30 ft Underwater camera

[porsche060]

Read there's a camera w/o housing that can go down 30 ft and possibly ft w/o issues. Does anyone have the camera? What is the model #. Any comments?

[torrey]

I know Olympus has a waterproof camera good for 10 ft - Olympus 720 SW. I'm sure it's capable of deeper, but they probably limit it in the description for liability concerns. I wouldn't be surprised if other manufacturer's don't have their own before too long.

[namabiru]

Has anyone ever taken a camera past the depth rating? I don't think the camera would literally blow up if you went 1 meter past rated depth, but would you really notice a difference if you took a 10' rated camera to, say, 65'?

[nferra2]

I would imagine It would hold up fine, but it probably did not pass some extreme test to get it rated deeper.

[nferra2]

Check out the Oly 770 SW, it is Rated to 33 feet.

[torrey]

Originally Posted by nferra2

Check out the Oly 770 SW, it is Rated to 33 feet.

Nice, I wasn't aware of the 770 SW. Certainly makes it more attractive to snorkelers and free-divers.

[namabiru]

Originally Posted by nferra2

I would imagine It would hold up fine, but it probably did not pass some extreme test to get it rated deeper.

I'm wondering what exactly would happen. Would the housing start leaking if you repeatedly used the camera past its depth rating? I suppose if you had a super pop-bottle-thin housing, it would perhaps start compressing, and eventually leak. That may be the only Waterloo there.

Could be fun to find out. When I've got a salary again, I may pick up an inexpensive camera and just dive it--not necessarily take photos with it, but just dive with it multiple times and observe what's happening.

[torrey]

I'm guessing the softer points would go first...so either the main o-ring or a seal around one of the buttons. Typically if an o-ring does start leaking, it will stop once you go up and get some of the pressure off of it unless it completely blew it out of the groove.

[RonFrank]

30' IMO is kinda useless for an UW camera unless you are doing light snorkeling. If you go below the recommended depth, the camera will likely flood. If not on the first instance than maybe the next.

I'd suggest the Sealife SL321. It has no housing, and is rated to 75'.

[greyzen]

anyone ever tried a disposable at that depth?
I was doing 20' n/p with some random CVS camera... course since I was snorkling the pictures kind of sucked (Can't stay down long enough to get nice and level/etc.)