Sealife dc500 bouyancy

[geggle165]

Anyone using a sealife dc500 tell me IF the optional 13oz weight is necessary. I have the Pro Elite rig (single digital strobe). Plan on using it for snapshot camera. but haven't been in the water yet. And from experience, there is nothing worse than a U/W rig that tries to slap you in the face constantly (pos. bouyant).
Also, any other DC500 comments/advice

 

[mike_s]

you won't need the weight if you have the strobe.

 

[Bbarnes]

I liked diving with my weight. According to the company if you dive with the wide angle lens attached, you will only need a couple of extra ounces to make it neutral. I agree with you, a hate having to bat my camera out of my face. If you have the digital strobe you will need to get a longer screw to hook the weight to the base since the wide angle lens dock takes up the extra hole. Otherwise you will have to rig something to hook it onto your system.

 

[geggle165]

I suppose I can always zip-tie some lead strips to the underside of the tray. Now all I need to find out is how much lead.

 

[Narcd_dvr]

Anyone using a sealife dc500 tell me IF the optional 13oz weight is necessary. I have the Pro Elite rig (single digital strobe). Plan on using it for snapshot camera. but haven't been in the water yet. And from experience, there is nothing worse than a U/W rig that tries to slap you in the face constantly (pos. bouyant).
Also, any other DC500 comments/advice

Get the 13oz weight, it will make your camera *slightly* negative, therefore eliminating the from slapping your face around. BTW, I have it inside my strobe.

 

[bperrybap]

I don't use the weight.. I've used mine in both fresh and salt water
and it is negative in both. I don't have any strobes, external flashes or
any other attachments so I don't know what the affect of those is.

With just the camera and housing, it is nearly neutral but still negative
in saltwater and a bit more negative in fresh water.
If you take it down for a test dive without the internal camera it will
be quite positive.

--- bill

 

[CheddarChick]

Ah living breathing people with the camera I would like to buy. Feedback please.. are you happy with your Sealife DC500 Propack? Would you buy something different?

 

[bperrybap]

I'm quite happy with the camera. I must say that I haven't used any other
underwater digital camera so I can't really say if I'm missing anything.
I really like the underwater mode that corrects the colors. It does a pretty
good job as long as you remember to turn it on.
I also like its ability to take movies. - People really like seeing them.

Here is a web page that my wife put together that has lots of pictures
and a few movies taken with the DC-500 camera from our Bonaire trip
a few weeks ago:
Bonaire Trip
(These are all reduced to a much smaller size to save space)

I like it because its compact and takes decent pictures
above and below water.
If you do some searches here on SB, you'll find
I've posted several writeups about the good/bad of the camera.

NOTE: I ended up flooding the camera down in Bonaire on my last day.
Not sure exactly went wrong. It was a slow leak. I noticed
a small amount of water in the camera at 70' when I took it out of my
BC pocket. The only thing I can figure is that a small amount of sand
got under the o-ring from the previous day and I didn't see it.
(There was huge surge and near whiteout conditions with kicked up
very fine sand/coral during a shore exit the previous day).

I've talked with SeaLife and returned the camera with housing to them.
They are looking at the camera and housing
to determine if it will be covered under warranty.
Worst case, they said they'd sell me a new camera for $175,
which I thought wasn't too bad.

--- bill

 

[mikerault]

On the earlier model, the 310, I've noticed it doesn't like cold water. Both times I have used it in 45 degree water I got some leakage in the case. I have used it in 72 degree water since then with no leaks down to 72 feet. Must be the Challenger Affect...

Mike

 

[*Floater*]

I'm quite happy with the camera. I must say that I haven't used any other
underwater digital camera so I can't really say if I'm missing anything.
I really like the underwater mode that corrects the colors. It does a pretty
good job as long as you remember to turn it on.
I also like its ability to take movies. - People really like seeing them.

Here is a web page that my wife put together that has lots of pictures
and a few movies taken with the DC-500 camera from our Bonaire trip
a few weeks ago:
Bonaire Trip
(These are all reduced to a much smaller size to save space)

I like it because its compact and takes decent pictures
above and below water.
If you do some searches here on SB, you'll find
I've posted several writeups about the good/bad of the camera.

NOTE: I ended up flooding the camera down in Bonaire on my last day.
Not sure exactly went wrong. It was a slow leak. I noticed
a small amount of water in the camera at 70' when I took it out of my
BC pocket. The only thing I can figure is that a small amount of sand
got under the o-ring from the previous day and I didn't see it.
(There was huge surge and near whiteout conditions with kicked up
very fine sand/coral during a shore exit the previous day).

I've talked with SeaLife and returned the camera with housing to them.
They are looking at the camera and housing
to determine if it will be covered under warranty.
Worst case, they said they'd sell me a new camera for $175,
which I thought wasn't too bad.

--- bill

Your videos are impressive, much better than I would have expected from a small camera like this - the colors need some tweaking, but you can probably do that with Adobe Premiere or some other similar software. I've been thinking about upgrading to this unit myself from my DC310, but haven't yet. The custom battery pisses me off, and it seems there were some problems with the initial batch of these cameras. Also, I love the macro lenses on my DC310, and would want something like those for DC500 even though you suppoedly don't need them.