Camera suggestions

[Kelly Jessop]

When I do fauna counts and other research dives I always carry a small compact waterproof camera,with an sb105 in slave mode. My current camera had a table spoon of water in the housing,and o-ring kits don't exist since the camera/housing are obsolete. I would like to hear some recommendations from others.

[WEPIV]

Kelly,

Did your camera get wet? (I assume it did at least a little. I couldn't tell if the camera itself is the housing or you have a housing in addition to the camera.)
If so, don't turn it on and take the card and battery out and place it inside near a window letting sun hit it for a few days. (And knowing you, it was fresh water, which obviously makes a difference.)
You can also put whatever got wet in a Ziploc baggie with some rice or decessant.
As for the camera/housing's O-rings, depending on the make of the camera, you could still send it away to get it dealt with but if it is an old digital camera -- it's a good time to get something new.

[Kelly Jessop]

Kelly,

Did your camera get wet? (I assume it did at least a little. I couldn't tell if the camera itself is the housing or you have a housing in addition to the camera.)
If so, don't turn it on and take the card and battery out and place it inside near a window letting sun hit it for a few days. (And knowing you, it was fresh water, which obviously makes a difference.)
You can also put whatever got wet in a Ziploc baggie with some rice or decessant.
As for the camera/housing's O-rings, depending on the make of the camera, you could still send it away to get it dealt with but if it is an old digital camera -- it's a good time to get something new.

The camera is fine and functioning,but I have noticed that it has a minute amount of water in the housing each time. It really is time to replace it,and where I like my Canon with Ikelite housing/strobes,that is too much to carry when the primary mission isn't photography. I am interested in the Intova cameras/housings,but haven't really done much homework to see what is out there. My preference is a camera that uses AA or AAA batteries and uses an SD card for memory.

[JTB]

you may be able to find odd O-rings that may not be from you camera company but will work from mechanical contractor suppliers if you still want to keep the camera/housing you currently have. I work in the Piping industry and we have plenty of odd O-rings and gaskets for valves and other components that could possibly work out for you. Its a cheaper then buying a whole new set.

[Kelly Jessop]

you may be able to find odd O-rings that may not be from you camera company but will work from mechanical contractor suppliers if you still want to keep the camera/housing you currently have. I work in the Piping industry and we have plenty of odd O-rings and gaskets for valves and other components that could possibly work out for you. Its a cheaper then buying a whole new set.

Thanks for the help. The primary o-ring look very proprietary since it is a flat,wide gasket that fits around the perimeter. I am not convinced it isn't leaking from there,but from one of the buttons,which I don't know how one can access them. The company Fantasea no longer provides service for this type of housing.

[next gen]

It would probiliy be best to ask Greenwood, but the camera my dad bought from him is a good sony camera with a nice probiliy durable housing. It shoots good pictures in low light as well.

[Greenwood_60]

There are a couple of options for small and good. I'm most familiar with SONY at this point, but the physics are the same. You need to collect as much light as possible. For small image sensors, a "backlit cmos" is best. Sony calls it their exmor-r (not plain old exmor!). The chip has more area for collecting light at a given size. Sony also has some fairly good quality housings available. The other option would be a small camera with a larger sensor. Something like Sony's NEX line.

IMO, the cheapest best setup you can get at the moment, is a used Sony NEX3 and a housing from deal extreme (dx.com). I challenge anyone to find a better setup at that price.

[Greenwood_60]

It would probiliy be best to ask Greenwood, but the camera my dad bought from him is a good sony camera with a nice probiliy durable housing. It shoots good pictures in low light as well.

That camera is the SONY dsc-wx1, and the factory Sony housing. Same setup I shot the galaxy dive on. It uses the exmor-r sensor.

[corvettejoe]

I shoot with Canon point and shoots underwater (hoping Santa brings me a DSLR housing for my big camera this year).
My current one is a Canon Elph SD1100IS running CHDK http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK, which lets me shoot in RAW, and unlocked all the other settings the chip is capable of in that camera.
The housing I bought slightly used off eBay. I'v been using it about 2 years now without incident.

The nice thing about Canon is they make all their own underwater housings for most of their point and shoots, so there is an abundant supply of used housings on eBay for next to nothing.

I always pick cameras that are at least a year or two old...expensive models that fall into the $50-80 range a year or two later used. This way whenever it floods, there is no big investment for a new one. Just buy another used camera and be on your way again, or afford to carry a backup at that price.

When a few years have gone by and it floods/breaks again.. then it's time to upgrade anyway.

I still have all of my old housings and old cameras that still work fine. I pass them out to my dive buddies sometimes when we go dive OW stuff so that they can all have an enjoyable time snapping pics and I'm not worried about them flooding or losing the old models.

[JamesK]

Kelly, I own 6 Intova cameras. They have served me well and take pretty decent pictures. They really only make good 8x10's. I have not tried to print anything bigger. I have flooded two due to my own mistakes. William at Intova is great when it comes to customer service.

Now that being said, I think you an get a better quality point and shoot used at a similar price. If you are ok with used cameras, that would be a good option.


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