Not bad but could be better.

I just used this for the first time in a Pennsylvania quarry. I turned it on before entering the water and turned it off after I got out almost an hour later. The video quality is very good and it picks up audio well. The images are clear and should be since it's advertised as high definition.



Being this is a first edition I hope a few changes are made in the next version. First when seating the mask skirt under a hood it is very easy to hit the button to change it from video to still image (or reverse) and it can be accidentally shut off. There is a blue or red light (depending whether you are shooting video or still images) that is difficult to see while wearing the mask. It is visible just not clearly. It would be nice if there was a clear display a little lower. Also each time I exhaled the bubbles caused the mask and camera to shake which is clearly visible in the video. As for the scope of view the camera seems to be shooting higher than most divers are really looking. When checking my computer all you see is the top of my console or computer. It would be nice if the camera was even a little adjustable so it can be tilted up or down depending on what the user is doing.



Overall I'd say this is a hit! Even if there are a few negatives I was really happy with this mask. I took it to 75' (not deep) for 49 minutes in 45 degree water and it recorded the entire dive. I can't wait to use it off the Jersey shore for some wreck diving. Now if you can make one to go a little deeper!More detail ...

Couldn't be worse!

Please note that this is the same as the yellow Vivitar 8400 and see that the one-star reviews dominate. I saw the bad reviews but I gambled and bought this horrible camera. What a joke. We never even got to use it because after turning it on the screen would go grey after only a few minutes and it would freeze up - couldn't even turn it off. This camera wasn't a lot of money but we wound up on our tropical vacation with no underwater camera! Please be smarter than me and notice that the most common ratings for this camera are for only one star. Sure a few people got one that seemed to work but most people did not so odds are you won't either! Don't waste your time and money and don't risk the frustration of not getting what you need for your vacation.More detail ...

Junk

I purchased this knowing that the quality would be "iffy" at best. However I did think it would at least produce an image similar to cellphone quality. The shutter would only fire randomly and the batteries died immediately as a result making it almost impossible to even get an image. I would not recommend this.More detail ...

The case is waterproof!

I bought this case for my Sony DSC-T900 before we went to Jamaica. We already had a waterproof case for my wife's DSC-T100 and are completely happy with it. The case is excellent as far as being sturdy not too bulky and of course waterproof. We went snorkeling multiple days and no problems at all. Water sheets off of the case and you can take clear pictures right after being in the water without even wiping the case off.



BTW I ordered the Waterproof case and Underwater Accessory Kit from ACE Photo Digital on Amazon - very fast service! Product is well packaged as well.More detail ...

Excellent camera for parents

I bought the Pentax W60 six months ago on the way to an indoor waterpark. I wanted something that would be functionally equivalent to my existing Canon SD 870 IS: small and light decent still shots decent videos.



Since then the Pentax has become my default camera.



Pros:

decent image quality

some neat "smart" modes

waterproof and dust resistant means no worries about child-play environments!



Cons:

auto-focus seems to get it wrong more often than my Canon

no one-button swap between still and movie mode

zoom quality seems lower

zooming during video has big big focus issues

short battery life per charging



If I only had one camera for all occaisions those cons might be overwhelming but I also have a Nikon D90 which I use for formal occaisions or highly dramatic scenery. So for my "everyday" use I'm swayed by the robust nature of the waterproof housing.



Let me specifically address the video cons. First my Canon (and all its ancestors) has a simple physical switch to move from still mode to movie mode. The Pentax has a menu system which requires me to push one button navigate over a few places and push again. Under pressure of capturing a kid in action that's a recipe for failure. Second the zoom may be less nice because of the inability to have a lens poking out the front but I am puzzled by what seems to be the complete failure of the auto-focus when I zoom during a video.



Depending on your needs you may weigh these issues differently. For me this camera is great solution.More detail ...

Shipping took too long

Camera did not come from Amazon; another company was involved and shipping took longer than usual to receive the product. Shipping took 10 business days and after I left on vacation. Tried to return it when I returned and the company would not accept it nor would Amazon assist. Guess I will save the camera until my next vacation as long as it doesn't expire. Don't know how well it works since I never got the opportunity to use it. Pretty frustrating.More detail ...

good camera with some caveats

I have used this product on three dives and still have mixed feeling about it. it is definitely a steal at the amazon price and i do not regret my purchase. the camera itself is easy to use and quite good in land use. in the underwater housing however the buttons are a little hard to push. this becomes an issue since the shutter button must be pushed half-way to get a light meter reading and i found this quite difficult. button responsiveness may improve over time though.

another issue was determining the proper settings for underwater photography. i used a sony u/w camera before the intova and it was fairly easy to figure out what setting worked and which did not. it was a little harder with the intova but after a couple of practice shots and dives a fairy competent photographer will get the hang of it.

video however was crystal clear and easier to shoot. the 640x480 resolution really makes a difference and the auto setting for the video clip were perfect- unlike the camera setting which required a few tweaks.

so would i recommend this product? yes if you have the patience to experiment with it a little. and of course nothing beats the value for money of intova products!

cheers







update:



i have figured out the settings for better u/w pictures and it does take gorgreous pictures as long as the subject is reached by an adequate light source (external flash or strobe)

video is also decent but is prone to flash as the other reviewer has described when it is focused on a subject with backround lighting. you also cannot adjust the viewing angle (telephoto-wide angle shots) during video recording.

all in all still a great buy.

i have modified my rating to 4 starsMore detail ...

Some nice underwater features but color software needs improvement

For a trip to the Yucatan I purchased the SeaLife DC1000 with single flash unit as we anticipated diving and also a Canon D10 to allow more options while snorkeling. The DC1000 has some nice features (push-button controls are generally easy to use underwater) and comes at a reasonable price for a dive-capable camera for those of us that have limited chances to do photography with scuba. In general the camera worked well and took some nice pictures while diving at 50 feet using the flash which is essential under these conditions. As noted by the prior review however its performance for shallow-water snorkeling could have been substantially better. I initially had problems with the flash under these conditions which frequently overwhelmed the image. After regular adjustment of the power flash pictures worked better but this means that one-chance shots (e.g. fish) may be lost. There are other adjustment options for the flash (macro vs. long-distance settings) that I did not have a chance to try which may improve results but the amount of adjusting to get a good flash result is frustrating given that the flash is supposed to be integrated into the camera system. Because of the erratic flash results I was getting I also explored alternative non-flash modes. This revealed the biggest negative of the camera--the "special" underwater color bias settings seem to function by just adding varying levels of red to everything whether the objects are red or not. After it became obvious that the underwater settings were generating unacceptable results I started instead taking pictures underwater with the land setting which of course creates images that are more blue than natural due to long-wavelength light attenuation. After returning home I explored whether I could salvage some of the images using Photoshop. This helped to a limited extent for the shots taken in the underwater setting but the excess red could not be entirely eliminated. In contrast when color balance/contrast filtering was applied to shots taken with the standard land setting the resulting image colors were excellent and true to life. So in the end the special underwater adjustment features seem more of a sales gimmick that will send unsuspecting users astray rather than a strong selling point. In the future SeaLife should consider teaming up with Adobe to come up with a quality image filter algorithm. An option that I did not try was to manually set the white balance using the included white board (another thing to hold onto in the water...)--this might fix the problem. Other negatives to the camera were an annoying delayed response when trying to change zoom settings and a very slow focus/shutter response resulting in missed pictures. As I used the camera more it seemed to me that the photo was taken when I released the button rather than when I initially depressed it as one would expect in other cameras.



So how did it compare to the Canon D10 performance? Without the fancy underwater settings the Canon took expected blue-biased photos that when filtered through the contrast/color balance filters of Photoshop produced excellent vivid true to life shots. In general the image sharpness of the D10 was slightly better than the DS1000 as perhaps might be expected when using a product from a top-tier camera company. Bottom line: if you are just going to snorkel during the day go with the Canon D10 and save yourself a good chunk of money. If you are planning to dive or night snorkel then the DS1000 may be the way to go but expect to experiment/practice with the equipment before you get consistent results.More detail ...

Unbeatable value

Was shipped very promptly. Hasn't leaked one bit and I've been down to 20m. Comes with a little colour filter that fits over the lens like a lens cap for restoring the red/blue balance at deeper depths and also protects the lens. Detector array is CMOS rather than CCD (that's how they can make it so cheap) so camera is a little on the slow side. Quite a few blurry images deeper down where the lighting is dimmer and when there was strong surge/current. But pictures taken in calmer clearer water with better lighting came out fantastic. Much better than disposable underwater cameras (and only 2-3x the price!) and of course being digital you can feel free to go trigger happy. The camera can also record video. Customer support has been outstanding. Everytime I send an email I get a detailed response within 12hrs or so. Suggest ordering some replacement o-rings since the housing only comes with one and the o-ring apparently should be replaced every year or so. I highly recommend this camera if you're just looking for a small cheap reliable underwater camera to take a few casual shots while diving/snorkeling.More detail ...