Waterproof digital camera bags

Travel discussion for St. John
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Xislandgirl
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Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 4:03 pm
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Waterproof digital camera bags

Post by Xislandgirl »

Does anyone have any recommendations. H wants a bag and not the hard sided housing and I want to make sure that it is a good one, if the bag leaks and the camera is ruined, he will never let me live it down. :D Of course, that would mean I would get a new smaller camera, but that is a whole other story.

Any thoughts?
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FlaGeorge
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Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 7:41 am
Location: The Sunny South

Post by FlaGeorge »

I used the bag last year for my Kodak Dig Camera. I tested in the pool first and it didn't leak. They're good, but not great. I got some nice pictures, but the bag is only rated for 30 feet. Had trouble when I was scuba diving because of the pressure. It did fine for snorkeling. The best part was - I left the camera in the bag - even on land and it took good pictures. Didn't have to worry about sand & rain.

I'll try to find the link of the bag I used. I know that it was made in Germany.
FlaGeorge

"Swim Against The Current - Even a Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow"
FlaGeorge
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Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 7:41 am
Location: The Sunny South

Post by FlaGeorge »

OK - Here is the bag I used. It's made by Ewa-Marine. Here is one web site ( http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/20 ... ction.html ). Do a search and you'll find more. If you want - I can post some pictures that I took with it.

Good Luck
FlaGeorge

"Swim Against The Current - Even a Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow"
jmq
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Location: NJ

Post by jmq »

Xi - there was a hardcase available for my camera, but for first trip in 05 I didn't know what the snorkeling was really like and I didn’t want to spring for the $$ Canon housing for the PowerShot, so I bought the UK made underwater camera bag called AquaPac . Google it and it will pop up if you are curious.

This is actually a pretty well engineered product that I tested for water tightness before I left but was unable to test for true functionality like in a pool or something.

When trying to use the Aquapac in 05, I found out the Canon is apparently VERY sensitive to the extra humidity created in the bag and kept shutting down. Maybe silica packs in the bag would help that.

Second, even though the Canon has an LCD screen that swivels out from the camera at various angles, I was pretty much unable to use it to see what I was framing.

Thirdly, the bag seemed to play tricks with the lens and auto focus and I had troubles with exposures, tried different ISO settings, white balance, etc. It finally dawned on me the last day of the trip to try my older 2mp simple Kodak digicam that I let my daughter use and that worked somewhat better.

It was so frustrating to me (but I'm pretty picky about photography) that I got the Canon hardcase housing for the 06 trip with excellent results and regret spending the money on the Aquapac, although I have it in case I need it for other situations at home and travel involving bad weather.

Examples of photos with both:

This is at the Indians with the Aquapac
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Secret Harbour with Aquapac
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At Waterlemon with Canon hardcase
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Off Scott Beach with Canon hardcase
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If there is a hardcase available for your camera, I would say get it, but it does depend what results you want to get and your willingness to spend to $$ and time to read the hardcase manual and fuss with it to get the results you want.
JMQ
When we come to place where the sea and the sky collide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
snorkelgirl
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Joined: Sat Aug 19, 2006 7:30 pm
Location: Fair Haven, NJ

Post by snorkelgirl »

I agree w/jmq. I bought the bag and afterwards the underwater case for the cannon G5. The bag is much easier to travel with and store in your luggage, but the photo's are much better with the case. Never had any problems with the bag leaking or anything. Mine came w/little packs of silica (I think that's what is in it)that you place inside w/the camera. It took care of any fogging. It's pretty simple to use. Depends on what you are looking for.
Coden
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Location: Ky

Post by Coden »

jmq - thank you for showing the difference. I too thought about getting the soft case vs the hard case but will now spend the $169 for the hard case.

Man, will this spending never end!!! :roll: :D
Coden
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Bob & Anita
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Post by Bob & Anita »

Here is our review on the camera bags for taking underwater pictures (taken and modified from an old posting):

In March '05 we went snorkeling at the reefs off of Key Largo. For this trip we had purchased and used the EWA-Marine underwater bag with our Kodak digital camera. We went this route since Kodak doesn’t make underwater housings for their cameras. This was our test run for taken underwater pictures for St John. Here is our experience with this product:
1. It seals nicely and keeps the water out. We took it down to about 15' while snorkeling and had no problems with moisture. We recommend putting in those silica gel packets into the camera bag.
2. It takes good underwater pictures; certainly better then the $20 disposable underwater film camera from Sealife we also used.
3. We could not use either the view finder or see the screen display due to the thick plastic. We ended up just pointing the camera, which made most of our pictures off-centered and we could not see the pictures on the screen after the shot to tell that we actually took the shot or not. This was the worst aspect.
4. The flash performance was also downgraded some by the thick plastic bag. This was something we also read about in some online reviews in regards to using this bag with Kodak cameras - might be the flash placement on the camera. But you generally want to minimize the use of the flash in underwater photography anyways.
5. The lens operation was hampered since it has to push the glass front part of the bag out when the lens moves outward when turning the camera on. Once you put the camera in the bag and seal it, then you suck the air out through a valve. If you suck too much air out then the bag fit too tightly around the camera so the lens can't operate in and out. If you suck less air out so the lens can move freely then the bag is too buoyant. Weights in the bag might have solved this issue, but then you have to figure out how to secure the weights. This issue that gave us strong concerns about straining and damaging the camera lens motor.
6. The controls on the camera are very hard to manipulate when the camera is in the bag due to the thick plastic.

To see some of our underwater pictures that we took using the EWA-Marine housing with our Kodak camera go to: http://www.pbase.com/robertablake/key_largo

We have read more on taking underwater pictures since these shots were taken and learned that adjusting white balance and other settings can improve the quality of the pictures.

After our experience using this camera bag in the Keys, and based on recommendations from "jmq" on this forum, we decide to buy a Canon digital camera and it's respective underwater housing. We sold the EWA-Marine bag on e-bay (got about $60 for it). We liked having two cameras while on STJ since we generally kept the Canon in the housing and used our Kodak for most of our above water shots. We also used the underwater housing during boating, tubing and snow skiing so its quite versitle.

Our recommendation is if you have a camera brand/model that has a specific manufactured underwater housing then spend the extra money and buy it. The EWA-Marine sells for around $90 and most brand/model specific underwater housings are in the $150 to $180 range. If you don't have a camera where you can get a brand/model specific housing then the EWA-Marine underwater housing (bag) will provide you with a reasonable option for taking good underwater pictures, just be aware of the limitations.
Bob & Anita
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