Back from Bermuda with DC310 :(

[cannon fodder]

Hi All,

My wife and I have been snorkling and taking fish shots with Sealife film camera's for over 10 years now and finally decided that we should stop throwing good money away on bad film prints. We got a couple of Sealife DC310's based on our experience with the Reefmaster RC's, we have 5 and have gotten quite a few good shots over the years. Here are some shots taken with our old film cameras in Bermuda last year.

When the new DC310's arrived I immediatly noticed that the screen was much darker than my old Canon A40 and upon taking a couple of quick shots, the recycle time was way slower than the old A40. When we got to Bermuda the problems really started, the screen showed a nice reflection of our masks when looked into, it was impossible to tell if the camera was even on underwater. Trying to bracket fish shots was equally difficult, after taking the shot, the DC310 was so slow to recycle the fish could have made it half way to the Azores by the time the camera was ready to take another picture. Not to say that the camera is all bad, some of the pictures did come out, and with a little editing (the underwater mode seems to only effect the flash, not the white balance) do not look that bad. I am thinking that they would be even better with a better camera.

I am thinking of ditching the DC310's on E-Bay and going with a Canon (or similar) camera and housing. I do not want to spend more that $500.00 or $600.00 for both camera and housing, I have to get two, one for me and one for my wife. I was looking at the current versions of the A40, i.e. the A520/A95 or moving up the price chain to an SD500/S70 if the price difference is worth it. Do any of you have experience with these cameras? Are the screens visible underwater? Do they recycle quickly enough to be able to bracket shots? Is an SD500 that much better than an A520? I do not want to blow another $1000.00 just to find out that we would be better off sticking with film. Finally, does anybody want to buy a Reefmaster digital camera cheap

Thanks in advance of your help,

Derek

 

[alcina]

I like the A series cameras. They do have some lag time, but there are ways to reduce that. If you want a digital camera without much lag, you're going to head into more $$. I used my Canon A70/A75s for ages and didn't really miss many shots because of the lag time - when I changed to the Oly 5050 I thought my camera was broken it took so long!

I had a DM with an A510 and she loved it and the photos I saw were fine. I have also seen tons of A70/7580/85/95's come through in the past 12 months and these consistently produce good results. This would be my suggestion for your needs and budget.

The people with S70's really like them, too, but I have only seen a couple come through. Very nice. Not sure if they are worth the extra $$ - only you can decide that based on your needs.

For more cash you can head into the Fuji 810 (if you can find one in the US) - this camera is said to have little to no lag time.