Waterproof digital cameras?

[Zukin]

Howdy all

Does anyone own, or has had any experiences with this camera
It is an Olympus MJU770SW

I am sick of having riding in the rain and not being able to take pics

But it is a lot of money for what is just a waterproof version of a $300 camera (and a few other things)

I look forward to your replies

[Steam]

I got a fancy looking click-clack from Plastic Box, and cut a hole in the top so I could push the buttons, then sealed that with a bit of thick plastic bag and silicone. It was only about $15 total, worked well for a year or so till I dropped it.
Good luck with your fancy expensive camera though, it looks supernice.

[Skunk]

I've got the 720SW. No issues at all. Bonus that it's shockproof too. Battery life is OK big screen and does ok movies. At 7.1 mp it's worth the money imho.

[sunhuntin]

i picked up a crappy waterproof camera, but cant work out how to make it go.

id like to make my good camera waterproof, too. might have to go the click clack box way... thanks for the idea steam!

[Skunk]

What about this one? http://www.cameraworld.com.au/Olympu.../olymju760.htm
and way down the price range (and still ok for the rain) is this http://www.cameraworld.com.au/Olympu.../olymju500.htm

[merv]

Zukin I just bought one of them 2 weeks ago because we were off to Cairns on holiday and I had visions of snorkelling the Great Barrier taking photos as I went underwater (its meant to be good to 10 metres and I know I wouldn't be). Only problem was me and Mrs merv both damnwell caught a flu lurg just before we went on holiday and we're still shaking it off having just got back. That meant I gave up worrying about swimming and just did the glass bottom boat and semi-sub type trips so it didn't slow our holiday down totally.

From the pics I've taken so far though the u770sw is OK but surprisingly though its 7.1mp its pics are nowhere near as crisp as my trusty old 4mp C770uz. The difference I guess is that the old camera has the lovely big zoom lens, but then it would die underwater and its not very pocket friendly.

The one negative for me is the u770 has no view finder, only the screen to look at and in bright Cairns sun all you see is your own mug reflected back off the LCD screen so shooting is a bit of a guess. With my old C770 when the light gets bright I turn the screen off and look through the digital viewfinder no worries.

OK spot the difference in quality - yeah right you say - the weatherproof camera took the first pic, the old C770 took the second pic, both through the same window of the same gondola car on the Kuranda Skyrail. Not much difference and its been hard for me to find you comparative pics but so far the weatherproof isn't quite as good in my view because of its small lens I figure.

[merv]

Zukin you bought the camera yet or what?

[Zukin]

No still thinking about it

Whether I should pay the extra and get the waterproof/shockproof camera @ $599
Or whether I go for a god quality camera and maybe find one that is water resistant or can get a waterproof housing??

Any suggestions in terms of features?

Cheers Scott

[merv]

I only bought mine with the intention of actually snorkelling with it on Great Barrier Reef. Previously I owned an Olympus weatherproof compact 35mm film camera but once I went digital in 2001 I've just trusted carrying the digital cameras in a bag on my bike or in the pocket of my jacket and never had any problems, but then I didn't experience the rain you guys did on your adventure assaults for such prolonged times.

I've had my C770 a while now with its 10x optical zoom and it takes great pictures as you will have seen from my postings and its almost compact enough. The new waterproof camera isn't as sharp with its photos as I said but it slips into your top pocket. By the time I'd bought a 2gig XD card for it and a spare battery I paid over $800 for it, which compared to my C770 costing about $1,000 a few years back.

Features I usually say go for the zoom lens size you want and how compact do you want the camera to be and experience has shown me now a small viewfinder is handy because in bright light you see SFA in the LCD screen except reflections of your own face behind the camera. I don't worry about the megapixels so much because I don't usually bother taking pictures on the really large res sizes anyway coz I mainly view on my PC where a picture size bigger than about 1600x1200 is just a waste.

You'll remember that good set of pics I posted here http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ad.php?t=37744

[Robbo]

Zukin I just bought one of them 2 weeks ago because we were off to Cairns on holiday and I had visions of snorkelling the Great Barrier taking photos as I went underwater (its meant to be good to 10 metres and I know I wouldn't be). Only problem was me and Mrs merv both damnwell caught a flu lurg just before we went on holiday and we're still shaking it off having just got back. That meant I gave up worrying about swimming and just did the glass bottom boat and semi-sub type trips so it didn't slow our holiday down totally.

From the pics I've taken so far though the u770sw is OK but surprisingly though its 7.1mp its pics are nowhere near as crisp as my trusty old 4mp C770uz. The difference I guess is that the old camera has the lovely big zoom lens, but then it would die underwater and its not very pocket friendly.

The one negative for me is the u770 has no view finder, only the screen to look at and in bright Cairns sun all you see is your own mug reflected back off the LCD screen so shooting is a bit of a guess. With my old C770 when the light gets bright I turn the screen off and look through the digital viewfinder no worries.

OK spot the difference in quality - yeah right you say - the weatherproof camera took the first pic, the old C770 took the second pic, both through the same window of the same gondola car on the Kuranda Skyrail. Not much difference and its been hard for me to find you comparative pics but so far the weatherproof isn't quite as good in my view because of its small lens I figure.

Hey Merv, i also bought one of these a few weeks ago along with a 1gig memory card for an extra 90 bucks. Like you, i was a little dissappointed with the results at first untill i discovered a section in the menu that gave you lots of different photo options, (bloody modern technology) and then "hey presto" problems all solved. I am now taking great photos and just love the camera. With the metal battery and port covers it is a lot better constructed than many of the others with chrome coated plastic covers and it is waterproof to 10 mtrs and shockproof.
Cheers

[merv]

So far I've used the auto mode, the portrait mode, the landscape mode and the behind glass mode, never got to the underwater modes like I'd planned and yeah the results aren't too bad, just saying they aren't as good as my old camera but then its got a pretty fancy lens in comparison. I will definitely enjoy the new camera for its compact size and its ruggedness I'm sure.

[FilthyLuka]

Howdy all

Does anyone own, or has had any experiences with this camera
It is an Olympus MJU770SW

I am sick of having riding in the rain and not being able to take pics

But it is a lot of money for what is just a waterproof version of a $300 camera (and a few other things)

I look forward to your replies

Yes, i've had experience with that camera.

We tested it down at the pub... It will take photos/videos with flash fully submereged in, water, ice cold water, lion red and guinness

Great feckin camera's

[Zukin]

Hey Merv, i also bought one of these a few weeks ago along with a 1gig memory card for an extra 90 bucks. Like you, i was a little dissappointed with the results at first untill i discovered a section in the menu that gave you lots of different photo options, (bloody modern technology) and then "hey presto" problems all solved. I am now taking great photos and just love the camera. With the metal battery and port covers it is a lot better constructed than many of the others with chrome coated plastic covers and it is waterproof to 10 mtrs and shockproof.
Cheers

Fantastic

Looks like I spend a little extra and get a good camera

Cheers for the review
Merv is very good at reviews and anything he says is good, is pretty good, your review was the icing on the cake

Cheers Scott

[merv]

The guff that came with the camera has quite a piece on how to care for it after it has been submerged particularly in salt water - says to dunk it in freshwater in a basin or the like for a few minutes then dry it off and open all its little doors and let them dry off i.e. the battery and XD card compartment and the USB connection compartment all the while taking care to look after the neat little rubber seals. I'm hoping mine will give good service. Haven't tried dunking it in beer yet like FilthyLuka.

I bought mine coz I walked into Colin Kirks at Lambton Square thinking "what you got in the way of waterproof cameras for the Cairns trip?", and this was the best he had and I'd had great service from my other Olympus so I just bought it.

Perhaps I shouldn't grizzle too much about the picture sharpness because just checked these ones out, here are 3 more I took with it in Cairns and they look quite good (I've resized them to 1024x768) so what do you think of those? Good enough for you? I do note they are crisper if you view them after saving them using Windows Picture Viewer or similar than they are in Internet Explorer so they actually are better than they look if you just click the thumbnail. So they are OK really and am I just a fussy prick?

[Robbo]

Yep, they are nice clear pics Merv. I think that time and operator understanding of the new equipment are the key factors for good results, (in my case anyway) and Scott, i hope you get this awesome camera and enjoy it. They also have a 2 gig memory card available for this model if reqd.
Cheers