Problems with ReefMaster mini

[jgeldin]

I've had my Reefmaster Mini for almost a year. I use it for beach and boat diving in Southern California and the Caribbean. For the first 8 months I used it without a strobe and I've had a digital strobe for the last 4 months.

I get red and green pixels in low light shots in the shadows. I don't experience universal red or green spots in my shots. My camera has been back to SeaLife twice. Once for a mechanical problem with the door latch and once for operator error. Each time they replaced the camera with a new (rebuilt) model with a different serial number. I can't compliment SeaLife highly enough on their customer service.

I've used single-use and rechargeable batteries in the camera and strobe. Like DandyDon, I got my rechargeables from Thomas Distributing. After using their "AA" batteries, I ordered their "C" cells for my dive lights. I haven't noticed any image differences from the batteries but I get much better battery life from the rechargeables than the single-use.

Early on in my experience with the Mini I posted all my images, un-edited, to http://www.flickr.com/photos/jgeldin/. So, you can get an idea of the kind of images my Minis have produced. The images in the most recent two photo sets have been edited but the earlier ones are "as shot".

All in all I'm pretty happy with SeaLife for a offering a comparatively inexpensive camera/strobe setup.

 

[coasterp]

Joel,

I took a quick look through your album. Great stuff.

As for me, I played in the pool again last night. I used the energizer rechargables for 70 pictures. This included firing the flash for most of them. I only lost one segment on the battery indicator. The external flash died however. It did have some old disposable batteries in it, so I'm not stressing it. I will be getting more rechargables for it. I did get some really good quality pictures. The ones that did not come out so well resulted in me making a quick flash or setting adjustment. Usually the second one came out better. I still had some red/green dot pictures but I think those are somehow related to the lighting. As of now, I am confident the camera is set to go for my Florida. I'll let you all know how everything turned out. If I have something worthy to show I will post those.

As for Sealife, I want to thank one of the service techs by the name of Karl. He has helped tons.