost enclosure for my Sony AVR-H1 hi-def camcorder. This is from EWA Marine, and it's basically a $200 ziplock bag with a lens window. This worked great, it's supposed to be good for up to one atmosphere (33 feet in saltwater). It's a bit cumbersome, and there's still some resistance to putting your $2000+ camcorder into a plastic bag, even an expensive one. But a hard case for my small camcorder (Canon HV10) ran $700, and for the Sony, at least $1000.
If you're leaning this way, you might even consider pricing the case first, then buying the camcorder to fit it.
Another option... smaller cameras are cheaper to enclose, as you might expect. While a hard enclosure for my Sony could run into the thousands, cases for digital still cameras run much cheaper, many below $200 that are full fledged underwater enclosures... good for 100ft or more. Since almost any digital still camera has a video mode arguably as good as these "waterproof" cameras, I'd consider that.
In fact, my Panasonic DMC-TZ5 probably has a much better video mode... that's 1280x720 at 30p, reasonably clear video (it's not HDV, but it's good enough). That's a $300 camera, and you need an enclosure that's about $220 for it, but then you have 130 ft or so to play with. You really don't get much audio regardless, so the poor quality microphone in most P&S cameras is not a problem.
The cameras designed for immersion (when they say "5 ft", they're basically saying, swim but don't dive) are never the best camcorders around. Those Sanyos offer average video quality at best. Another one from Panasonic, the SDR-SW20, is similar: operation to 5ft, and moderate at best standard-def video quality. On the other hand, you're only spending $350... can't expect a miracle.
The other option is, of course, to enclose an existing camcorder. If you don't have any, this will certainly up the cost, perhaps by quite a bit.
Awhile back, I got a lower cost enclosure for my Sony AVR-H1 hi-def camcorder. This is from EWA Marine, and it's basically a $200 ziplock bag with a lens window. This worked great, it's supposed to be good for up to one atmosphere (33 feet in saltwater). It's a bit cumbersome, and there's still some resistance to putting your $2000+ camcorder into a plastic bag, even an expensive one. But a hard case for my small camcorder (Canon HV10) ran $700, and for the Sony, at least $1000.
If you're leaning this way, you might even consider pricing the case first, then buying the camcorder to fit it.
Another option... smaller cameras are cheaper to enclose, as you might expect. While a hard enclosure for my Sony could run into the thousands, cases for digital still cameras run much cheaper, many below $200 that are full fledged underwater enclosures... good for 100ft or more. Since almost any digital still camera has a video mode arguably as good as these "waterproof" cameras, I'd consider that.
In fact, my Panasonic DMC-TZ5 probably has a much better video mode... that's 1280x720 at 30p, reasonably clear video (it's not HDV, but it's good enough). That's a $300 camera, and you need an enclosure that's about $220 for it, but then you have 130 ft or so to play with. You really don't get much audio regardless, so the poor quality microphone in most P&S cameras is not a problem.
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