Nikon SLR Cameras

Help choosing an underwater point and shoot camera?

Blake
Blake

I'm in the market for a waterproof point and shoot camera, and was wondering if any of you own one and liked it. Please don't just give me a link to Amazon of a camera you googled, I want an answer from someone who has one. And I'd like a point and shoot. I have a Nikon D7000 and lenses, I don't need a DSLR. Sorry if I sound rude AT ALL, I'm just trying to help narrow down my criteria!

fhotoace
fhotoace

Have you looked at the Nikon AW100.It even has on-board GPS

thankyoumaskedman
thankyoumaskedman

I recently got a Panasonic TS3. Those are marked down a lot, because the new TS4 will be out soon. Also the new Canon D20 will be. I have not tested it a lot, as I have better cameras, but I wanted something to take video in a wet environment. As a video camera it's not bad, not great. The sound tends to produce a little bit of a hiss (whether near water or not), on playback. However, uploading to Youtube seems to filter that out. It does magnify wind noise a lot. On the more positive side, water seems to drain from the speaker well enough that it can be taken underwater and back out and still sounds not much worse than before. Also, water drains down off the outer window (so far, while it's still pretty new), without leaving behind clinging water blobs. Using my Canon G10 with an underwater housing for kayaking pictures, wiping off water blobs to get a good shot is a constant chore, for which I have to carry a supply of dry handkerchiefs in a dry bag.
Here is a video experiment

The water was pretty murky, so I wouldn't blame the camera for that. Besides the water being cold, it was hard to stay steadily submerged with the camera in my right hand.
Before shooting this I put the camera in a sealed sandwich bag with a silica gel pack and the battery door open for about a day, and I closed the battery door before opening the bag. That may or may not have been necessary. The purpose was to prevent any moisture in the camera from condensing in the cold.

One thing I have noticed about the Panasonic TS3, that may be true of other waterproof cameras but not all, is that the card and battery opening is on the side instead of the bottom. The significance is that store display cameras often have the bottom blocked by security devices. If the slot is accessible you can buy a high speed SDHC or SDXC card and do some experiment with the store display models. Unfortunately underwater tests would not be possible there. You can blow on the microphone to simulate the wind. Then take the card over to the computer section of the store to view the results. These days the newest version of Windows Media player in Windows 7 should work with.mov and.mts files.

lare
lare

Mine was an Olympus Stylus 550WP and i really liked its performance.besides waterproof, it was rugged generally and i took it on many outdoor treks including climbing in addition to water splashes. I suggest you get a floatation strap as otherwise these small cameras will sink if you let go, and the bright color helps locate them when needed. I eventually sent mine to a friend in equatorial Africa.