Warthaug
Contributor
I've done a few dive trips with this camera now, and since no one's posted an in-depth review I thought I would give it a go...
Overview: The pixtreme, made by snap-sights, is an inexpensive entry into underwater digital photography. For ~$100USD you get a 3.1 mega-pixel digital camera and housing. Not a bad price, little more then double the cost of the el-cheapo film cameras. This is a great camera for the casual photographer who wants something small (and relatively expendable) to grab the odd photo. It performs well, even under poor conditions. Unfortunately, it falls short if you're a serious photographer, or looking to move into more advanced photography.
Pros:
1) Cheap. Use the money you save to get a big SD card.
2) Well made housing. With only three buttons (on/off, shutter and flash control), a good o-ring system, and a well designed locking clamp, this housing it not likely to develop a leak. Sealing the case is idiot proof, and the clear housing makes it easy to check the seal and look for leaks. The housing also has a mounting point for a flash (although it may require some "adjustment" to make it fit non-snap-sights flashes), and is compatible with some macro and wide-field lenses. Good to 37m/125'.
3) Available macro mode. The camera has a macro mode which works reasonably well. Unfortunately, this is not adjustable in-water, so you have to choose between macro vs. non-macro prior to the dive. Macro works out to ~1m underwater (3'), regular mode from 1m outwards. That said, it costs about $5 to make your own macro lens - I'll post plans as soon as I make a prettier version of the one I currently use. Or you can buy a macro lens from snap sights.
4) Reasonable quality images under poor conditions. I do the large majority of my diving on Canada's west coast - cold, deep, dark and silty are the norm out here. Yet even under these conditions I was able to catch many excellent photos. I've seen photos from friends who used this camera in more forgiving conditions, and the quality of the photos were very good.
5) Compatible with slave strobe. This camera doesn't have any fancy strobe features like TTL, but it works extremely well with an underwater slave. No pre-flash, so you can get away with the cheaper non-digital strobes. The only drawback is that the camera has no built-in mechanism to deal with the brightness of a strobe (i.e. manual shutter times), so careful aiming of the strobe (and potentially a filter) is required to prevent saturation of your image. But getting this worked out is well worth the effort - I captured several excellent pix using an external strobe under conditions where the camera normally wouldn't have worked at all.
6) Wide-angle and macro lenses available. These accessories are a must have for this camera!
Cons:
1) Shutter lag. The lag on this camera is horrible. After pressing the shutter the camera will take anywhere from 1 to 3 seconds to actually take the photo. Makes it difficult to get good photos of fast-moving objects. So make sure you align yourself well, and hold your position once aligned with the subject.
2) Batteries. This camera uses AAA batteries. Although this is convenient in that it gives you easy access to replacements, standard AAA's barely last a dive - about 30-40 pictures with flash, double that without flash. If you're going to take a lot of photo's it's worth your while to put in the money for some AAA lithium rechargeables. Otherwise you'll find yourself screaming at your dead batteries just as that harbor seal steals you friends fin (I'm not bitter, I'm not bitter, I'm not bitter...).
3) LCD screen. Normally I would consider this a benefit, but in the case of this camera it's not such a good feature. It is very hard to aim your camera using the LCD - for some reason the image isn't easy to see underwater. Plus, everything looks over saturated when it gives you the post-view of you picture.
4) Low light function. Under low light conditions this camera's LCD generates a lot of noise. It's almost as bad as the noise off of a cheap video camera! Good reason to add an external strobe to this puppy.
5) On-camera flash. The flash on this camera is situated in the worst place possible - right above the lens (less then 1cm above). As such you'll see nothing but backscatter if you use the on-board flash, even in clear water. In the tropics you'll be OK - the camera should work fine without the flash. But in less clear waters, or at night, you'll need an external strobe.
6) Slow shutter speeds. Owing to its small lens this camera tends to have quite slow shutter speeds, even in bright conditions (i.e 1/60 in full sun). As such it's easy to blur your images. So keep still!
Overall: A great camera for it price. It exceeded my expectations in every way. Beginners and the casual photographers will find it a nice piece of kit, but it leaves a lot to be desired for the more serious photographer. Definitely the best intro camera I've used (and I've used a lot).
I've attached a few photo's from my last trip to give you an idea of the results. Some utilized an external strobe, others were taken with ambient light.
Overview: The pixtreme, made by snap-sights, is an inexpensive entry into underwater digital photography. For ~$100USD you get a 3.1 mega-pixel digital camera and housing. Not a bad price, little more then double the cost of the el-cheapo film cameras. This is a great camera for the casual photographer who wants something small (and relatively expendable) to grab the odd photo. It performs well, even under poor conditions. Unfortunately, it falls short if you're a serious photographer, or looking to move into more advanced photography.
Pros:
1) Cheap. Use the money you save to get a big SD card.
2) Well made housing. With only three buttons (on/off, shutter and flash control), a good o-ring system, and a well designed locking clamp, this housing it not likely to develop a leak. Sealing the case is idiot proof, and the clear housing makes it easy to check the seal and look for leaks. The housing also has a mounting point for a flash (although it may require some "adjustment" to make it fit non-snap-sights flashes), and is compatible with some macro and wide-field lenses. Good to 37m/125'.
3) Available macro mode. The camera has a macro mode which works reasonably well. Unfortunately, this is not adjustable in-water, so you have to choose between macro vs. non-macro prior to the dive. Macro works out to ~1m underwater (3'), regular mode from 1m outwards. That said, it costs about $5 to make your own macro lens - I'll post plans as soon as I make a prettier version of the one I currently use. Or you can buy a macro lens from snap sights.
4) Reasonable quality images under poor conditions. I do the large majority of my diving on Canada's west coast - cold, deep, dark and silty are the norm out here. Yet even under these conditions I was able to catch many excellent photos. I've seen photos from friends who used this camera in more forgiving conditions, and the quality of the photos were very good.
5) Compatible with slave strobe. This camera doesn't have any fancy strobe features like TTL, but it works extremely well with an underwater slave. No pre-flash, so you can get away with the cheaper non-digital strobes. The only drawback is that the camera has no built-in mechanism to deal with the brightness of a strobe (i.e. manual shutter times), so careful aiming of the strobe (and potentially a filter) is required to prevent saturation of your image. But getting this worked out is well worth the effort - I captured several excellent pix using an external strobe under conditions where the camera normally wouldn't have worked at all.
6) Wide-angle and macro lenses available. These accessories are a must have for this camera!
Cons:
1) Shutter lag. The lag on this camera is horrible. After pressing the shutter the camera will take anywhere from 1 to 3 seconds to actually take the photo. Makes it difficult to get good photos of fast-moving objects. So make sure you align yourself well, and hold your position once aligned with the subject.
2) Batteries. This camera uses AAA batteries. Although this is convenient in that it gives you easy access to replacements, standard AAA's barely last a dive - about 30-40 pictures with flash, double that without flash. If you're going to take a lot of photo's it's worth your while to put in the money for some AAA lithium rechargeables. Otherwise you'll find yourself screaming at your dead batteries just as that harbor seal steals you friends fin (I'm not bitter, I'm not bitter, I'm not bitter...).
3) LCD screen. Normally I would consider this a benefit, but in the case of this camera it's not such a good feature. It is very hard to aim your camera using the LCD - for some reason the image isn't easy to see underwater. Plus, everything looks over saturated when it gives you the post-view of you picture.
4) Low light function. Under low light conditions this camera's LCD generates a lot of noise. It's almost as bad as the noise off of a cheap video camera! Good reason to add an external strobe to this puppy.
5) On-camera flash. The flash on this camera is situated in the worst place possible - right above the lens (less then 1cm above). As such you'll see nothing but backscatter if you use the on-board flash, even in clear water. In the tropics you'll be OK - the camera should work fine without the flash. But in less clear waters, or at night, you'll need an external strobe.
6) Slow shutter speeds. Owing to its small lens this camera tends to have quite slow shutter speeds, even in bright conditions (i.e 1/60 in full sun). As such it's easy to blur your images. So keep still!
Overall: A great camera for it price. It exceeded my expectations in every way. Beginners and the casual photographers will find it a nice piece of kit, but it leaves a lot to be desired for the more serious photographer. Definitely the best intro camera I've used (and I've used a lot).
I've attached a few photo's from my last trip to give you an idea of the results. Some utilized an external strobe, others were taken with ambient light.
