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About the camera
I bought a low resolution
underwater digital camera in September 2002.
It was destroyed in an accident in December 2002. I bought another
inner camera and managed to drown that one as well, in February 2003.
The camera was a
Sea Life
Digital, Reefmaster DC 200, with one external flash.
This is a 1.2 megapixel basic digital camera with special underwater settings
for exposure and white balance, used in a simple plastic underwater housing.
This camera was OK for a beginner in underwater photography.
I felt its main advantages were:
- expendability: it's a relatively cheap inner camera so you won't break
the bank if your camera drowns;
- simplicity: since it is so difficult to deal with composition,
buoyancy control, focal length, etc etc simultaneously underwater,
the simplicity of the camera is an advantage for learners.
- extensibility: you can start taking pictures with just the
camera and housing, then add an external strobe for better illumination,
then macro/wide angle lenses for different shots.
I felt its main limitations were:
- resolution:
The resolution is only 1.2 megapixels
(1280 x 960) so it's not suitable for large posters or
glossy publication.
But it is fine for web and email images.
For photo quality they say you should print at 300 dpi,
which would mean a maximum real size of 108 x 82 mm. I find
it makes nice enough A4 pictures on an ordinary colour printer.
- lack of control:
There are only 2 buttons on the underwater housing,
for On/Off and Shutter. If you surface next to a whale, there is no
way to take a good photo of it, because (short of removing the camera from the
housing) you can't reset the camera mode
to take advantage of the natural light.
- shutter delay:
quite a long shutter delay means that you will get lots of
back ends of fish, etc.
- moisture:
condensation on the inside of the housing was a perennial problem for me
especially if you overuse the camera.
- battery life:
batteries tend to be drained quite rapidly.
- flash position:
the flash position is quite important to proper lighting,
and yet the optical slave arrangement constrains the position of the strobe
quite a lot.
Have a look at the
