Looking for a new UW camera

[emoreira]

I had a bad experience with a flooded housing in the first day of a several days dive excursion.
I also realized that I prefer a photo camera with video capability and not a video camera with limited photo capability.
I also would prefer a camera without UW Housing. Too bulky and too risky.
I narrowed the possibilities to the Nikon Coolpix AW130 and Sealife Micro HD+
AW130 is rated to 30 meters, while the Micro HD is rated up to 60 meters.
Besides Sealife is permanently sealed, this is no doors, no o-rings, no memory card, while AW130 has a unique door for charging, battery and MC.
AW130 is cheaper, but I already went with the cheaper options and costed more in long range.
Something that shocked me is that the more complete Sealife Micro HD+ seems to be discontinued and the Micro HD is only available (half the memory capacity and no WiFi).
I've been reading the reviews of the AW130 and not all people seems to be happy with it.
The reviews I've seen of the Micro HD seems a little biased.
Comments please ?

Thanks.

 

[Spudlet]

Nikon Coolpix AW130 looks ok but i would add a strobe to it and also 30m depth rating don't drop it hahaha

 

[dirtfarmer]

Why not a TG-4 in a housing? Let's you have piece of mind your not going to ruin another camera, yet have some great performance for a compact.

 

[scubadada]

You're placing pretty severe restrictions on your new camera, very limited options.Best of luck

 

[klausi]

Here is my review of the Nikon Coolpix.

Actually, it flooded briefly after writing that ... it was probably not my fault, these o-rings at the battery compartment are a bit fragile, imo. Still, a good camera, especially for video. The big downside it that you can't use a manual exposure mode. I'd get a video light with it.

 

[Hoag]

Why not a TG-4 in a housing? Let's you have piece of mind your not going to ruin another camera, yet have some great performance for a compact.

I think that this is an excellent idea. The TG-4 is depth rated to 50 feet(15m) so if the housing does leak, it will not be catastrophic. Olympus TG-4s have a reputation for good quality and by putting it in a housing, you will be able to use an external strobe to help reduce the effects of backscatter.

Personally, I don't think that it would take too long before you found either of the two options that you are looking at to be somewhat limiting.

Best of luck in which ever choice you make.

 

[Zac786]

I find myself in the same boat. I flooded my camera (Sony RX100 Mark ii) on the first dive in Mexico in January. the camera is ruined although it was very small amount of water which came in, but I perhaps detected it too late.

So I have gone back to the drawing board so to speak and was thinking of buying some sort of waterproof camera in the first place which can go into a housing for deeper dives.The Olympus TG-4 is a good and cheap option but that would be retrogressive in image quality as the Sony had a better 1 inch sensor. Also it has 16 MP image only. The next step up would be the new Sealife DC2000 which has the 1 inch Sony sensor and similar image quality. I have good reviews about that and its priced in mid range as well. It has many good qualities but the only hesitation I have is that it has a fixed zoom lens. That is it has no optical zoom. I tend to use my diving cameras minus the housing when I am on holidays and this absent feature would severely limit its usage.

The last option I am considering is to go for a good point and shoot camera like Canon GX7 II or Sony RX100 III or IV, BUT get a housing made more robustly and with moisture alarm, be it visual or audio. This would be the costliest option but with no compromise camera which is good for land use as well.

I am leaning towards the last option as possibly the best of both worlds . I have read about the flooding situations on the forum and you have very little indication when its going to happen. In my 20 years of diving this was the first. I have had cheaper housings before which have worked perfectly well. I can imagine that sticking to the rule to get a waterproof camera will limit my choices very much and as said above may regret it later. I also read about the alarms for the housings. Does any one has experience with those

 

[Spudlet]

I have a Fantasea housing for my Canon G7X MK2 and it has moisture detector alarm that is why I went it rather than Recsea ( oh and it was cheaper ) haha

 

[Zac786]

Yes Sony RX100 Mk 3 or 4 in Fantasea housing would be similar price. I wonder what would be the better option. Sony RX 100 3 or the canon GX7 ll

 

[CaptainCalamari]

A TG4, AW130 or Pana TS6 in a housing is a good safe option. If the housing floods, the camera isn't ruined. The whole thing is double sealed.

I have a Pana TS5 in an Ikekite housing, yes it is a little bulky, but the larger buttons of the housing are easier in gloves than on the base camera with gloves.
It takes good pictures, has an optical zoom, it colour balances and adjusts for underwater red loss and can still do 1080p 50fps video with zoom. So I think more versatile than a GoPro style video cam.