Compact camera + underwater housing or rugged camera?

[melanie.ylang]

Hello folks,

Lately I've been feeling the urge to take a camera along to my favorite swimming hole - one night recently a dragonfly landed on my partner's head while we were in the water, and on another occasion a pair of damselflies were mating on the surface of the water right beside us. Cool, right?

I was thinking about getting a used rugged camera, along the lines of a TG-850 Or TG-4, but for similar outlay I have found an Olympus XZ-1 with new Olympus underwater housing for sale. Given the limitations of the rugged cameras' smaller sensor, I like the idea of having a waterproof option for a larger sensor compact (which I've previously owned and enjoyed using).

My aim is to be able to take it in the water, and be able to shoot either above or below. Would the housing be a limiting factor for clear images taken 'dry'/above-water, rendering it pointless? I've never used either rugged or housed cameras, and am clueless but hopeful!

Thanks in advance for considering this conundrum.

 

[melanie.ylang]

PS maybe I should take another look at the Nikon AW1 - though many reports of underwater unreliability had put me off previously, maybe it would be satisfactory in this mild 'wet use' scenario.

 

[mattia]

Housings add a glass layer, so not ideal for above water shooting. Plus very bulky.

The XZ-1 is a very old tech camera - marginally larger sensor than the TG-4, but CCD sensor vs BSI-CMOS. And a slightly faster lens. I would go with the Olympus Tough. Which you can add a scuba case t if needed, but for just swimming it should be enough used 'bare'

 

[gnarlydog australia]

If you plan to take that camera into the sea then I can NOT recommend a waterproof camera (rugged).
I have killed 4 (3 Olympus and 1 Panasonic) when I finally decided on a compact Canon inside a simple housing (dedicated).
That has lasted me for years and still going but I am no longer interested in water images (mainly sea kayaking).
For more details read here: Gnarlydog News: Compact waterproof cameras: long term testing
or here Gnarlydog News: GEAR: cameras_function follows design

Maybe things (design, materials) have improved since but I remain skeptical

 

[flamingfish]

Get the TG-4 or 5. You won't need a housing for swimming, just for scuba depths. (My current scuba camera is a TG-4 with Oly housing.)

 

[ArcticaMT6]

TG-4\TG-5 for sure. Only about $380 for a new TG-5 I believe right now. Good to about 50ft down.

 

[Bushboy]

6 or 7 yrs ago, I bought a very cheap canon powershot camera second hand with a underwater housing.
I still have it, works perfectly.
The small sensor and 4 megapixel files, are really quite good.
Nowadays you can pick these up for peanuts!
But I’m keeping mine...

 

[melanie.ylang]

6 or 7 yrs ago, I bought a very cheap canon powershot camera second hand with a underwater housing.
I still have it, works perfectly.
The small sensor and 4 megapixel files, are really quite good.
Nowadays you can pick these up for peanuts!
But I’m keeping mine...

Is it usable above water while housed, or does image quality suffer badly?

 

[ArcticaMT6]

As long as the housing is cleaned properly, it should be useable above water. Goes for all housings. There will be some image degradation from the additional plastic/glass element in front of the lens though. But it's bulky and and a pain in the butt if you don't need to have it in a housing.

You could potentially look for an E-PM1 & housing used. Those go for $500ish, but give you a few more options with lenses that can be used in the housing. Something to consider.

 

[gnarlydog australia]

Is it usable above water while housed, or does image quality suffer badly?

mine is extremely usable to the point I can not tell the difference between housed or not.
Of course, the piece of glass up front has to be clean, but that goes without saying
As to have water droplets slide off between dunking and above water I use Rain-X (applied to the glass in the morning before the shoot) or, in a pinch, a bit of spit, yes from my mouth (scuba diving trick)

 

[Bushboy]

Yes, no difference with my one either. Just like shooting through an ordinary UV filter.

 

[melanie.ylang]

Thanks for the extra information @ArcticaMT6 @gnarlydog australia @Bushboy, that's sounding more practical for me - I'd prefer a larger small sensor (of course) and always liked the rendering from XZ-1. The setup I'm looking at is priced on par as the lowest priced Nikon 1 AW1 used camera with lens that I can see, and I feel pretty wary about those anyway.

 

[gnarlydog australia]

Thanks for the extra information @ArcticaMT6 @gnarlydog australia @Bushboy, that's sounding more practical for me - I'd prefer a larger small sensor (of course) and always liked the rendering from XZ-1. The setup I'm looking at is priced on par as the lowest priced Nikon 1 AW1 used camera with lens that I can see, and I feel pretty wary about those anyway.

several people I know that had the Nikon AW reported leaks and failures. Soon after changed to a different system

 

[Biro]

Sony makes a nice underwater housing for its RX100 series of cameras:

SonyUnderwater Housing for RX100-Series Cameras

And then there's the Sealife:

SeaLifeDC2000 Digital Underwater Camera

A base RX100 and housing will cost about the same as the Sealife. The base RX100 gives you 28mm at f/1.8 when zoomed out to its widest focal length. The Mark III and up give you 24mm at f/1.8. The Sealife is 31mm and f/1.8. Wider is usually better underwater. Both cameras feature one-inch sensors.