Opinions on SeaLife cameras?

[ScubaCatgirl]

I have a DC500 and the digital strobe and have had very good luck with it. It is compact and light enough that when flying to dive locations I have no "weight" problems taking it and ALL my other dive gear.

On a recent trip, we dove with a diver with a very fancy camera kit (Nikon digital with twin strobes). But because of the camera and housing weight, he could not bring his gear and had to use rental gear. Well, he kept compaining about the gear quality and how it caused him problems missing shots.

At the end of the day, I admit, he got far better macro pictures than I did, but when it came to the fish, lobster and coral pictures, I got as many "oohs and aaahhhs" as he did from the other resort guests and divers (we ran a slide show on the computer every evening). And I had no gear problems to take away from my total diving experience.

There are always trade-offs. But for the money - I think my SeaLife DC500 camera is just fine.

I have very good luck w/mine as well & have gotten some excellant pics......some good enough to turn into for contests, etc. As I get better in using the camera, I'm sure my pics will come out looking even better. I love my DC500! I can shoot away & still enjoy my dive cause I'm not fiddling w/all those controls, but of course, that is my preference.

 

[Darnold9999]

As my first camera it was great. Point and shoot, easy to carry, got some great shots with it. Macro focus was so so, battery life also so so. There may be better gear out there, but I was happy at that price point for a point and shoot.

Wanted more control so upgraded to a dlsr, will probably keep the dc500 as a spare, small point and shoot camera.

 

[desiredbard]

Great Camera I have the pro set
Dont believe a negative word you hear, leisurepro does a great deal on them

Now I would recommend the external flash on any cam
external strobe takes about one dive practice... results for me were great at 19m 2m Viz:

Now my second dive with the cam on which below picture was taken was with a budy and a fancy olympus and new housing. (Camera + housing cost double what I paid for cam-housing-strobe oh and read the warranty smallprint as well )

Now I am not going to place his pics here, well actually I am, just to prove my point that expensive is certainly not always better
We were positioned beside eachother on these shots

DC500
http://www.geocities.com/desiredbard/DC500.JPG

Olympus
http://www.geocities.com/desiredbard/olympus.jpg

 

[desiredbard]

No Problem with Irish waters though...

 

[micahjt]

Dont believe a negative word you hear, leisurepro does a great deal on them

Sure don't trust anything bad said about SeaLife, trust desiredbard's opinion only.

too funny

My personal opinion : SeaLife blows chunks big time. Not only are their products inferior but their customer service stinks just as bad. I've been doing photography since 1982, have my own B&W dark room and feel pretty confident in my observations about SeaLife and their products. Everyone else is certainly entitled to their own opinion......live and learn!

Do your research before you buy anything. Write down the camera attributes and compare them side by side with other brands. There is a site specifically designed to do this but I forget the address, perhaps someone will chime in with that info.

I did post on this thread more details as to why I arrived at my opinion but for some reason the post was deleted by the mod. Apparently, your only allowed to post the same information in one thread......I dunno?

You mention in another threat that you have never shot with the dc500. From that thread you said "I did own the DC500 for about two days before I returned it. At the time there was sooo much bad publicity and apparent problems that I didn't even take it out of the box." I think that you should qualify that you have formed your opinion from what you have read etc., not from actual use of the unit. Just for additional info...the problems that many people encountered when the camera first came out (strobe firing, macro focusing) were corrected with the pie.5 firmware upgrade.

My opinions are formed on the fact that I own most of their previous products including the DC310, all of it's accessories and two of their film cameras. I've also personally been with divers that were using (trying to use) the DC500 while diving. Also, as you mentioned there was a lot of bad publicity with the camera when it first came out. SeaLife had posted two pages of know problems on their web site but after about a week they removed the link to 'know problems with the DC500'. There are many problems that can not be fixed by a simple firm ware update. I honestly don't have the time to write a complete review of the camera and about the many bad experiences I've had trying to work with their customer service. It's plainly a cheap camera, cheap product that was rushed to market long before it should have been.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Now I am not going to place his pics here, well actually I am, just to prove my point that expensive is certainly not always better
We were positioned beside eachother on these shots

DC500
http://www.geocities.com/desiredbard/DC500.JPG

Olympus
http://www.geocities.com/desiredbard/olympus.jpg

.... The Olympus looks to be sharp from frame edge to frame edge, not so with the Sealife. Obviously, the Oly shot would have been improved with some external lighting, shooting RAW or setting WB manually would have also helped wonders. The photog could have taken different steps to improve the Oly picture - not the camera's fault.

These shots don't exactly help your arguement.

I have no experience with the DC500, but I got alot of use out of a DC310. Its great if you don't want the flexibility of manual controlled camera which will give you the upmost control in your pictures(despite most people's comment in this thread - this is managable without disconnecting yourself with the rest of the dive - just get comfortable with the camera first - duh). Some people are content with snapshots, SeaLife's are great in this aspect.

 

[ScubaCatgirl]

....
I have no experience with the DC500, but I got alot of use out of a DC310. Its great if you don't want the flexibility of manual controlled camera which will give you the upmost control in your pictures(despite most people's comment in this thread - this is managable without disconnecting yourself with the rest of the dive - just get comfortable with the camera first - duh). Some people are content with snapshots, SeaLife's are great in this aspect.

Yep, & Sealife's customer representation &/or repair is not bad either & I do have personal experience with their customer care/repair! I'm all around pleased with Sealife, but then again, I don't aspire to be a professional photographer either. I want to enjoy my dive & have fantastic memories from my pics that I can show my family & friends & maybe, just maybe, enter an occasional contest.

 

[desiredbard]

Sure don't trust anything bad said about SeaLife, trust desiredbard's opinion only.

too funny

My personal opinion : SeaLife blows chunks big time. Not only are their products inferior but their customer service stinks just as bad. I've been doing photography since 1982, have my own B&W dark room and feel pretty confident in my observations about SeaLife and their products. Everyone else is certainly entitled to their own opinion......live and learn!

Well I hope youve seen the two pics above
Regarding their customer service its excellent.
The wife accidentelly got rid of the driver CD I use the cam as a still as well.
Dealers are a bit iffy about providing a CD and regretfully you cannot download the driver from their website. However 1 mail to their support + a couple of aditional questions and I received a new CD and some fresh moisture munchers (The ones i got from leisure pro were slightly discolloured) free of charge. And this is before I took the bother of registering my puchase.

Now try that with SONY.
:lol:
(Camera's discontinued after 6-9 months and having a hard time replacing o-rings getting a diffuser, let alone a external flash.....and service.....If sony would install carbrakes I would sure as what not drive that car)

True the battery life could be a lot better, I have not taken macro yet cause i do not have a diffuser. But it boils down to RTFM , its a point and shoot camera but if conditions are not ideal you must know how to adjust an compensate)

Again the pics in my previous post are made with the so called
Leaking, fogging unsharp yugo of a camera called the Sealife DC500

The second photo is made with an Olympus which was without the housing more expensive than my PRO set.

I can imagine that some people would be annoyed with the fact they overspend on a camera and only get soso results. But that is no reason to advise people against a good deal, and sure if your big time into it go for an SLR, but stay away from SONY KODAK the Small olympusses cause they are overprised and overrated on their name: in that case do it right and spen 2.5-3k on a camera and periphials.

Now your own album looks nice enough but there is loads of comments of people that barely seem to be able to handle a camera.
Again there will be better out there but your going to pay for it.

I regret my sony, i know people who regret their medium ranges kodak and canon, sure if you have 2-3 thousand to spare there is of course better to get than the sealife
Its not a bad camera.

BTW the pictuires above are scaled down my buddies one is cropped
Now he is new to underwater photography wheras I had practice with my sony. but still .....

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Now he is new to underwater photography wheras I had practice with my sony. but still .....

Thats says alot, the best camera in the world will not produce pictures on its own.

 

[CheddarChick]

I love my DC500...