About the Author

Hi, I love to experience life and all things adventure. One of my passions is scuba diving and I have taken my love of the underwater world and turned it into a career. I teach both recreational and technical recreational scuba and have had the opportunity to travel the world and dive. I hope to share some of my thoughts, views and experiences with anyone who wants to listen. But I don't intend to stop at diving...watch this space....

See All Posts by This Author

There Are 2 Responses So Far. »

1. 

   Comment by Colin on 17 June 2008:

   Steve,

   I am currently looking for a new digital compact camera, do you have any recommendations? Whatever, type I end up getting, it does need to have an underwater housing readily available.
2. 

   Comment by Steve on 17 June 2008:

   Hi Colin,

   Saw your post on my web site re digital cameras. Thanks for taking a look at it again.

   Firstly a really good web site that details just about all digital cameras and all housing that are made for each model is http://www.digideep.com. So my first suggestion is to take a look around that site and see what cameras actually have a housing, as not all do.

   Whilst on digideep.com you can also take a look at the galleries and the photo competition they have on a monthly basis and then take a look at what cameras were used to get the picture. Al the pictures tend to have a write up as to where it was taken and what equipment was used.

   If you are looking at a digital SLR then there are quite a few now under the £500 mark with 10 million pixels or more. However, the housings are still relatively expensive and probably close to £1000 or more for the housings.

   So looking at compact cameras, many have housings available. When considering an underwater camera shutter lag is important. This is the time it takes for the camera to take the picture once you have pushed the button.

   There are a few purpose made cameras that have an integral housing that you can get through Jessops. Go through my site, then to digital compacts and then to water proof cameras. These are designed for underwater use and are encased in a housing already. Very sturdy and they get good write ups in the dive magazines. But being purpose built they are a little more expensive. The advantage is that they are less likely to flood as you are not putting them into a separate housing and they normally have a deeper depth rating. Jessops do the Sea and Sea and Sealife brands. They will work on land but tend to be a bit bulkier than a separate digital compact with a separate housing.

   So if you want a camera to stick in your pocket and also be able to put into a housing for diving then look at buying them as a separate entity. You might also get the best deal by buying them separately as well. Not sure on this so you’ll have to shop around a bit. But you get a nice discount through Jessops and can order on-line and collect in store. ( I use the Jessops in Fareham as they seem very helpful and knowledgeable).

   Nikon Coolpix tend to be very popular as do the Sony compacts - all available through Jessops with the discount voucher “Hititrunning10” to get 10% off. Picture quality and shutter lag are very good.

   From what I have seen of the Canon compacts they tend to have quite a long shutter lag, so you push the button and it takes a while to focus and take the picture, by which time your hand has shaken and the fish swam off, so probably not one to recommend.

   The Fuji’s are good in terms of quality of picture and shutter lag and they do a combined offer of camera and housing. The Fuji F50 has a housing.

   You can ask The Dive Connection re Fuji prices and compare with Jessops. As you can buy just the housing or housing and camera from The Dive Connection. So compare buying camera from Jessops with the 10% discount and then what it might cost from The Dive Connection

   Regards, Steve

Post a Response