Underwater camera max. dpeth, 3 meters or 5 meters?

Hi all

I'm off on holiday to Cyprus soon and i'm looking to buy a budget waterproof camera for snorkeling. There are two models i'm considering: Olympus TG-320 max. depth 3 meters & Nikon Coolpix S31 max depth 5 meters.

When snorkeling, like most others i think, if i spot a nice shell or some other interesting object, i like to dive down and get it. I have no idea how deep i can dive, i've never carried a camera so never had to think about it, but i think its about the 3 meter mark. All photos i will take will be above the 3 meter limit, my concern is when diving for shells etc i might pass 3 meters and bust the camera.

I prefer the Olympus, hence the reason for me posting this question. It is also on promotion this weekend only at a local store so can get it at an attractive price, but my concern is its 3 meters max depth is not enough.

What do you think, can your average middle aged man, slightly out of shape, easily dive down below 3 meters or is this unlikely?

Should i be ok with the max 3 meter camera or is it not worth the risk and better to go for the 5 meter camera?

Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

You should have no problem exceeding even the 5 meters is my guess, but only you can answer that for sure. In order to pass OW dive class we had to do a 20m underwater swim with no fins. I had a hard time getting past about 15m, but most did not. You'll have fins on.

On a recent shallow reef dive I did (~10m) there were kids freediving to the same depth near me.

The camera shouldn't 'implode' with the extra depth, but it's likely that the buttons will stick- meaning you can't take the picture.

Unless the camera was stupidly cheap in the first place, I'd get a GoPro or equivalent.

kelemvor:

You should have no problem exceeding even the 5 meters is my guess, but only you can answer that for sure. In order to pass OW dive class we had to do a 20m underwater swim with no fins.

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20m horizontal is not the same as 20m vertical.


If those are your choices, get the 5m. Unless you have been doing a bit of freediving, going to 5m, then framing and taking a picture should use up your bottom time.



Bob
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A man's got to know his limitations.
Harry Callahan

My experience with my Olympus has been great. HOWEVER, under no circumstances open ANY of the doors, USB or memory/battery until you have thoroughly rinsed the camera in clean water. I have had 2 friends that both bought the same camera at my recommendation. Both have had to get it repaired from water damage. The repair techs told them that even a single grain of sand in the seals can potentially cause a leak. I suspect this is truth for all of them. I love mine, but keep it very clean. Rinsing after every use. I also bought a clam shell for diving. Not a great diving camera, but at least I can click photos that remind me of the dive.

Thanks everyone for your advice.

I will actually be snorkelling without fins. Additionally, i have always had trouble equilizing pressure and never really get down far because of this. I guess i should take some diving lessons to sort this out.

I dont expect to be taking photo's below 3 meters, but i think i might dive below 3 meters to collect shells etc. I would not mind if the buttons on the camera stop working bekow 3 meters, just as long as they work again when i'm above 3 meters, and just as long as the camera does not leak water below 3 meters.

I'm sitting in my living room which has a ceiling height of 3 meters. Using this as a guage, i really doubt i could go much deeper than 5 meters.

Also don't jump into the water with the camera. That sudden pressure change can shoot water into the battery compartment. I saw that happen on a snorkel tour where someone jumped in off a cat sailboat.
Get in the water first and have someone hand you the camera.

We got a pentax WG-3. It can go to 45 feet (13, almost 14 meters). Plus it has a lot of other nice rugged features (low temperature, drop resistant, etc).

We thought the price was really good, and are happy with the photo quality, though we haven't taken it anywhere were we can really test it (just a cloudy pool and a low vis quarry). We looked at the Go Pro, but it seemed more geared towards video. Plus, a lot of people reported image quality was better in above water things (like surfing) than actual under water shots.

We like it because while we bought it for snorkeling, now that we are scuba diving- we can take it on the more shallow scuba dives too.

I would not mind if the buttons on the camera stop working bekow 3 meters, just as long as they work again when i'm above 3 meters, and just as long as the camera does not leak water below 3 meters.

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I think the issue with depth ratings is not that the cameras stop working below the depths and then start working again (though if it is just buttons sticking, then the issue would remedy itself)- but that the casings leak. So this might be a problem. However, I think most cameras are fine below their rated depth, because that is a CYA number by the company. Below it, they aren't responsible (well, no matter what they probably don't actually warranty it), but they certainly aren't going to set the number right at the line where it will fail.

I'm actually more concerned for your going down to collect stuff. In scuba we say, "Take only pictures, leave only bubbles".

My boss got the newest Olympus TG-2 and WOW!!! I have a $1k set up and I think the TG-2 takes better pictures! Kinda livid LOL! I posted a few pics that I took from that camera in this thread...on AUTO - believe it! http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/sn...-unique-snorkeling-locations-caribbean-4.html I never really use auto on my set up but this camera takes AWESOME pics in auto, I couldn't believe it. I think I am going to go buy it and rig my strobe to it lol. I will say that I had the Olympus tough 6020 years back and it sucked. The new one is awesome... it has a rocking super macro mode which I loooooovvveee. The petersons cleaning shrimp picture from that link was in super macro. Gives a depth warning too at 40ft I noticed which is nice. Great camera and I only used it twice.

Side note- as farsidefan mentioned you should absolutely not pick up anything unless you know 100% what it is... even then its frowned upon. That pretty conch shell may have a giant reef hermit ready to take off your finger - seen that happen! IMHO without fins you aren't getting down very deep anyways ;D I couldn't imagine being in the ocean and not having fins lol feels so unnatural to me.