Seeking Input re: SeaLife DC2000 Camera Pro Duo Set

[ScubaJoy65]

I'm retiring my Ikelite DS61 and Ikelite housing with a Canon S90. I'm "two seconds" from buying the SeaLife and want to know what anyone thinks about it. Have you used it? Are you happy with it? Pros? Cons?

Thanks in advance.
Joy

 

[ibj40]

We have the older DC1400 and love it. Would not hesitate to upgrade.

 

[KeithG]

I'm retiring my Ikelite DS61 and Ikelite housing with a Canon S90. I'm "two seconds" from buying the SeaLife and want to know what anyone thinks about it. Have you used it? Are you happy with it? Pros? Cons?

Thanks in advance.
Joy

I claim it would make sense to list "why" you are retiring your current rig. Generally I would look for a list of "new / improved" features that are missing from your current camera or a list of "things I can't do". Then use this list to pick a different setup.

I have found it is useful to think about things like:
- what do I absolutely hate about my current camera?
- what type of pictures do I want to capture?
- is my current camera capable of capturing these?
- or do I need more training?

Often times the purchase impulse comes down to "i want something new".

If you provide more background info and details, then you will likely get more specific feedback.

P.S. I am in the process of grabbing an end of list Olympus TG-4 from my local camera store. The reason: my dive buddy has yet once again said that she wants a camera to take "happy snaps" with. We are divers but we have an upcoming cruise where we will only be snorkeling. We already have a happy snap camera: Canon SD780 that I bought second hand many years ago (and I just bought a backup camera a few weeks ago on eBay) for her to take happy snaps. BUT I am claiming the Canon for this trip. So we now need 2 happy snap cameras.

 

[bvanant]

Sea Life are good enough cameras, but as giffenk says, it depends on what you want to do with your photography. Wide angle/macro/video? Once you figure that out the rest is easy.
Bill

 

[dmaziuk]

I recently flooded our DC1400 and so far am very happy with SeaLife's customer service. Not sure I'd expect that level of support from Canon or Nikon.

 

[Landau]

Have had my DC 2000 for a few dives

Pros
Good detail and lots of room to manipulate in Lightroom
Strobe works well easy to adjust output underwater
Screen easy to see underwater
Easy to use buttons and menu underwater with gloves

Cons
Raw takes 5 seconds to save and you can't take another shot until it finishes
Hard to find a place to grip without pressing a button
Common things you want underwater are a few menus deep

 

[Landau]

One more con
If you hit play by accident the shutter button is inexplicably "Delete"

Hopefully they can fix some of these in a firmware update

 

[flyingDiver75]

I've had a duo rig since April and run a Hero5 on the cold shoe for video. Overall, I'm very impressed and it takes great pictures in RAW mode - even under challenging lighting conditions. See my recent post on the Flower Gardens for links to lots of sample photos.

As already mentioned, it would be great if you could shoot faster in RAW mode. I've gotten pretty good at estimating the 5 second delay and trying to plan ahead - but sometimes you miss a great shot because you didn't see it coming and just took a mediocre shot.

One other issue I discovered on the Flower Gardens trip - if you have a boat full of people with mobile phones and anyone else has apps that auto-search for wake-up bluetooth devices they can make the camera continually wake up. Over the course of a night, this depleted the battery and I missed photos on my 1st dive because the battery was dead. I ended up pulling the battery between dives after that - but I'm hoping a future firmware update will give a menu option to disable wireless.

 

[Pillpusher]

You should probably post this in the SeaLife section to get more feedback, but I've been a SeaLife user for a very long time. Though, I am currently in the process (just finished buying the rest of my setup today, actually) of upgrading to a G7x ii. SeaLife's are great cameras. If you look at my links below, every underwater photo was taken with a SeaLife. However, as mentioned above, it depends on what you want to do. The DC2000 extremely simple to use and it takes great photos for its price point, especially considering you get a full 1" sensor, full manual control, and RAW.

Unfortunately, the reason I'm switching is because it lacks an optical zoom, and the large majority of my photographs has always been macro (though I'm now expanding that to more wide angle). You can still get very good macro photos with it, but a physical zoom just wasn't something I was willing to sacrifice for what I want to do, especially since I'm going to Raja Ampat and Lembeh in March. If the DC2000 had an optical zoom, I'm 99% sure I'd be sticking with them. As for Landau's complaints about it, I can honestly say I've never once had any of those issues. Changing shutter speed and aperture takes only a couple clicks, and you also have a hot key that can be set to whatever you'd like quicker access to as well. Also, any time you delete a photo there is a confirmation screen, so you'd have to try VERY hard to accidentally delete a photo. In several years of using these cameras, I've never had that happen a single time. Hell, I've never even GOTTEN to the delete screen.

So, with that being said, not everyone needs a physical zoom, and having 20 MP leaves you plenty of room to crop. So, the DC2000 is still an outstanding camera for a lot of people. If you want something light and easy to use that gets great photos (with a few limitations), and without spending a huge chunk, I think you'll love the DC2000. Not to mention, as a company, their customer service is simply second to none. Flood your Canon or it's not working right? Good luck with that...lol.

If you have any specific questions about it, feel free to let me know.