Sealife DC1000- Reviews/Questions

[CanadianScuba]

Originally Posted by FishFood

DD - When my DC600 works, it is a good entry level camera. I have no complaints. The problem, however, is that it works every third dive. I contacted Sealife and they sent me a new camera and battery, however, after 2 dives it started doin the same damn thing, only out of warranty of course. Other divers that I have talked to that owned a DC600 described the same problems I am having.

Oh, and thse problems include -

Incomplete charge
Dead battery after charging
Battery WONT charge


Infact, now I can't even use this camera w/o a small object inserted into the battery compartment to put pressure on the battery. I can't charge the battery w/o manually holding it in the charger at an angle. Sometimes I can get 100shots a dive, other times I can get a max of five.

I beleive the problems lies with faulty batteries. The contacts are made of cheap metals that either corrdoe, or somehow become otherwise unusable.

My "save-a-dive" kit now includes contact cleaner that must be applied to the battery DIRECTLY before the dive, or else the camera is useless.

Again, this has happened to two Sealife cameras, personally, and many others that I have talked to.

For those that are thinking about purchasing a Sealife - be warned. It may be a great camera, or it may give you pure hell


Anyhow! Back on topic - I hope they get the battery issues resolved for this camera. What is the expected capacity? Previously they have been quite low.

I had similar problems with my DC600 and it turned out to be the batteries. I obtained some 1200MaH from a dealer in Hong Kong (Ebay) and it cured the problem. I usually get two dives or about 350 pictures.

I recently purchased a DC800 and returned it to upgrade to the DC1000. I started with the DC200 or DC250, upgraded to a DC500, then upgraded to a DC600, a short stint ( 3 days/ not used) with the DC800, and now, I am waiting for the DC1000. I am sort of sold on these cameras. I find that SeaLife offer a great return for the cost/value. I have many pictures that could easily make the cover of any SCUBA magazine. I have had many people tell me this. For me, I'd rather spend the $$ on a good reg set than on a top of the line SLR. I will not cry as loud when it floods at 90 feet. You know the song "Tiny Bubbles", you do not want to be humming that when your looking at your camera case @ 90 feet. I have never lost a camera to flooding. But, I did lose a flash. ( an excuse to upgrade).

With the digital flash my Sealife cameras take great pictures from 15 feet to 140 feet. Although, Adobe Elements helps make the pics great. But, that is part of my hobby. I travel, dive, take pics & make them better.

[CanadianScuba]

Originally Posted by FishFood

DD - When my DC600 works, it is a good entry level camera. I have no complaints. The problem, however, is that it works every third dive. I contacted Sealife and they sent me a new camera and battery, however, after 2 dives it started doin the same damn thing, only out of warranty of course. Other divers that I have talked to that owned a DC600 described the same problems I am having.

Oh, and thse problems include -

Incomplete charge
Dead battery after charging
Battery WONT charge


Infact, now I can't even use this camera w/o a small object inserted into the battery compartment to put pressure on the battery. I can't charge the battery w/o manually holding it in the charger at an angle. Sometimes I can get 100shots a dive, other times I can get a max of five.

I beleive the problems lies with faulty batteries. The contacts are made of cheap metals that either corrdoe, or somehow become otherwise unusable.

My "save-a-dive" kit now includes contact cleaner that must be applied to the battery DIRECTLY before the dive, or else the camera is useless.

Again, this has happened to two Sealife cameras, personally, and many others that I have talked to.

For those that are thinking about purchasing a Sealife - be warned. It may be a great camera, or it may give you pure hell


Anyhow! Back on topic - I hope they get the battery issues resolved for this camera. What is the expected capacity? Previously they have been quite low.

I had similar problems with my DC600 and it turned out to be the batteries. I obtained some 1200MaH from a dealer in Hong Kong (Ebay) and it cured the problem. I usually get two dives or about 350 pictures.

I recently purchased a DC800 and returned it to upgrade to the DC1000. I started with the DC200 or DC250, upgraded to a DC500, then upgraded to a DC600, a short stint ( 3 days/ not used) with the DC800, and now, I am waiting for the DC1000. I am sort of sold on these cameras. I find that SeaLife offer a great return for the cost/value. I have many pictures that could easily make the cover of any SCUBA magazine. I have had many people tell me this. For me, I'd rather spend the $$ on a good reg set than on a top of the line SLR. I will not cry as loud when it floods at 90 feet. You know the song "Tiny Bubbles", you do not want to be humming that when your looking at your camera case @ 90 feet. I have never lost a camera to flooding. But, I did lose a flash. ( an excuse to upgrade).

With the digital flash my Sealife cameras take great pictures from 15 feet to 140 feet. Although, Adobe Elements helps make the pics great. But, that is part of my hobby. I travel, dive, take pics & make them better.

[Souvy]

Just curious, but could anyone compare the DC1000 to the DC 800 in terms of features aside from the new one being 10MP vs. 8MP? I've got the DC800 and love it (I'm very much a beginner, but it suits my needs very well). Thanks very much in advance, cheers.

[sabbath999]

Originally Posted by Souvy

Just curious, but could anyone compare the DC1000 to the DC 800 in terms of features aside from the new one being 10MP vs. 8MP? I've got the DC800 and love it (I'm very much a beginner, but it suits my needs very well). Thanks very much in advance, cheers.

Differences (plus my opinions about the differences):

10 megapixel instead of 8 (who cares... two megapixels don't make any practical difference in the real world, and stuffing more resolution on a tiny chip generally means higher noise).

5x zoom but longer focal length 6.3mm-31 vs 4x zoom 4.6-18.4mm (I assume this is correct, the website has an error on the DC1000 page calling it 4X in one spot and 5X in another... but the math shows 5X... personally, I see this as a good thing, because you can now use a wide angle adapter to increase your field of view... and a bad thing, because the "native" wide angle isn't very wide and you now NEED the extra wide angle lens)

Focus modes normal, Macro, landscape (infinity) vs auto, macro, landscape (infinity) and face detection in the 800 (did they remove face detection on the DC1000 or did they just not list it? Either way, I couldn't care less... face detection on an underwater camera, expecially one that is locked on infinity focus, is meaningless)

More narrow field of view on land (56 degrees vs 64.3 degrees) but almost identical in water 42 degrees vs 43 degrees. (I am guessing that's because of the case? I have no idea, would love to hear Joe tell us why on that one).

Flash... Auto, Force ON, OFF, Red-Eye reduction, Slow Sync, Pre Flash vs. Auto, Fill, Off, Red-Eye reduction (this is all good, especially slow sync).

Picture modes listed: Sea mode, Snorkle mode, Ext Flash Auto and Ext Flash manual vs. ext flash auto, external flash manual and sea mode. (The snorkle mode is apparently a different preset white balance... choice is good, this is a good improvement).

Land modes divver as well: Auto, Sports, Panorama, Anti-shake (land), Splash-water, Flow-water, Night Scene, Landscape, Aperture priority (Av), Shutter Speed Priority (Tv), Fireworks. vs. Auto[Program AE], Sports, Anti-shake, Sunset, Sunrise, Splash-water, Flow-water, Night Scene, Portrait, Landscape, Panorama, Snow, Beach, Pets, Av, Tv, User Setting, Candlelight, Text, Fireworks, Backlight. (I don't care a bit about the land modes, would gladly trade the extra snorkle mode for most land mode presets).

Shooting modes: SPY mode, Single shot, Continuous (3pics), AEB (bracketing), Continuous Flash, Burst, Pre-Shot, Couple Shot, Album Shot LCD 2.7" color LTPS TFT LCD vs. Single, Continuous(3pics), SPY mode(unlimited), AEB (bracketing) (This is all good as well, nice upgrade here).

Pictbridge not mentioned on DC1000 and yes on DC800 (who cares? I can't imagine why anybody would use that anyway with an underwater camera)

Software doesn't mention anything on DC1000 vs. Media One Gallery and Cool 360 SE International (again, who cares... first off, I am a Mac guy and none of that stuff works on my mac, and secondly the software was complete junk anyway.... free Picasa is MUCH better than Media One Gallery and Cool 360... well, guys, 1992 is calling and they want their software back).

To me, the biggest change is the lens... a longer lens is both good and bad, since it backs you up a bit (less light hitting the subject from the flash) and it gives a much narrower field of focus (at least out of water... I am still curious how that one degree difference on the FOV between these to lenses work in water). The WA lens is a nice addition though.

[Souvy]

Thanks so much sabbath999, that was really an excellent comparison and commentary, very informative! Thanks again.

[BoomerNJ]

Anyone know when the DC1000 will actually be available? My on land digital camera just died & I need to replace it. It would make sense to replace it with a basic p&s dive camera. Thanks! And thanks DD for this thread, it's helped me a lot in deciding whether this is the camera I want or not...

[sabbath999]

Originally Posted by BoomerNJ

Anyone know when the DC1000 will actually be available? My on land digital camera just died & I need to replace it. It would make sense to replace it with a basic p&s dive camera. Thanks! And thanks DD for this thread, it's helped me a lot in deciding whether this is the camera I want or not...

Theoretically they are available now. I don't know what day ST will have em in stock but it will be soon if they ordered em.

[PhD4JC]

How does it compare with the Sealife DC800 Pro 8.0 Megapixel ?

Originally Posted by DevilDiver

FF- I know you have had issues with (I believe) the DC 500. I used one in the past and was happy with it at the time. I know the SL cameras are not top of the line but equipment is only half of the picture and these are entry level cameras.

There are plenty of people who use these cameras and are very happy with them so if there is a particular issue that you feel your camera is week in what did you do to overcome it?

All cameras have limitations, especially underwater, and part of the challenge is to know this and work with in these limitations and get the best results possible. There is a local (Dallas/Ft.Worth, Texas) diver who does articles for Dive Training Magazine and uses a SL DC600 with results good enough to be printed.

I have shot the DC 500 & the DC 600 with good results, they were not the best for every type of U/W shot but they preformed as advertised and on par for P&S digital at the time.

If you had mechanical issues or defects that is one issue. If you could not "get the shot" that you expected there could be other issues. U/W photography is difficult and the pro's are not pro's because they purchased a certain piece of equipment.

The Sea life line is designed for beginners and divers who want a easy to travel with simple setup with out all of the guess work about housings, strobes and connections, lenses, ect... The Sea life systems are pretty much plug and play and the cost reflects this.

If you go to put your own P&S system together and go high end because this is the results you expect you would be looking at spending a lot more $$ and doing a lot more research to get what you are looking for. If your issues have to do with focus lag, fish butts, blurry photos or color this could have to do with technique vs. equipment. Not to say more advanced cameras would not help with this but for the price range you will most likley have the same issues.

I know this does not help you or your opinion of Sea life cameras but I just wanted to try to be fair....

[PhD4JC]

So what is your recommendation for an underwater camera?

Originally Posted by FishFood

DD - When my DC600 works, it is a good entry level camera. I have no complaints. The problem, however, is that it works every third dive. I contacted Sealife and they sent me a new camera and battery, however, after 2 dives it started doin the same damn thing, only out of warranty of course. Other divers that I have talked to that owned a DC600 described the same problems I am having.

Oh, and thse problems include -

Incomplete charge
Dead battery after charging
Battery WONT charge


Infact, now I can't even use this camera w/o a small object inserted into the battery compartment to put pressure on the battery. I can't charge the battery w/o manually holding it in the charger at an angle. Sometimes I can get 100shots a dive, other times I can get a max of five.

I beleive the problems lies with faulty batteries. The contacts are made of cheap metals that either corrdoe, or somehow become otherwise unusable.

My "save-a-dive" kit now includes contact cleaner that must be applied to the battery DIRECTLY before the dive, or else the camera is useless.

Again, this has happened to two Sealife cameras, personally, and many others that I have talked to.

For those that are thinking about purchasing a Sealife - be warned. It may be a great camera, or it may give you pure hell


Anyhow! Back on topic - I hope they get the battery issues resolved for this camera. What is the expected capacity? Previously they have been quite low.

[furby076]

So I have been diving for just over a year (completed my 25th dive - in Cancun waters and NJ coast diving). I got a film (yes they still have this) camera with underwater casing in mexico ($35). It worked fine, but obviously with film you don't know what you get until you develop it. Some pictures came out great, and some horrible.

Now it is time to upgrade to something nice. I was thinking SLR cameras are a way to go but a friend of mine said to screw those since when they flood you lose your $800-$1000 camera and the case itself is abou $1500-$2000. Plus spending $2300 (not including external lights) is just painful. Plus the setup is huge so you sacrifice mobility and lose part of the diving experience.

For a new photographer (just new all around) would this be a good way to go? Someone mentioned this camera is akin to vivatar (someone gave me that brand once and it was crap even to my newbie hands). I was thinking of getting this, the case (duh) and both strobes. I am good with photoshop products - just new to cameras. I would like to take awesome pictures (who doesn't).

Recommendations - thoughts? Is this good for me to go and drop the $1,500 on?

Thanks in advance,