Disposable water cameras

[jewelshouse]

I feel silly even asking this but here goes. I was wondering if I would use one of those underwater cameras for snorkeling. I've used them in a pool but didn't know if they would work very well for snorkeling and if it would be too dark?

[roysue]

I have used the disposable underwater cameras and found them to be just ok. The deeper you go, or the deeper the water, the less light there will be. They also tend to be very blue or very green. They are cheap and pretty easy to use underwater but definitely work best is more shallow water. You might also consider a digital camera in an underwater case, or a water resistant camera, such as an Olympus. I think the one I liked the best was Fuji - they cost about $10 each.

[broberts]

They take great pictures out of the water but if your are snorkeling I doubt that any of the ones you take underwater will be worth the effort. Part of the problem is that they cannot zoom and it's tough to get close enough to subjects to make even mediocre pictures. They also tend you produce underwater pictures with a blue-green cast and if there is any particulate matter between you and the subject it's going to show up in the picture. What may seem crystal clear water when you are snorkeling can be surprisingly cloudy in pictures. After several attempts with these cameras on various excursions I stopped using them.

[John Y]

We used one on our Grand Cayman - Sting Ray City snorkeling trip. The pictures were OK to good - better than nothing and the camera only cost about $12, so, why not?

 

The particulate matter/haze that a previous poster mentioned is most likely to show up from backscatter from a flash. If you shoot on sunny days and rely on ambient light (cover any flash with duct tape?) you should be OK. As I said, better than nothing.