Mine made it about an dive and a half. Luckily the eagle rays were at the beginning of the dive. Has anyone else had trouble with 1) Getting the digital strobe to fire consistently - even with the fiber optic cable 2) incredibly slow recycle times- 13-14 seconds on freshly charged batteries and /or 3) a funky round halo around pictures??? I have upgraded my firmware to the PIE5 so hopefully that will take care of some of the issues. Otherwise, we got some nice shots in Coz.
SeaLife DC500 5.0 MegaPixel Camera Pro Kit
- Thread starter Minnow
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I've had issues when my wife got me my DC500, I upgraded from a reefmaster 35mm (was sick of the cost of film and devolping etc). And at 1st the SL960 (non-digital) would not fire all the time. I did some thinking and I decided to take a razor blade, I cut the part that goes into the flash by the camer at a 45 deg angle, I also stripped about 1/4-1/8 inch off of shielding. Never had a problem since. No need to use the macro lenses since the camera zooms in nice anyways.
Do I love it ???? YES
Would I buy another one today if faced with all the ones out there YES
best bang fer yer buck and with the 28mm lens , it rocks
Do I love it ???? YES
Would I buy another one today if faced with all the ones out there YES
best bang fer yer buck and with the 28mm lens , it rocks
PaulChristenson
Contributor
PaulChristenson
Contributor
Les:
The digital flash
http://www.sealife-cameras.com/accessories/digital_flash.html
The external flash
http://www.sealife-cameras.com/accessories/external_flash.html
I talked to Sealife yesterday and was told that upgrading the firmware to the PIE5 version should fix the problem with the digital flash not firing consistently underwater and also increase the battery life by about 20%. It was sad not to get any really great pictures with my new camera in Coz but hopefully we will in the Flower Gardens in February! I hate it when my husband gets better pictures than me!!! (OK so it has only happened this once). Kinko's didn't want to enlarge one of his pics of a spotted eagle ray because they didn't believe it wasn't copywrited. I finally convinced them and signed their waiver. I guess we should take it as a compliment........
When I received my DC500 (stupidly purchased online) I was amazed at the clutter of bits and pieces in the box. I think that this camera is so small that it will be impossible to repair. I find the external buttons clunky on the housing. But the buttons on the actual camera fiddly and far too small for my male fingers. The shutter delay is appallingly slow. I thought my 'land' Fuji Finepix was slow (and have deleted many spoilt images due to the subject moving just when I'd pressed the button) - but the DC500 is the slowest ever - it takes a full second to decide to capture an image. How on earth can it be used in a marine environment where EVERYTHING is moving. On land (sans housing) I found the picture quality far inferior to the Finepix - being blurred and 'grainy.' So much so that any print greater than the standard 4 x 5 will be useless. Also I am MOST upset that I have to use the camera itself to charge any spare batteries. Why can't they make a dedicated charging unit? How on earth Time Mag. voted it as the 'best invention for 2005' beats me.
Further issues with the DC500.
Searched the UK Digital Photography mags. for 'Sealife' - but nothing, zero, zilch, sfa. Plenty about Fuji, Pentax, Nikon, etc., etc., but nout about Sealife cameras. Also searched UK Dive Mags - but nout there either. Then I discovered in tiny print on the camera casing the dreaded 'Made in China.' Hardly a world class product commensurate with well established German or Japanese firms then. Wonder what the Chinese sweat shop workers get paid for manufacturing something sold at £300+. The quality is so 'high' even the sticky label on the front of the camera is stuck on crooked. Goodness knows what the quality of the lense(s) and innards are like. Then there is the issue of the underwater housing. TWO MAIN DESIGN FAULTS. 1/ The fastening clasp is proud of the case (next to a whole bunch of buttons)which would make it VERY easy to inadvertantly open the housing underwater. One such accident and £300+ camera becomes a write off to say nothing of £50+ worth of chip and irreplaceable images. 2/ The operating spring-loaded buttons themselves are loose and wobble meaning that their rods pass through the casing but do not appear to be adequately sealed. At present I would not even want to immerse the camera in one foot of water in the bath, let along 200 feet in the ocean. I've yet to immerse the housing with blue tissue paper inside to measure its waterproofing (a tip from a dive mag.). I'll report back when I tested it further. Generally it appears that the internal DC500 camera is just a bog standard point and shoot box - which even the Digital Camera Press (in the UK) can't be bothered to review.
Further issues with the DC500.
Searched the UK Digital Photography mags. for 'Sealife' - but nothing, zero, zilch, sfa. Plenty about Fuji, Pentax, Nikon, etc., etc., but nout about Sealife cameras. Also searched UK Dive Mags - but nout there either. Then I discovered in tiny print on the camera casing the dreaded 'Made in China.' Hardly a world class product commensurate with well established German or Japanese firms then. Wonder what the Chinese sweat shop workers get paid for manufacturing something sold at £300+. The quality is so 'high' even the sticky label on the front of the camera is stuck on crooked. Goodness knows what the quality of the lense(s) and innards are like. Then there is the issue of the underwater housing. TWO MAIN DESIGN FAULTS. 1/ The fastening clasp is proud of the case (next to a whole bunch of buttons)which would make it VERY easy to inadvertantly open the housing underwater. One such accident and £300+ camera becomes a write off to say nothing of £50+ worth of chip and irreplaceable images. 2/ The operating spring-loaded buttons themselves are loose and wobble meaning that their rods pass through the casing but do not appear to be adequately sealed. At present I would not even want to immerse the camera in one foot of water in the bath, let along 200 feet in the ocean. I've yet to immerse the housing with blue tissue paper inside to measure its waterproofing (a tip from a dive mag.). I'll report back when I tested it further. Generally it appears that the internal DC500 camera is just a bog standard point and shoot box - which even the Digital Camera Press (in the UK) can't be bothered to review.
*Floater*
Contributor
PaulChristenson:
Yeah, I know it says "Fits all SeaLife® cameras." But the customer service people told me they don't work with the DC500. Either way, I'd like to see more pics posted by members here. There a lot of negative feedback by now so I don't feel like investing in this piece anytime soon.
They doCJB:
http://www.scubatoys.com/store/detail.asp?product_id=SL15135
I used this camera for the first time yesterday, and although this was my first time taking pics, I found it easy to use.
If anyone would like full res samples of video and still from the DC500, let me know where to upload them. I'll post a few resized samples. They are taken on my first dives with the camera. I know they will be much better as I learn the camera and refine tecnique(Read: I suck at photography).
These are taken with the on board flash.
CJB,
I'd just keep in mind the price of the entire package, including external strobe is pretty cheap. How much would you have into a finepix, housing and strobe? How is the video?
As for reliability, I've had it down to 80' and the silica has been good for 10 dives. Shutter lag can be reduced with the correct mode.
Great first post though.
These are taken with the on board flash.
CJB,
I'd just keep in mind the price of the entire package, including external strobe is pretty cheap. How much would you have into a finepix, housing and strobe? How is the video?
As for reliability, I've had it down to 80' and the silica has been good for 10 dives. Shutter lag can be reduced with the correct mode.
Great first post though.
*Floater*
Contributor
Nice pics. Now you just need to edit them and upload them onto your photo gallery at scubaboard. I touched up one for you:
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