Sea&Sea 8000G

[DiveMaven]

We recently purchased this point and shoot digital camera as an upgrade from our Pentax camera and housing. My husband was looking for a compact digital camera that he could shoot both macro and wide angle with and the information on the Sea&Sea 8000G sounded like it would fit the bill.

ALL of the information on Sea&Sea's website about this camera was 100% accurate and the camera functioned exactly as my husband wanted. He was able to get within 2cm of the macro he was shooting, and on wide angle it was just as great. He can shoot RAW, can change the white balance, or leave the camera on automatic and let it do it's own thing. He does need to consider getting a strobe, but we'll cross that bridge another day.

Sea&Sea claims this camera is as close to an SLR as you can get in a compact digital and frankly, I would agree. We would recommend this camera strongly to folks not ready (or wanting) to go the SLR route.

 

[TimAZ]

A friend of mine owns one and says that while the pictures are great, the cycle time between shots can be pretty long. What's your experience?

 

[DiveMaven]

We've found the cycle time to be very short unless we're using the flash. It's the flash that really needs the power, so it takes longer. It's still shorter than our old camera so for us it's better.

 

[Jim Baldwin]

We recently purchased this point and shoot digital camera as an upgrade from our Pentax camera and housing. My husband was looking for a compact digital camera that he could shoot both macro and wide angle with and the information on the Sea&Sea 8000G sounded like it would fit the bill.

ALL of the information on Sea&Sea's website about this camera was 100% accurate and the camera functioned exactly as my husband wanted. He was able to get within 2cm of the macro he was shooting, and on wide angle it was just as great. He can shoot RAW, can change the white balance, or leave the camera on automatic and let it do it's own thing. He does need to consider getting a strobe, but we'll cross that bridge another day.

Sea&Sea claims this camera is as close to an SLR as you can get in a compact digital and frankly, I would agree. We would recommend this camera strongly to folks not ready (or wanting) to go the SLR route.

We've been very pleased with our as well. This is our third underwater camera We have two strobes and we get excellent pictures. The cycle time is about 5 to 7 seconds when shooting with flash but on an hour long dive I will still shoot some 80 to 90 pictures.

We bought 2700 or 2900 ma rechargeable batteries for the camera and strobes and we load the camera when we leave the house and break it down when we get back. With the batteries and the 2 gig card you don't have to worry about swapping stuff out on the dive boat.

 

[rjsimp]

Sea&Sea claims this camera is as close to an SLR as you can get in a compact digital and frankly, I would agree. We would recommend this camera strongly to folks not ready (or wanting) to go the SLR route.

I had the 8000G and I would not agree that it is as close to an SLR as you can get in a compact digital. If the 8000G is great for you and you like it, perfect. But there are several other compact digital cameras that are much better quality and have better features (search for other threads on this subject).

None of these are close to an SLR, but other compact digitals are much closer than the 8000G.

 

[diver 85]

We recently purchased this point and shoot digital camera as an upgrade from our Pentax camera and housing. My husband was looking for a compact digital camera that he could shoot both macro and wide angle with and the information on the Sea&Sea 8000G sounded like it would fit the bill.

ALL of the information on Sea&Sea's website about this camera was 100% accurate and the camera functioned exactly as my husband wanted. He was able to get within 2cm of the macro he was shooting, and on wide angle it was just as great. He can shoot RAW, can change the white balance, or leave the camera on automatic and let it do it's own thing. He does need to consider getting a strobe, but we'll cross that bridge another day.

Sea&Sea claims this camera is as close to an SLR as you can get in a compact digital and frankly, I would agree. We would recommend this camera strongly to folks not ready (or wanting) to go the SLR route.

Can you post or link any of your pics so we can see your results???....

 

[alcina]

Let's see some photos! Once we get some images up and maybe a few more "concrete" details of what you all liked, I can add this thread to the Sticky so others who are considering this model can find it more easily.

I see the issue of recycle/write time has come up - it would be good to get a bit more details of this along with how long the batteries last etc.

 

[DiveMaven]

I uploaded a few pics from the trip so you can see a variety of images. That's the link...I hope it works.

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/2552

 

[alcina]

Thanks! I'll add this thread to the Sticky later today

I'm wondering what exactly makes this compact "as close to DSLR as you can get"? It seems a strange claim to me and I think it is something that we need to nail down a bit for people who are researching for a new camera.

It's nice to see such a positive review on a new system What other systems have you and your husband used?

 

[bigfrog23]

for any one considering the dx-8000 they might want to check out the new version of the camera the sea and sea Dx-1g it is 10 mp camera. it look like it is a fast better built camera, seems like it is getting good reviews. here is a couple web site for it
http://www.seaandsea.com/DX-1G/release.pdf
http://imaginginsider.com/?p=37944

and here it is on B&H were ells
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/503463-REG/Sea_Sea_SS_06581_DX_1G_UW_Digital_Camera.html