any ideas?? please help

[gcbryan]

The best solution (cheapest) is to do as was mentioned above...buy a used Olympus and then buy a housing for it. You could do this for $200 with most of the cost being for the housing.

If you can find a used housing that works you might get everything to $150. There is no solution for $50 that will not ruin your camera.

I took a lot of pictures with an Olympus D-560 Zoom (3 megapixel). The camera eventually kept shorting out the battery so I quit taking pictures. Recently I decided to try to find a used one since I had the housing. I found one easily through Amazon. It was $35. A search will show you that they are still selling new housings for that camera for about $150. If you could find a used housing for the D-560 Zoom that would be the cheapest way that you are going to be able to take pictures underwater.

That will mainly be macro stuff. There is plenty of stuff to take pictures of up here in the PNW. I think you need to just save up a little more.

Saltwater is very unforgiving to electronics!

 

[Brewski]

Look here http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/un...techniques-rebates-deals-look-here-first.html

Also I'd like to mention that if your not totally dialed in with buoyancy control and trim, you should get that down before worrying about taking pictures.
you also should check Ebay for used gear, if your on a budget. Another option is to buy those cheep one time disposables they sell in the resort dive shops, my wife actually got decent results with those.

 

[Brewski]

my budget is like 50$ so alot less, any ideass?

drawing on a slate?

 

[kilo_fox]

drawing on a slate?

 

[Diver0001]

hi guys, im looking for a way to built a cheap and quick camera housing for taking picutes underwater, its just a nikon coolpix cheapy camera

Don't get too attached to it....

I've built a couple of lights and in the process I discovered that keeping something like this watertight is an awful lot harder than you might think. A good seal depends on parts fiting very precisely, which is incredibly difficult to do well if you're using tools you have around the house.

Needless to say, I first spent $300 building lights before I bit the bullet, swallowed my ego, cursed my inability to do what everyone else seems to find so easy and just bought a light that works and *doesn't* go (flicker) (flicker) bbbbzzzzzzAAAATTT and stun small fishes within a 6ft radius.

If nothing else I think everyone should try making something like this at some point to get an appreciation for how well designed some of the commercial products really are.

R..

Incidentally, the price of the camera is often a fraction of the price of the housing. One suggestion might be to go on ebay and buy a housing that you can get a good deal on and then just go buy a camera that fits in it.

R..

 

[emoreira]

drawing on a slate?

:grinjester:

 

[Herk_Man]

I found a 2005 Olympus Stylus with a brand new housing, 2 spare batteries and a couple other goodies on Ebay for $180. It takes great pictures and I'm very happy with it.

 

[mboyd03]

got my housing for a casio on ebay for $100. Save you money and buy a real housing. If you keep looking you can find then cheap I did.

 

[robint]

my budget is like 50$ so alot less, any ideass?

not for that price!!! Scuba housings are made to withstand the pressure and also be able to push all buttons, so you can't manufacture one with those requirements for that price point.

I suggest you assess your photo goals and either come up with more money or forget about taking photos until you can afford it.


robin

 

[SoybeanQueen]

The number of levers and switches necessary to operate the camera would make it a pretty advanced project. I don't think there's a "quick" option at all.

If you can't find a housing for the camera you already have, I'll second the Canon p&s plus Canon UW case. The one I have does pics plus video with sound, and the quality is pretty good for a not-terribly-expensive camera.

No matter what you end up with, I recommend taking the wrist strap off your camera before you put it in the housing. It's really easy for that strap to get tucked into the seal on the UW case, which will make it leak. I find that it's easier just to not have the strap than to check 467 times pre-dive to make sure the seal is OK.