New Sea Life DC500 - By Review

[LavaSurfer]

I emailed SeaLife support about the vignetting of the wide angle lens and the Glare Ring I was seeing. Here is their response.

“If you back out of the zoom a little bit it should eliminate the vignetting on the corners as well as the glare issue“.

Unfortunatly the Glare ring does happen at all zoom settings but the vignetting does go away at non macro settings.

Although this isn’t very helpful she did email me back several times asking questions. I finally just called and she was very nice and willing to work with me, exchange cameras, or do whatever it takes. I am going to take the camera to the pool and see if the wide angle still gets the glare ring under water.

My feeling is that the flash is reflecting from the targets back into the lens and then bouncing around between camera lens and the Wide angle Lens and causing the Glare Ring. I am going to test this theory tonight. If my assumption is true then the glare ring should show itself by taking a picture of a bright object like a sunset or light bulb.

It’s very clear from talking to support and the design of the camera that it’s designed to use an external plash and not the internal flash when in the housing.

Here are links to some issues I was having.

Vignetteing
http://www.kona-aloha.com/photos/dc500/vignette1.jpg
http://www.kona-aloha.com/photos/dc500/vignette2.jpg

Shadows
Shadow in housing w/o Wide Angle
http://www.kona-aloha.com/photos/dc500/Shadow_In_Housing.jpg
Shadow in housing with Wide Angle
http://www.kona-aloha.com/photos/dc500/shadow_WA.jpg
Note that the shadow in the poinsettia picture is less as I was further back
http://www.kona-aloha.com/photos/dc500/poinsetta.jpg

Here are some sample shots I took over the past few days. They have been shrunk but not touched up.

http://www.kona-aloha.com/photos/dc500/Cherry.jpg
http://www.kona-aloha.com/photos/dc500/Yard.jpg
http://www.kona-aloha.com/photos/dc500/Yard3.jpg
http://www.kona-aloha.com/photos/dc500/Shelf.jpg
http://www.kona-aloha.com/photos/dc500/Pine.jpg

Glare Ring
http://www.kona-aloha.com/photos/dc500/GlareRing.jpg

Macro at Low Light
http://www.kona-aloha.com/photos/dc500/Macro_LowLight.JPG

 

[bperrybap]

If you want to see some pictures taken with a DC-500
see my gallery. All the pictures in there were taken
with a DC-500 no external flash, no extra lenses.
They were taken with the out of box package. The size was reduced down for posting on SB and there was no color adjustment done.
Other than size, the images are exactly as they were taken.

I really like the camera. Seems to do a really good job of
color corections (as long as you remember to put it in underwater mode)
It even fits in my BC pocket.

Battery charges in 1.5 hours. I tended to get about 50 minutes
maybe an hour of shooting underwater. Definitely only a single
dive unless you limit your photo time.
I did tend to shoot alot of pictures, 40+ per dive,
and some movies which seems to really eat up the batteries.

--- bill

 

[LavaSurfer]

If you want to see some pictures taken with a DC-500
see my gallery. All the pictures in there were taken
with a DC-500 no external flash, no extra lenses.
They were taken with the out of box package. The size was reduced down for posting on SB and there was no color adjustment done.
Other than size, the images are exactly as they were taken.
--- bill

Bill,

Thanks for the shots and info. I noticed quite a bit of graininess in the pictures like a very high ISO setting. I home I don't get much of that. I haven't seen the graininess in land photos yet.

I interning in the pool this weekend and going to try some pool shots of the class and see how they turn out.

Scooter

 

[alcina]

First off I was rating them a 5 for a compact P&S camera.

Me, too Compared to say the Canon A75 3.2MP camera these particular images at least (and others I have seen from this camera) aren't a 5.

I love to see images from various cameras and I think putting them up and writing about what you think are pros and cons is exceptionally helpful to others who are searching for a camera system! Looking forward to more information as you play with it.

 

[LavaSurfer]

I finally took some underwater shots yesterday.
My biggest concern is the white ballance washing out the photos. My concerns came to life on me. All the pictures seem very washed out and lack definition.

I have attached some of the better shots as well as some of the worse shots.
This camera has many presets and "SEA" is the one I chose. My next dives will be spending time taking the same shot with many settings including some custom white ballance shots.

Battery life was OK. Well, better than I expected after all the bad review. I took 103 shots on a battery and it died towards the end of my second dive. Granted, I was doing a lot of zoom and unzooming as well as playing around with settings.

In "Shark mode" the shots were fast but I wasn't too keen on that setting as the exposure and focus are locked. In autofocus mode "Not Shark Mose" there was a definate lag maybe 1/2 second. focus seemed to be good for the most part as all but a few of the shots came in focused well. Macro was pretty good and the biggest challenge was bouyancy, not camera. I had a slight current/surge so it was a challenge. Plus I was diving a new wing and tweeking that at the same time.

Here are a few shots
Check out the bubble ring, that baby went all the way and was huge when it surfaced. I blew it at about 45 feet.

http://www.kona-aloha.com/photos/Kona2006/TwoStep/

Ciao
Scooter

 

[Bbarnes]

I talked to one of the guys at SeaLife the other day and there is a new battery coming out that is supposed to be much longer lasting. The ones that came with the Elite set were routinely lasting me through 1 3/4 dives. Keep in mind that these dives were in the Keys so they were 1 hour each. I do set my camera to go to "sleep" after 30 sec and turn off after 3 minutes. The recycle time is quick and I think it saves on the battery life. In terms of the burnout on your pictures, are you using an external strobe? I did get some burnout by using the digital strobe along with the diffuster. I ditched the diffuser and turned the flash intensity down and got some really nice pictures with surprisingly little scatter. The first trip that I took this camera, I was ready to go back to my DC310. After another week underwater with it, I am further up the learning curve and really getting much improved images.

 

[ocrmaster]

I liked all your pics! Awesome.
The only one i noticed that was washed out is the ...
Crown of Thorns

 

[CheddarChick]

Hello all! I also got a DC 500 pro recently and couldn't wait to play with it underwater. Now please keep in mind while looking at my pix I do not claim to be anything other than a raw beginner. I took it out of the box, and put it on the strobe, changed it to sea mode and changed nothing else. Vis was a whopping 6-10 feet after 2 weeks of rain and the water temp was 56*. (Yes I froze in my 7mm) I guess I am also just looking for constructive help, not people who want to knock the fact I didn't buy an Oly, or cannon, or whatever. I like the camera alot for the price. It is like everything else in diving, maybe we don't all start out with the high end stuff and work our way up to it! (That's why god made Ebay) Thanks for all your help!

 

[Bbarnes]

My favorite shot is your fourth one. Any time you can get an 'eye' you capture more of the nature of the creature. Don't apologize for your choice of camera. There are lots of good cameras out there of all brands. My husband spent a lot more on his set up than I did on mine but I wouldn't trade him! My experiences with Sealife have been nothing but positive. Our interactions with Olympus have been nothing but frustrating. Just enjoy your new camera. My biggest tips are 1) Use your body to get close to your subject instead of depending on your zoom. You will get much better color when your strobe can cover your subject well. 2) Don't overexpose your pictures by turning your flash up too high. You can correct underexposure with your computer but burned out pictures can't be fixed. and 3) Look at your pictures on the tv each evening after your day of diving. You can learn a lot about what works and what doesn't by looking at your shots on a screen that is larger than the 2 inch camera screen! You will find that your favorite pictures are not the ones that you expect. Your favorites are the ones that spark a memory of a particular dive or interaction, not just the ones that follow all the composition rules.

 

[CheddarChick]

Thanks BB, He is my fav also. Very fun to have them swim right up to you. Expecting a handout I think. A couple of the bluegills kept kissing the lens of the camera. I have one shot of fish lips, LOL. It is so fun to see instant results instead of waiting for the prints. I'll check to see if the strobe i have is adjustable. Do you have the same set up? (DC500)