Submersible cameras?

[TimElhajj]

Anyone know much about these?

One of my kids wants one. I've looked in the stores a little and it looks like they have digital cameras that do the trick starting at about $100 and going up. Mostly it looks like they are rated by depth, with the cheapest being good to 10 feet, and then prices rising based on additional depth.

My child mostly wants to use hers in a swimming pool, but I wonder if 10 feet is going to be good enough. I'd hate to see her drop it on the deep and... what? Will the camera body collapse like a crushed aluminum can at 11 or 12 feet?

I wonder if any of you have had any experience with these things. Is there some feature that would really be worth it to have?

We are getting both kids phones this Christmas, but there was no way to find a submersible phone, which would be kind of cool to get texts from your kids from the deep end of the pool.

CHILD: Help! I'm drwning!
PARENT: Where are you?

[jerri blank]

I don't know how much help this will be, but a few years ago my partner bought one of the first Flip video cameras and a waterproof case for it. I tied a string to it and lowered it into my parents' pond. The string came untied. My mom, bless her, put on her swimsuit and found it for me. I got some good video. Fish are very curious about such things.

So that's one fun thing you can do with it.

[Ezdaar]

Anyone know much about these?

One of my kids wants one. I've looked in the stores a little and it looks like they have digital cameras that do the trick starting at about $100 and going up. Mostly it looks like they are rated by depth, with the cheapest being good to 10 feet, and then prices rising based on additional depth.

My child mostly wants to use hers in a swimming pool, but I wonder if 10 feet is going to be good enough. I'd hate to see her drop it on the deep and... what? Will the camera body collapse like a crushed aluminum can at 11 or 12 feet?

I wonder if any of you have had any experience with these things. Is there some feature that would really be worth it to have?

We are getting both kids phones this Christmas, but there was no way to find a submersible phone, which would be kind of cool to get texts from your kids from the deep end of the pool.

CHILD: Help! I'm drwning!
PARENT: Where are you?

I got my wife a Panasonic one for her birthday recently. It was prompted by seeing people using them in Hawaii. We haven't had a chance to use it underwater at all yet, but hopefully soon. The nice thing about them for kids is that they are also drop proof(up to a certain height) and sandproof.

My guess is that if you exceed the depth rating you run a pretty good chance of water leaking into the camera.

[Omniscia]

I have an Olympus point-and-shoot I picked up on eBay that's supposedly waterproof down to 30 feet. It's not the greatest for image quality, especially in low light, but it does seem impervious to heavy rain, at least.

One of these days I'll actually try shooting underwater with it.

[SleepFighter]

We had a waterproof case for our last point and shoot, it was kind of a hassle, but it got so much use that when that camera finally started to give out, that getting a waterproof one seemed like the logical thing to do.

After some research, the Panasonic TS2 seemed like the best of the bunch, and we've been pretty happy with it I think. It's rated to 33', which is much deeper it will ever go I'm sure. By the way, that rating is how deep the seals on the camera will keep water out. So if you go to deep, and stay there water will start leaking in, and obviously ruin your camera.

Here are some typical shots where in the water. Notice one thing about these cameras is that once they get in the water, drops tend to form over the lens, which makes little blurry spots.

[Gus_Smedstad]

Will the camera body collapse like a crushed aluminum can at 11 or 12 feet?

I've never messed with the low end of underwater cameras, but generally what's going to happen is leaks. Flooding usually results in catastrophic failure. I haven't had a housing flood yet, but I have had a light flood, and the batteries turned into black corrosive sludge.

[Alistair]

I just got the gun-style Sony Xacti which I think is guaranteed down to about 10 ft, so a deep-end basically. HD video for as many hours as your SD card will hold. I'm kind of in awe to be honest. Maybe more than you were thinking of - were you aiming for video?

[TimElhajj]

I was hoping to get a video option, but I think she wants a camera. I really was thinking of a phone type camera, but submersible.

[TimElhajj]

[IMG]

All nice shots. With the submersible pictures I see, it's often the unusual angle in relation to the water that makes the shot (as with this one) and not necessarily the underwater shots themselves.

Too bad about the lens stuff, but the novelty of the pictures should make up for any imperfections.

[CheesyPoof]

We have this one. It's pretty good and does HD video. Besides the novelty of underwater pool pictures it came in handy on our trip to Costa Rica where it was used in several waterfalls rappels and swimming near a waterfall. Alas, I don't have pictures online, but it works. Expensive relatively speaking.

[SleepFighter]

Just the ability to take the camera to the beach and not worry about it getting wet or sandy is worth it for us.

[Jalfred]

I've never messed with the low end of underwater cameras, but generally what's going to happen is leaks. Flooding usually results in catastrophic failure. I haven't had a housing flood yet, but I have had a light flood, and the batteries turned into black corrosive sludge.

Actually a digital photography magazine did a test and most of the cameras rated for 10-30 feet (submersible but not meant for diving) lasted at greater depth than that - one of the Canons had almost no problems at 90 feet.

What happened was generally not leaking but that the pressure made it so buttons etc. wasn't working - once up again they worked.

But as SleepFighter says - they're for surf, sand, snow and swimming pools where you can get some great shots where you'd be afraid to take out a normal camera.

I have a Pentax W80, which is great in snow and water, average in low light and somewhat slow. It was a gift and I'd probably have chosen a Canon if I was the one buying.

[Jazar]

I have the Panasonic Lumix TS1 and it worked great for a while.

It can take some great pictures and HD videos.

I used it to capture the dolphin collision vid.

Also used it to go snorkelling in Key West. It broke that day however. Maybe we went too deep, though it couldn't have been more then 8 feet or so. Luckily it was still under warranty and we just got a replacement refurb for free.

I hear the TS2 is even better. It's a perfect all around point-and-shoot camera that is shock resistant and water resistant.