All purpose waterproof digital camera

[Capt.Don]

Hi everyone,
My wife and I are soon returning to our boat, currently in the Sea of Cortez, for another season of cruising. Last season, we mostly used our iPhones for photos and often thought about an all-purpose digital camera. We would like to take pictures while snorkeling, paddle boarding, sailing....Any suggestions for a moderately priced waterproof (underwater?) camera, waterproof to 35', decent wide-angle - zoom optical lens, decent quality?

Thanks
Don

[FlyingScot]

Try here https://thewirecutter.com/search/?s=underwater+camera

We have this 6 year old camera and would like a better one at some point. Panasonic Lumix TS4 12.1 TOUGH Waterproof Digital Camera with 4.6x Optical Zoom
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Flagman101]

Olypus Tough TG 6.
Small, compacrt very fast, performes well in all lighting conditions.
Also look at the TG870.

[Capt.Don]

Thanks for the suggestions. What do you think about the Go Pro for photos (not action video)?

[Seasic]

Hey Capt Don,

I am heading down in a couple weeks also, I use the gopro hero 7 which does a great job all around but I am admittedly not a camera buff so have little experience with others. The hero 8 is also being released soon which has many more features. I like the ability to mount the camera many different ways from head or snorkel mask mount to railing or tripod.
Anyway hope to see you down there!

[basenay]

My wife has had 3 Nikon Coolpix AW130 over the years and absolutely loved them. First "lost" on board for several years until showed up during refit. Second stolen. Third still working great including getting wonderful pictures of bull shark at 80 feet diving at Cabo Pulmo.

[Apollo366]

I've used a GoPro imitation for 2 yrs now, very good & low cost, newest ones have all the features of a GoPro, but much lower cost so they're not a $$ to replace if lost.

Check eBay.

[FlyingScot]

Newest GoPro (Hero 8 Black) will be out at the end of the month for $400. Listed as only waterproof down to 33 ft.

[Capt.Don]

Thanks for all the input. It seems like there's only 4 choices in underwater point and shoot cameras,
Nikon W300 $350 - F2.8, 5x optical zoom, VR. Reviews claim slow.
Olympus T66 $450 - F2.0, 8x optical zoom, shoots in RAW; seems to be the #1 choice
Panasonic DC-TC7 $300 - fewfinder, 28mm F3.3-F5.9 4.6x optical zoom. Reviews claim images out of focus (though may be fixed with firmware update), slow, not good in low light.
GoPro Hero8

Don't know much about GoPro - my only experience with the GoPro is for taking action video, which is not what I want. I'll head to the local camera store to check them out!

Thanks
Don

[Mike OReilly]

We have a few cameras on board, but my go-to for many years now has been the Panasonic HX-WA20. It is a gun-style camera with both still and video capability. It has a decent zoom, is waterproof to 3 meters, is dustproof. Best of all, it can be used in full manual mode for those of us who still like to manage our ISO, F-stop and shutter speeds.

The current version is now the WA30.



https://www.panasonic.com/my/consume...s/hx-wa30.html

[Ramona]

I have used a Pentax WG-2 adventure camera now for a few years while sailing. Excellent underwater camera and takes good videos. Any of the adventure cameras will do a good job.
https://www.photographyblog.com/revi...tio_wg2_review

[fatherchronica]

We have a Fuji that fits in my pocket and has been abused over and over but keeps taking good pictures above and below water. I used a Nikonos for 25 years and I still have a Nikon D-3200, but 95% of the photos I take now are with Fuji.

[bobnlesley]

Originally Posted by Capt.Don

...Olympus T66 $450 - F2.0, 8x optical zoom, shoots in RAW; seems to be the #1 choice...

Hi Don,
I'm no sort of camera expert/buff, but do have a 'waterproof' Olympus, though I no longer risk it in the water; I was fortunate insofar as two friends with similar cameras got caught out ahead of me:
Whilst the Olympus was waterproof when new, to keep it so you need to return it to Olympus and have the seals renewed annually; not cheap and difficult when you're sailing the world's oceans. I'd never noticed the requirement, it only came to my attention when friends had Olympus cameras which 'leaked' and died; one was almost three years old, but the other only 16 months, so it seems that this seal renewal is perhaps needed for real, rather than just to maintain the guarantee?
It may be that every other camera manufacturer has the same requirement? I don't know, but it'd worth enquiring to see if one might be better than another, before you buy.

[kryg]

I bought on ebay Lenzo underwater housing in newish condion at 1/4 of the retail price. For my iPhone 6s https://www.valstech.com/, I like the big screen for photography or video. the housing is pro ability all app functions with deep adjustable color correction filters. Good for more than 100 feet or more from memory.

[basssears]

While you're doing your shopping keep in mind one feature you might look for is the ability to use filters underwater (I know some GoPro housings can do this, not sure if they all do as my GoPro is quite a few years old). Using a red filter when underwater vastly improves the quality of the shots.


-- Bass