SeaLife DC800

[Former Sealife Employee]

Thank you again Denise.

As tomorrow will be the first time I use the camera underwater.. is there anything special I should do? The O-ring is fine on both the flash and camera, all batteries are charging as I type..
I'm guessing a maximum of 25 meters tomorrow..
Can I just jump in?

Should I test for leaks by lowering it into a bathtub by the way? I hadn't really thought about that!

Kinetic - my apologies. I didn't see this until today, and it looks like you may have already used the camera by now. How did it go?

 

[Kinetic-]

Kinetic - my apologies. I didn't see this until today, and it looks like you may have already used the camera by now. How did it go?

No worries at all!
I did two dives at Rottnest Island yesterday.
For the first dive, I put some tissue paper inside the housing and took it for a test dive to check for leaks. Of course, not a single drop inside, no leaks and no worries!

For the second dive, I finally put my camera in. I was amazed by the shutter speed! It was the same kind of speed I'd expect from a digital SLR.. of course, longer reload time between shots, but the minimum shutter lag really helped! The flash was really easy to adjust, and provided the perfect supplement to the camera! The only complaint I have about the external flash, is that the "flash strength?" button could be hard to turn underwater.. but I guess that's because I tried doing it with one hand, while holding the camera with the other.. so in other words, not very stable.

We did some filming as well, and I have to say this: I am astonished at the quality of the movie! I would never EVER expect that! Crystal clear picture, no lag or colours beeing "dragged" out.. just wonderful! Thank you, SeaLife!

EDIT:
I just added some photos to my personal gallery here! Check them out

 

[brucekrymow]

When did you purchase your DC600? We made an upgrade to the battery late last year and increased it from 650mAh to 700mAh. The new DC800 has a 1250mAh battery, so it's almost double the battery life.

I just bought a DC600 from an authorized SeaLife dealer, but the batteries are 650 mAh. Is there much of a difference? Will SeaLife swap them out?

 

[tortugadiver]

I have a SeaLife Dc800 on hold at my LDS and cant wait till I can finally go get it. By the sounds of it I have picked a really nice camera to be my dive camera.

 

[bornabolt]

Hi denise, ok, I must be missing something....I just took my camera out for some real diving this week for the first time. I feel like I had trouble with settings and flash timing the whole time. Everyone keeps bragging about shutter speed being great and everything, but, I must be doing something wrong. all my photos seem late, and the flash seems to be firing really early. I followed all the sttings in the manual, and still having trouble. I gave up on about the flash by the 4th dive and just went without the rest of the trip. I had it on auto and still seemed the shutter was way behind. What am I doing wrong???

 

[Former Sealife Employee]

Hi denise, ok, I must be missing something....I just took my camera out for some real diving this week for the first time. I feel like I had trouble with settings and flash timing the whole time. Everyone keeps bragging about shutter speed being great and everything, but, I must be doing something wrong. all my photos seem late, and the flash seems to be firing really early. I followed all the sttings in the manual, and still having trouble. I gave up on about the flash by the 4th dive and just went without the rest of the trip. I had it on auto and still seemed the shutter was way behind. What am I doing wrong???

If you had trouble with the “flash timing” then you may not have had the camera set to “External flash auto”. Try putting it in that mode and make sure that you have the strobe's pre-flash switch to 0.

 

[bornabolt]

Denise, I did, that is why I did not understand why it was firing too early, or the shutter was too late.

 

[edylchtims]

I have read the entries in this thread. Most posts seem to be from persons with various degrees of experience with underwater photography. I have none. Tried one of those $15 disposables but did not get one usable underwater picture. Should I get the DC 800? Is it easy to use/learn for someone with my lack of experience?

 

[scuba_frog]

I have read the entries in this thread. Most posts seem to be from persons with various degrees of experience with underwater photography. I have none. Tried one of those $15 disposables but did not get one usable underwater picture. Should I get the DC 800? Is it easy to use/learn for someone with my lack of experience?

Go for it! VERY simple to use. Depending where you dive, you may want to consider at least one strobe as well. This is my first UW camera as well. Play with the settings on land first to get used to it.

I'm taking mine out for the 2nd time tomorrow. Had trouble with the strobes my first time out in a low vis situation. Now that I know what I did wrong, I'm excited about trying it again tomorrow.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

You should be fine buying it as a newbie. Its a very easy camera to learn. Just dont think that you will be a pro the first couple times using it. It just takes time to get used to it and figure out how to put it all together to take great pics

And dont forget to post your pics