Sealife DC800 Has EXTREMELY Poor Image Quality

[Scubi Do]

sabbath999,

I am keen to hear your update on the DC1000. I had purchased a DC800 which leaked the first dive I took it on. The Australian distributor pressure tested the housing and ultimately replaced the housing and camera.

But...... I too am an advid photographer on land and am having troubles adjusting from using a high quality SLR, to the substantially diminished finctionality of the DC800. Furthermore, I also have slight concernes re picture quality but am nto going to pass judgement on this yet until I get more expereince with the use of the unit. Then again it is only a point and shhot.

I purchased the DC800 after the u/w housing of my old Samsung died. Ironically, the old Samsung that was retrofitted to underwater use via their housing took fantastic shots. The Sealife, supposedly built from ground up for the purpose, is a little lack lustre in my initial option.

Looking forward to your update.

 

[sabbath999]

OK, well I contacted them yesterday since it had been about a couple weeks. They had asked me if I could wait until the first of the month for a DC1000, and I said OK.

Apparently they aren't in yet from the factory. I am doing some pool work this weekend and would have tested it out if it were here, but it wasn't.

Currently I am about nearly two months into my life as a Sealife camera owner and have yet to actually have a properly working model in my hands.

 

[sladerer]

No doubt this is very frustrating. I am an avid amateur photographer, shooting Minolta film and the Sony Alpha on land and the SeaLife DC600 under water. The DC600 is my second sealife camera - I shot the old Reefmaster 35mm for years as a snorkeler.

I've taken a couple thousand pictures with the DC600 and except in lowlight conditions the only
focus problems I've ever had were my own fault when I've forgotten I was set to macro instead of landscape while shooting when 5 to 6 feet or further away - but this resulted in issues obtaining focus vs having parts of my image in focus.

With 3 cameras from the same dealer being problematic, I'd guess this is more likely a CCD
manufacturing image resulting in a bad batch of sensors. Several divers from my last trip were
shooting with the 800 and none of them reported this type of problem.

I'll second the "SeaLife has awesome customer service" sentiment. I sent a many year old
SL960 in shortly after getting my DC600. Not only did they fix the problem but the tech also
took the time to make the flashlink connection at the underside of the strobe more solid.

 

[sabbath999]

UPDATE:

The tech person I have been dealing with asked me a month ago if I would be willing to wait until the DC1000 came out to replace the DC800 I sent in with the newer model (they shot it and agreed that it was indeed defective). Since I was in no rush, and am hoping the DC1000 doesn't have the same issues, I said OK. She said that I would have one "the minute they were available", long before my May 30 class.

When I saw that the online stores had them in stock for a couple days, I contacted her and she told me that she would ship one out to me "some time next week".

I will let y'all know my impressions of it when it arrives.

I originally ordered the DC800 in January and have yet to actually been able to take an underwater picture with the kit.

 

[RonFrank]

You have a LOT more patience than I! I would have junked the Sealife idea after camera #2. Honestly, these are just PnS models in a housing I believe.

If dealers have the DC1000 in stock, you should have one by now. Supplying their dealers in lieu of a single customer may seem on the surface a good plan, but IMO not so much.

I hope you have good luck with the DC1000. If not, I have no idea what recourse you have now that Sealife is involved. I doubt they will ship you a Canon G10!

 

[sabbath999]

Yes, they are just PNS models in a housing, but they are PNS models that are part of a system that I like the rest of the system.

The camera was obviously either defective or defectively designed... and since other people like their DC800's and I have seen pictures without the defect I don't believe it was the design of the camera that was causing the problems.

I got notice this morning from the person I have been dealing with at Sealife that the DC1000 is shipping today.

Worst case, I hate the camera and put it on eBay and just use the rest of the kit.

I have now shot with a Canon G10 belonging to a friend of mine. I think it is an excellent camera... but frankly, it isn't quite as good at the Nikon P6000 in image quality or build quality in my humble opinion. I have always been a Nikon shooter on my DSLR's and a Canon shooter on my PNS's, but if I were getting a PNS with a housing I probably would go with the P6000 or the new Powershot SX1 IS which has a CMOS sensor in it.

Did I ever mention I own more than 30 different digital cameras? I like shooting with different models and comparing the images... I also enjoy shooting with cameras that are obviously "not all that" and making images superior to what people with $5000 DSLR's are bringing home.

I know this sounds a bit arrogant, but with all do respect and a complete lack of modesty, I am actually pretty good at taking pictures (on land... at sea, I am a TOTAL NOOB).

For now, I am going to try the Sealife. If I hate it, I will ditch it for something else.

I've actually been thinking of collecting up all of the major underwater PNS cameras and doing a site comparison guide with full reviews on them... I haven't seen a single good site where somebody can critically look at the image quality of the various different underwater point&shoot options.

BTW: I enjoyed your Blue Hole NM pictures, I plan to dive there the next time we fly out for the Roswell UFO Festival since we will fly into ABQ.

 

[Nemrod]

I hate to tell you this, my sometimes dive buddy has the DC600 and compared to my little Canon 570IS it is a stinker. I too have some photograph background though not much in recent years and not all that underwater (Nikonos III) bit I am singularly unimpressed with the SeaLife cameras and very much impressed with the A Series Canons in general. JMO, YRMV.

Yes, I think your idea of a "test" Sabboth of the various P&S cameras would be very useful. Please do that. Like you, I also have some perverted interest and joy in attempting to shoot quality pics with cheap-O cameras and have been doing some test also but more in terms of wide angle modifications and accessories. Anyone can go buy a 5,000 dollars dSLR system and most would be better off with a Kodak, lol. So, what I am saying is I understand your pursuit of the cheap camera jabberwhocky. One of my Canon 570s I got for I think 18 dollars on eBay, lol. Now I need a disposed of, junk, obsolete Ikelite housing so I can pull the 67MM port to machine for another experiment.

N

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

I hate to tell you this, my sometimes dive buddy has the DC600 and compared to my little Canon 570IS it is a stinker.

Perhaps it's less about the camera... A camera in anyone's hands is only as good as...

I'm not really sure of how you define "a stinker"

These were all shot with my SeaLife DC600. Some have been blown up to 24x30, are framed and decorate my walls. These are a few of my "stinker" shots

 

[deeper thoughts]

Those pixs are fantastic!!!

 

[sabbath999]

Yeah, those pix scream "Hey, let's go diving!" to me...

Anybody up for a dive?