Underwater Photos

[bigbass]

On a past cruise we took some pictures underwater with a (I think it was Fuji) underwater disposable camera and the pictures were very grainy. We were wondering what the best underwater disposable camera is or what is a good cheap digital camera for underwater photos? We would like to see some photos taken with these if possible. We thought about a wet pack for our current camera but are worried about ruining it!

Any info would help.

Thank you

TONY

[kyriecat]

A friend of mine was in Florida over the summer and didn't want to invest in a housing for his digital camera. He bought a cheap Vivitar point/shoot camera on sale for about $20 and put it in a Ziplock freezer bag. I don't have copies of his pictures, but they turned out pretty good. He said the secret is to hold the Ziplock tight against the lens so you don't get distortion from the bag. There's a risk that if the Ziplock gets a hole, it will ruin your camera but he didn't care since it was a cheap camera anyway. He has an expensive Nikon SLR that he uses for land pictures but he was concerned about getting a housing for it and having the housing leak.

[KDRCruisers]

Tony,

Last year, we bought an inexpensive camera online. I think it was about $30. It is not disposable but it takes pretty good underwater pics. I think it also take movies. Not too bad for the money. The camera is a gfm underwater camera 5 mega pixels.

[bionicman97]

I'm not sure how cheap you are looking for, but a Canon D10 takes good pictures below and above water. It runs around $250

 

[fw2020]

These are pictures taken using a Fujifilm XP10 (around $150). The picture quality of XP10 is not as good as a Canon or Panasonic, but this is one of the lower price waterproof camera that one can get.

 

[tropicbird]

Underwater photography is tricky. There is not as much light available as on the surface, so the camera either needs to have higher speed film (along the lines of 800 or so) or a higher ISO (in the case of digital cameras). Add to the fact that the subject is often moving (thus requiring a shorter exposure to get a crisp picture) and what you get is often a grainy, slightly dark picture.

 

It's hard to get around these barriers without investing in higher end equipment. If you can, try and get something with a flash so that you can at least add some light, and therefore reduce the exposure and or ISO requirements. Of course flash cycle time then comes into play.

 

I've struggled with the same issues and come to understand that I'm not going to end up with "National Geographic" shots while snorkeling, but the good news is that there are a number of relatively inexpensive (<$200 USD) point and shoot cameras that are waterproof to a nominal depth. Several have been noted in the posts above, and make a good place to start.

 

Good luck and happy shooting!

[bigbass]

Great info!

Thanks everyone I think I will try to buy a cheap digital that can be used under water!

TONY

[Kunane]

I purchased a Sony Playsport for my previous cruise. Very happy with how the pictures turn out. It also shoots video in 1080P as well. Still shots were 5MP quality. It is waterproof up to 10 ft.

[Yoyo123]

Thanks with this post...on my watch list I've selected Nikon coolpix aw100 and Canon D10... I'm still gonna search for cheaper ones, I'm also scared of using expensive one for under water.