Sealife DC 1200 Pictures

[Scuba.com]

The Sealife DC 1200 Elite kit has everything you need to great pictures like the ones posted. Easy to setup and simple to use.
Sealife DC1200 12.0 Megapixel Underwater Camera Elite Kit with Digital Pro Flash SL708 with reviews at scuba.com

 

[Slowpoke1]

Very nice pix! I especially like the shrimp/anemone macro!!

 

[CassieLuvsOpie]

I am so excited, my husband and I ordered our SeaLife DC1200 elite today. We are going to St. John in Feb. Can't wait to use it!!!!!

 

[lox]

Some VERY nice pics !!
I wish mine where half as good. Recently bought the Elite kit but noticed land pics where poor and inconsistant without the housing. Took a few Auto land pics with the housing on and the strobe attached and they were all washed out, but I didn't take it back as I wasn't sure what to expect.
Sea pics in Turk&Caicos are a very mixed bag with mostly washed out shots. Noticed the camera doesn't have a smooth transition as light changes as noted on the LCD screen. One second I'll see a nice rich shot on the LCD and a second later it's washed out So nowI know the darn camera is defective Groannnnn
On those shots with the stobe was the strobe let verticle on the mount? Or was it at an angle to the subject?

 

[didi440]

@lox -- I use a DC1000 Maxx. I was not happy with my pics because things would appear washed out or all green. One of the best things I did was adjust the EV (Exposure Value) to a negative 2 (-2). This gave me the bluer blues that I had been desperately wanting. I also adjusted the LCD display to a negative 1 so the LCD was a) easier to see underwater; b) gave me a more accurate representation of what the camera was "seeing". These tips were given to me by Cathy Church at Beneath the Sea year. Also, set your pixel count to the biggest the camera has. Set your resolution to Super Fine (that's the setting for the 1000). This will give you the most data to work with. Sometimes, the "washed outs" can be fixed in photoshop or other software. Adjust your ISO to 200 and leave it there. Anything much higher will give you wash outs and noise.

I shoot a Canon DSLR uptop but wasn't ready to take the risk of flooding an expensive camera. Since make the adjustments to my SeaLife, I have been much happier with my shots.

The best thing you can do is to read the owner's manual, then start shooting in and out of water. Understand what those settings do. If you are using the auto settings, make sure that the camera knows whether you are shooting in green or blue water. I have gone to using the manual flash setting because I like being able to adjust my shutter speed and aperture.

I personally angled one strobe (when it was on the SeaLife arms) over the lens of the camera. The other strobe was often contorted into all matter of angles.

Hope this helps.

 

[lox]

Good tip I'll give that a try, as my pics yesterday where mostly washed out unless I was taking coral shots pointing the camera down. I think the diffuser would help a lot as well.
It was funny because I had the camera set for underwater strobe and at some point I started a video sequence (at 54ft) in relatively poor visiblity due to silt. I was amazed at how much better the color was in the video even though the camera was not set properly!
Loving the diving though, but finding it tricky to maintain bouncy while trying to concentrate on getting that good shot

P.S. Was a pro land photographer a few years ago and still do a lot of photography with various camera's mainly a Nilon D90 and Pentax LX film. Have spent several hours with the camera and settings. It appears to me the camera is defective as it rarely exposes the same twice under the exact same conditions. I'm going to make a post in the sealife Q&A and see what they have to say.

 

[didi440]

@Lox -- I would invest in Martin Edge's book on underwater photography. Tons of great tips strictly for underwater photography. As you dive more and improve your buoyancy control, try to shoot up rather than down -- it appears more natural. I think that's why a lot of us carry pointers so we don't damage the reef. You might want to get one or make your own. Mine is a 18" aluminum stick. It is much skinnier than my finger and makes a great tank banger as well.

It may be that the camera is defective. I know SeaLife has been great with customer service for me. I have flooded one camera and had another just die. SeaLife replaced the one that died and fixed the flooded one at a decent price (much less that what a new camera would have cost). I know they monitor this board regularly and may have some other suggestions as well. You might also send ScubaJoe a PM -- he's the SeaLife rep that monitors this board.

 

[streetjudge79]

Great pics

 

[streetjudge79]

I just flooded my Dc1000.. it's $135 to repair from Sealife.

 

[Tandoorii]

I just flooded my Dc1000.. it's $135 to repair from Sealife.

F!

Just got my 1200 and stil learning...

So like, why doesnt the USB connection charge the freeeeking battery? Isnt this a no-brainer? So like, do I have to take the battery out each time I use the camera to charge? Isnt a simple USB connection a simpler solution? So like, how much more would it cost an $800 camera to effect a USB rechargde connection? Inquiring minds want to know...