I bought my DC2000 as with the Pro Duo kit just over a year ago. I've had 52 dives taking pictures with it, and I wanted to write a quick review about my experience in using it.
First, a little about me to understand my experience in underwater photography:
- been diving for 2.5 years, 86 dives total
- first camera for underwater photography was a GoPro Hero3 with a cheap LED light mounted, all on a selfie stick
I started looking into a camera that could take some quality amateur photos that wasn't priced super outrageous. I don't shoot in RAW and I don't use photoshop. My editing comes from the apple software in iPhoto on my iPad and iMac. I searched the internet and YouTube, and time after time, I was led to the SeaLife DC2000. Knowing that a light was important for video and a strobe for pictures was equally important, I chose the Pro Duo set.
So after using it on three dive trips (Maldives, Utila, Red Sea), I'm very happy with my purchase. From the perspective of people who view my pictures on social media who know nothing about underwater photography, I get tons of compliments. I've found the DC2000 to be very easy to use - I generally just keep it on the underwater setting with the flash option on. When I do a night dive, I switch the setting to the light.
The battery life of the camera seems to get me through at least 2 dives without any issue. I purchased 2 extra batteries just in case, but really only have the need for one extra. The battery life of the 2300 lumen LED light is about an hour on full power. I've only had it die out on me on a long night dive, where I had a backup light. The strobe takes 4 AA batteries that typically last me close to a whole diving trip (week's worth of taking photos) - I just used Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries purchased of Amazon.
I've bought a few accessories as well - The SL975 Fisheye Lens and Fluoro Dual Beam Light. In regards to the SL975, I don't use it as much (maybe only 25%, or less, of the time). It works great for wreck diving and capturing big wildlife (whale sharks, bigger turtles, nurse sharks, etc), but most of the time i just have it tethered to the base mount. I've found the Fluoro Dual beam to be a poor investment. It's a novelty more than anything, unless you have lots of opportunity to night dive and are really into the fluorescent pictures. There needs to be a better option for the yellow lens filter that basically has a bungee strap around the camera. The mask lens filter floated away on my first dive (my fault), but it was clumsy. I only get about 4-5 night dives a year so I basically have a second light on my camera rig. When I use them both, I usually have the brightest set up in my group. I also bought 2 of the "bendy" style arms and use those rather than the standard non-flex grips it comes with.
In comparison, I bought my wife a GoPro Hero5 Black and rigged up a Light & Motion Sola Dive 800 to it for my wife to take pics and video. The GoPro doesn't even compare when it comes to pictures. She got some decent video clips when close to the subject, but the DC2000 Pro Duo was superior in every way.
Overall, for the investment, I couldn't be happier with the camera/pictures/video. I really don't think the camera is going to be producing award winning pictures unless you are using the RAW option with some type of photo editing software. But, if you are just an average diver who wants to get some really good photos, I think the DC2000 is the way to go.
I'm attaching a few pictures to give you an idea of the capabilities . Again, only edited in iPhoto software.
First, a little about me to understand my experience in underwater photography:
- been diving for 2.5 years, 86 dives total
- first camera for underwater photography was a GoPro Hero3 with a cheap LED light mounted, all on a selfie stick
I started looking into a camera that could take some quality amateur photos that wasn't priced super outrageous. I don't shoot in RAW and I don't use photoshop. My editing comes from the apple software in iPhoto on my iPad and iMac. I searched the internet and YouTube, and time after time, I was led to the SeaLife DC2000. Knowing that a light was important for video and a strobe for pictures was equally important, I chose the Pro Duo set.
So after using it on three dive trips (Maldives, Utila, Red Sea), I'm very happy with my purchase. From the perspective of people who view my pictures on social media who know nothing about underwater photography, I get tons of compliments. I've found the DC2000 to be very easy to use - I generally just keep it on the underwater setting with the flash option on. When I do a night dive, I switch the setting to the light.
The battery life of the camera seems to get me through at least 2 dives without any issue. I purchased 2 extra batteries just in case, but really only have the need for one extra. The battery life of the 2300 lumen LED light is about an hour on full power. I've only had it die out on me on a long night dive, where I had a backup light. The strobe takes 4 AA batteries that typically last me close to a whole diving trip (week's worth of taking photos) - I just used Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries purchased of Amazon.
I've bought a few accessories as well - The SL975 Fisheye Lens and Fluoro Dual Beam Light. In regards to the SL975, I don't use it as much (maybe only 25%, or less, of the time). It works great for wreck diving and capturing big wildlife (whale sharks, bigger turtles, nurse sharks, etc), but most of the time i just have it tethered to the base mount. I've found the Fluoro Dual beam to be a poor investment. It's a novelty more than anything, unless you have lots of opportunity to night dive and are really into the fluorescent pictures. There needs to be a better option for the yellow lens filter that basically has a bungee strap around the camera. The mask lens filter floated away on my first dive (my fault), but it was clumsy. I only get about 4-5 night dives a year so I basically have a second light on my camera rig. When I use them both, I usually have the brightest set up in my group. I also bought 2 of the "bendy" style arms and use those rather than the standard non-flex grips it comes with.
In comparison, I bought my wife a GoPro Hero5 Black and rigged up a Light & Motion Sola Dive 800 to it for my wife to take pics and video. The GoPro doesn't even compare when it comes to pictures. She got some decent video clips when close to the subject, but the DC2000 Pro Duo was superior in every way.
Overall, for the investment, I couldn't be happier with the camera/pictures/video. I really don't think the camera is going to be producing award winning pictures unless you are using the RAW option with some type of photo editing software. But, if you are just an average diver who wants to get some really good photos, I think the DC2000 is the way to go.
I'm attaching a few pictures to give you an idea of the capabilities . Again, only edited in iPhoto software.
