Sealife dc 800

[nemo]

Looking for feed back on the camera. I just ordered a dc 800 for my Hawaii trip. Thanks.

[Dusty2]

Sad!
Should be OK for your trip but you could have bought allot more camera for the same money.

[spatman]

i'm pretty sure that was not the type of feedback nemo was looking for, dusty...

[Nwbrewer]

Why do people ask for feedback AFTER they make a purchase? Seems like doing research BEFORE the purchase makes more sense.

[olyvtx]

Im not sure you could buy a lot more for the same money. Thats one reason I've bought Sealife, the price. I bought the DC800 with dual flash for somewhere close to $1200. That's a camera, housing and 2 flash units for $1200. A G10 and housing alone will run ya around $1000.

Now, what do i think about the DC800?? Problems!! I've returned mine 4 times. But, Sealife has the best customer support. When my housing flooded they sent me a camera and housing replacements free in less then 2 weeks. The biggest problem has been the shutter button sticks down. Sealife has said they've fixed this problem. But, i just returned from a Philippines trip and i was haunted again by the sticking shutter button. After talking with customer service again they've assured me that the problem has been fixed and i must have gotten one of the older housings.

[Dusty2]

i'm pretty sure that was not the type of feedback nemo was looking for, dusty...

Sorry just my feeling about Sealife equipment. I have to agree with nwbrewer. Don't buy first and then ask if you did good. I went thru all of the same mistakes and would like to help people avoid making the same mistakes. olyvtx said it pretty well below. Sent his camera back 4 times already and it's still isn't fixed!

Im not sure you could buy a lot more for the same money. Thats one reason I've bought Sealife, the price. I bought the DC800 with dual flash for somewhere close to $1200. That's a camera, housing and 2 flash units for $1200. A G10 and housing alone will run ya around $1000.

Now, what do i think about the DC800?? Problems!! I've returned mine 4 times. But, Sealife has the best customer support. When my housing flooded they sent me a camera and housing replacements free in less then 2 weeks. The biggest problem has been the shutter button sticks down. Sealife has said they've fixed this problem. But, i just returned from a Philippines trip and i was haunted again by the sticking shutter button. After talking with customer service again they've assured me that the problem has been fixed and i must have gotten one of the older housings.

Sorry too say I could easily get a G10 with Canon housing and dual strobes for under $1200 and your comparing a 8 mp low end point and shoot to a 14 mp pro-sumer level top of the line camera.

[nemo]

Just thought the dc800 would be a good entry level camera.

[olyvtx]

PM me some info on where i can get a G10 setup with strobes for that amount Dusty...I'm interested. Could be a DC800 for sale if true! :biggrin:

Your right about the Sealife being a point-n-shoot. The strobes dont fire when you put the camera in manual mode or aperature or shutter priority mode so that's a bummer. Their "manual external-strobe" mode isn't full manual control...has very limited aperature and shutter settings. A small pro, they do have some built-in underwater color correction, both for blue and green waters (turns out the oceans water is a blue'ish color outside the Puget Sound )

[Chevayea]

Thanks guys. I was just coming to this forum looking for info on this camera (after having received good reviews on it) and you just answered all my questions. Great price but not what I'm looking for. Thanks for being so candid.

[Diver_C]

Sad!
Should be OK for your trip but you could have bought allot more camera for the same money.

And how do you know this? Personal experience, or are you just talking out your

[Diver_C]

I liked my DC800. Does have full manual. I, too, have dual strobes, but don't have the non-firing problems, nor did I have the sticky shutter button problem. I pretty much keep one aperture and speed setting, and simply adjust the strobe strength, although, the auto setting on the newest digital Sealife strobes work pretty well. The shutter button is sensitive, but so was the one on the DC600. Maybe I am used to it. The battery size is awesome. So is the customer service. I just received the DC1000, but have not been able to use it yet. The DC1000 does go back to using the removable wide angle lens, which I do like better than the built in wide angle lens they tried with the DC800. I've had all the Sealife digital cameras, and never had a housing leak problem. At some point, I did have a sticky button problem with one of my housings, but they solved it by sending me another housing, of course, at no charge. Can't say enough about Sealife customer service.

According to what those in the know say about the G10, the Canon underwater housing is cheap, and is pretty much just that - cheap, and waterproof to just 130'. Plus, a major problem with it is it will leak eventually, it's just a matter of when, not if. These are comments from people who have used that housing. The G10 is about $450 without any housing, which is only $50 cheaper than the DC800 with a very tough housing, which is waterproof to 200'. The Fisheye housing for the G10, by itself, is $1000. Haven't included any strobes in the price, yet already up to $1500. The Ikelite is cheaper at $616, but still over $1000 without any strobes. Doesn't seem to me one could buy a G10 with a quality housing that will last with dual strobes for easily under $1200.

Yes, some people have their opinions about Sealife, but more times than not, they are people who have either no, or very little personal experience with Sealife. I've had great experience with Sealife equipment. Maybe I'm just lucky. Good luck with yours!!

[olyvtx]

Sealife's customer service IS exceptional! I've had the DC500 before my DC800 and loved it. I do like the DC800, it's just that i've experience some problems (not everybody has had the same problems as me, many good reviews out there on the DC800)which Sealife has done their best to accomodate me to resolve. Sealife makes a good entry level system in my opinion.

I wouldn't buy the G10 with the Canon housing, therefore I would have to spend considerable more to get a good housing for it. For now, I'll work with Sealife to get a "good' housing. Pics to follow soon...

[nwscubamom]

I have had (well, my husband did), and have worked with students who have had, several SeaLife cameras over the past 7 years, and they've had nothing but frustration with them. The strobes wouldn't fire at the right times, or their photos just wouldn't come out decent at all. They would ask, "What's wrong, how can I improve?" Once they got a different (ie, not more expensive, just different brand) camera system, all of a sudden, their photos started looking GREAT!)

From the SeaLife camera/strobes that my husband had - I can just say they were cheap looking, cheaply designed, didn't work well, just not a quality product IMO. And his photos looked like junk. Once he switched over to a different camera, his photos started looking a lot better.

I had the chance to use a DC800 in 2008 and was NOT impressed whatsoever. :(

Sorry, I know this isn't the answer you may have been looking for, but you wanted feedback - so here's my experiences. Let's hope yours are way different.

- Janna

[FlyinV]

I was just diving in a Janna class last weekend with a DC800.
First time I dove with it with a strobe only my 3rd time overall diving with a camera.

I don't think I am going to be happy with the way the photos turned out.

When I dove the first time at Titlow with no strobe I got some excellent pictures around 25 feet under, but I don't think I got any worth a darn at 40-50 feet down at Saltwater state park.

Hopefully I just need more practice and turn my strobe down and things will get better. A bit more diving before trying to take photos certainly wouldn't hurt me also -- I am still pretty new to everything....

My Avatar is a titlow picture I took - beginners luck with the camera

[olyvtx]

I've gotten some pretty good pics with my Sealife cameras...and a lot of pretty bad ones too! I've seen some great pics from the G10 (Grateful Diver's pics) and I've seen some pretty bad ones too (not gonna mention any names). Point being...there's more to getting good pics then just the camera.

[SeahorseDeb]

I'm not going to chime in here too much, but I do want to say a couple things. If someone is a basic point and shoot photographer the DC800 is decent. If you want to go a step further the G10 is nice. One definate strike against the G10 is that at ISO 16oo there is alot of noise, so depending on your shooting conditions and your personal shooting profile, the G10 can be superceded by better point and shoots as far as the noise level goes. I don't have any strobes for my 800, I use the built in flash for up close photography, and if I choose not to shoot that way, I use ambient (it's gotta be really good at 20-30 feet too) light for daytime shots. I must agree some were hard on the original querry, but let's agree, it is worthwhile to research ahead of time. The SeaLife and other "made-for-underwater" low end point and shoots are not usually reviewed in the photography magazines and are not usually sold at high end camera stores, so the consumer must subscribe to boards like this to find out any info. This thread had great feedback and willl hopefully educate the consumer who is shopping before buying. We all know our water isn't as crystal clear blue as Hawaii, so hopefully some good shots will come from his SeaLife at that location. I personally am a dSLR user, but I like the fact that if I take my SeaLife down below, I don't loose a whole lot of money if the housing floods or gad-for-bid I should lose it. You guys are great and this is a really positive thread. Good group work!

[nwscubamom]

Hey Deb,

Thanks for giving your input here, and welcome to the board! Can you post some of your shots you've taken with the DC800? This past weekend I ran into two other divers who have this setup (although with one strobe) and I'd love to see what it can do (besides I just like to look at pics anyway)

- Janna

[olyvtx]

Got a new housing back from Sealife. Here's some examples of what you can accomplish with the Sealife (or any other point-n-shoot for that matter).

http://www.nwdiveclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=7925

It's mostly about getting close and controlling your flash's level and position. Aiming the flash(es) is critical with point-n-shoot cameras, especially if they have built-in light level sensing. Too many times i've missed a shot because the auto-flash was too bright.

For this dive, I put the camera in manual mode and set aperature to 6.3 and set the shutter for 1/400. Then I manually set the flash level for good exposure at macro distance, ~ 3-5 inches in front of my lens. I got much more consistant results this way. If I changed my distance from the lens i just bumped the flash level up.

[Diver_C]

Great pics!

Used my DC1000 for the first time tonight, but saying the vis was poor at Three Tree, is an understatement - bummer...

[Benoit]

That feedback is probably way too late but in case it is useful to someone...

I had a DC800 for a little while. I bought it end of November for a trip to Hawaii. I didn't bother with a strobe for that trip (my mistake). I used it for about two weeks and then sold it online. I didn't like it very much. This was my first underwater camera, but I own and I have owned many digital camera and I wasn't very happy with this one.

The housing is very good. It is very compact and strong. I think they did a great job on it.

The camera itself is a Sanyo that is worth less than 120$. That model is not available here in the US, but I found it in international sites - it's an old, cheap cheap model. Yes, they do put a special firmware on it that adds red to compensate somewhat - and it does work somewhat - in shallow very clear water. That doesn't really add value here because natural light is rare and you are using a strobe. Above water, the camera is pretty much useless. The auto-focus is so slow that it was virtually impossible to take pictures of my toddler. We are talking a shutter lag measured in seconds and not always focussing properly.. I didn't buy it for above water, but in a trip it's nice to only bring one camera to the beach or in boat trips.

You can see a few shots I took during my trip in December here: http://www.nwdiveclub.com/viewtopic.php ... and#p74237 (didn't upload the macros because despite the "filter", anything under 20ft didn't look very good without a strobe).

In the end, I felt that for 399$, I was getting a 100$ camera and a 300$ housing. The strobe are indeed pretty cheap in their kit however. But for just the camera and housing, I think a simple Casio or entry-level Canon can do a much better job and those camera can be useful above water.