SeaLife Mini II

[Scuba_Dad]

Wow, Diverdavrecon... that was a negative post. Not that I disagree with your disappointment, because I was very disappointed when I first tried using the Mini-II. What I have done is learned how to work within its limited functions.

1) What I like about the camera is its durability and size. I can throw it in my small Zeagle Stiletto pocket and pull it out when I need it. I throw it in the pool when I'm teaching, and I let my DM take some pictures... when its play time in the pool, I let the students play with the camera and take pictures of each other. They love it.

2) Battery life... I frequently forget that I have batteries in the camera. I use the Engergizer Ultimate Lithiums, and they last a long time. I only remember my batteries dying once... Now... I don't use the Mini II like I use my DC1200. I'll shoot 200+ pictures in one dive with my DC1200. I use my Mini II as a simple point and shoot and maybe take 30 pictures per dive... but, I don't think I've replaced the batteries since I went to Cozumel Invasion... still the same batteries... No telling how many pictures I've taken with it.

3) Downloading the pictures... yup! You have to pull the SD card out. Not a big deal, because my laptop has a built in SD card reader, my printer can read just about any card, I have the SD card reader adapter in my iPad... So, I don't need the little USB adapter that came with my Mini II. But... the USB reader will come in handy for something someday.

4) Picture quality - It took a while to get used to the camera. The auto focus doesn't get it right all the time. I'm starting to get better, though. One thing that SeaLife Joe said above... Stay within the specs. Macro is 2-4'. I'm used to Macro being inches... so, that took a while to get used to. Most of my pictures now are in Macro mode. 2-4' is a long way underwater. The other thing I do to improve picture quality is to leave the camera in Land Mode. I do not like the red/purple tint to the pictures. I'd rather start off with blue and tweak it using Photoshop and Lightroom.

5) I do agree that SeaLife removed too many of the controls. It's all auto settings, and I don't like the underwater settings... so... it's simple... I only use Macro and Landscape in Land Mode... Period...

Overall, it's an inexpensive, easy to maintain, rugged little camera. It's not the greatest, but it's handy to have on a dive.

 

[diverdavrecon]

What I was saying was, for what is supposed to be an improvement to the original Mini, the Mini II version is a serious flop.

The original version was an awesome camera, with great battery endurance, all the right features built in with compact ruggedability and it took very good pictures as well....it wasn't just a junky playtoy to amuse students in a pool with. I'd used the original version and gotten amazing results with it.

The new Mini II, which should be an improvement over the original one, performs like it came out of a cereal box. Instead of being a step forward, it's about 12 steps back. It's not shooting outside the specs that's the problem here, I've done everything to make this camera happy and it just doesn't put out.

I have taken tripod photos with it in the most ideal bright illumination conditions, sunlight, etc, under all possible setting combinations, both close up and distant, stuff the old Mini could sleep walked through, and this camera just doesn't do it. It's not like I'm comparing it to something out of it's weight class, it simply fails as a camera....period.

I've fought with this thing a long time. I'll take it back to a dealer and give him a chance to prove it's a factory defective exception, but given many of the other bad reviews I've seen on this thing, I'm not holding out much hope for it.

 

[NewbaScuba]

the battery life and indicator. Its all over the map. It will show full strength one minute and go to zero the next and auto shutdown. But after a while, it will show 3/4 again for a few pictures.

We had similar problems with the battery read out while on a trip to Coz. It was fixed by NOT using rechargeable batteries.
As soon as we switched to a Lithium, every thing went smooth. This camera eats rechargeables in a hurry

I was fairly disappointed at first with this camera.
No RAW image was a bummer.
9mp was a let down considering most camera makers are pushing 12-14mp.
The red filter is my major issue. It is more of a nuisance. I think It ruined more shots than fixed.


Some of the other issues I had with it may just be my ineptitude, but I doubt it (forgive my ego).
I did occasionally take an ok shot here or there.

I was surprised by the lack of pre-focus, but maybe that's not so necessary.
Pretty much it is a digital version of the sealife sport diver 'point-and-hope' camera that my wife used to use. That being said,
We were able to take hundreds of photos however, and some even turned out well enough to share.
It is durable, and makes a fine camera for canoeing, beach days, snorkeling, and yes the occasional dive. You're not going to produce very many professional images from it however.


I've considered taking this thing into a quarry somewhere with some RBG balls, and playing with light, focus length and the other few settings available.

 

[DandyDon]

We had similar problems with the battery read out while on a trip to Coz. It was fixed by NOT using rechargeable batteries.
As soon as we switched to a Lithium, every thing went smooth. This camera eats rechargeables in a hurry

I was fairly disappointed at first with this camera.
No RAW image was a bummer.
9mp was a let down considering most camera makers are pushing 12-14mp.
The red filter is my major issue. It is more of a nuisance. I think It ruined more shots than fixed.


Some of the other issues I had with it may just be my ineptitude, but I doubt it (forgive my ego).
I did occasionally take an ok shot here or there.

I was surprised by the lack of pre-focus, but maybe that's not so necessary.
Pretty much it is a digital version of the sealife sport diver 'point-and-hope' camera that my wife used to use. That being said,
We were able to take hundreds of photos however, and some even turned out well enough to share.
It is durable, and makes a fine camera for canoeing, beach days, snorkeling, and yes the occasional dive. You're not going to produce very many professional images from it however.


I've considered taking this thing into a quarry somewhere with some RBG balls, and playing with light, focus length and the other few settings available.

Do you know what mAh your rechargeables were? They're almost the same in voltage so I doubt that there is that much difference there. I have switched to the Low Discharge rechargeables and you do get less power than with some standard NiMHs and NiCds, but Thomas Distributing offers 2400 mAh Low Discharge rechargeables that seem great: 4/$11 plus shipping.

I'm sure that Lithium regular batteries have more power but the industry refuses to label regular batteries by mAh so it's guess work. You can't change batteries during a dive so I like to start every day with as much power as possible - but also like to know what I have, yet hate to buy new Lithiums for each day @ $2 each. Then there are the TSA & fire problems with Lithium.

 

[NewbaScuba]

First set was: AA / HR6 / DX1500 NiMH / 1.2V / 2000mAH
Second set was: AA / HR6 / DX1500 NiMH / 1.2V / 2400mAH
Both sets were Duracell Rechargeables

 

[DandyDon]

First set was: AA / HR6 / DX1500 NiMH / 1.2V / 2000mAH
Second set was: AA / HR6 / DX1500 NiMH / 1.2V / 2400mAH
Both sets were Duracell Rechargeables

Thanks. Should have worked.

Beyond the basics, there are other details to consider, i.e quality of charger, age of batteries, how often they are fully drained, etc. My daughter's family can be bad about leaving batteries in a charger even tho I gave them a conditioning unit that can be set to drain, then recharge. I remind them that doing so will burn them up. The industry likes to claim that NiMH does not have a memory but while they are not as bad in such as NiCds, they do. You probably did everything right I am guessing, but still had bad luck. I think I'd talk to Joe or the tech at the company (why does his name escape me? such a nice fellow!) about camera failures.

Of course one cannot expect as much from an economy model as one that costs twice as much from the same company. I am looking forward to learning my DC1200 in the water soon, but if I had a beach trip or a canoe outing, much less any rapids like we did in Oklahoma (small but adequate to spill me repeatedly), I'd take my old 5 mp.

I do wish dealers would push Sealife red float straps more, even for black cameras that float. I hate to read of lost cameras the most. Dealers don't often give discounts on replacements tho do they?