Underwater camera

I got the Canon for Christmas. So far it has been pretty good. The lens has a tendency to fog sometimes, especially when we were going in and out the ski lodge on a wet snow day. I think the fogging may be because the body is sealed. There is no lens cover, and I have been worried about scratching it, but no problems so far. I got an 8 gig card, which is probably too big. By the time I get around to dumping the photos onto the hard drive, I had 1,500 or so with no organization to them other than temporal. I think the card will hold over an hour of video and some stupid amount (like 10,000+) number of photos even at the highest resolution. But no problems with the camera. My brother's kids took it down a waterslide shooting self portrait videos with no problems, and the underwater pics and videos are decent. The out of water pics aren't the best I've ever seen from a point and shoot, but the ability to take it in and under the water is worth it. I haven't had it down more than a few feet, but it is supposedly good down to 33 feet.

I bought the Canon D10 camera last summer. It leaked on the second use in the pool -- water drops on the battery. I returned it. I am using the GoPro Hero with both wide angle and standard housing. www.goprocamera.com/index.php Video quality is OK. With the wide angle housing, I can see 40% of the length of the lane, so I can stick the camera on the side of the pool with a suction cup and swim past it -- no photographer needed. The standard housing works best for head-on shots.

The camera I have used to post video here is the Sanyo Xacti VPC-E2. It is pretty cheap now, because it is a couple generations old. If you want higher res, there is an HD version in the current generation. I have not posted any underwater video online, but the quality was pretty good. Here is a link to the video I have uploaded. www.youtube.com/.../fmq003 Video quality is actually better before you upload to youtube. I am pretty happy with the camera, and it lives in my swim bag.

I have an Olympus Stylus 1030SW that I've had for a few years and have been very pleased with. There a couple models in the Olympus line that are very inexpensive, plus some of the older models can probably be had at good discounts. As far as I know Olympus were the first to offer a shockproof/waterproof line of cameras but now it seems everyone has one in their line. One of the great things about the 1030SW is the wide angle lens, I can't emphasize enough the advantage of being able to get the whole body in the picture without having to be a long distance away when shooting underwater, where things often get cloudy with greater distance, depending on the water and lighting. The fact that this camera fits easily in any pocket and is tough makes it great for travel. YouTube- Lindsay Cam clip 59 Butterfly One limitation of my camera is the inability to do a smooth slow zoom while taking video, which would be useful for shots with the swimmer swimming toward the camera. I don't know if more recent models fix this, it's even possible that I just need to set options, I haven't tried very hard. Depending on what other cameras you have and whether you foresee wanting to use it as your still camera as well you might consider one of the new waterproof HD video cameras, some of which are in the same price range with better video quality. These are more video cameras that take still pictures, they don't have as high resolution for stills, while the compact digital cameras have very high still resolution and limited video resolution. Amazon.com: Sanyo VPC-WH1 HD Waterproof Flash Memory Camcorder w/ 30x Optical Zoom (Yellow): Camera & Photo I've used a Canon HD video camera with an underwater casing and the video is very nice, but the camera plus casing is quite a bit more expensive than the other options. It does stuff like nice variable speed zooming. Some sample video: YouTube- MACC Simon F. Underwater 00103 There was a bug with youtube that caused this video, which is 1080i to be treated as though it was 1080p so it comes out half speed, and the sound is bad, but when I convert it to 720p before uploading it comes out full speed. I thought half speed was actually useful for these clips. At other times I have uploaded the same format and had it come out full speed, I don't know if youtube has fixed the bug now. To appreciate the difference in video quality you have to watch it on youtube in HD rather than in the embedded viewer here (click on Youtube in the lower right and then click on the resolution control under the video). Another point is that HD video does take a more powerful computer (probably anything recent) and relatively recent software to view and edit. Most cameras will come with viewing software and more recent OSes and video editing software will support HD. Although my Olympus is good enough for most stuff I miss the HD Canon camcorder with casing, and am thinking of getting one of the HD Sanyo cameras.

U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums - View Single Post - Youtube Video Pentax Optio W80 Here's the monopod at Best Buy: www.bestbuy.com/.../Sunpak -...=1176506228750 It will stick to smooth surfaces like the tile cross at the end of the lane or the glass cover over the underwater light but not textured concrete.

Here's the monopod at Best Buy: www.bestbuy.com/.../Sunpak -...=1176506228750 It will stick to smooth surfaces like the tile cross at the end of the lane or the glass cover over the underwater light but not textured concrete. I've enjoyed using the wide angle GoPro Hero camera with case. I like how much you can see with the wide angle. I also have a suction cup mount so that I can use it alone. One thing I've found works if you do not have a smooth surface in your pool is to buy a piece of plexiglass. You want it big enough so that the camera won't tip over--mine is about 1'x2'. I'll attach the camera to it, and then float the plexiglass/camera to the bottom of the pool in the middle of my lane.

I've been using the Pentax Optio W80 quite a bit and really like it so far, I did a review with a whole bunch of pictures and video over here: robaquatics.com/.../review-pentax-optio-w80-waterproof-camera.html

I can't wait until I am fast enough that normal doesn't look like slow motion.How fast is that? Your already pretty dang fast in my opinion, sprinter.

I'll second qbrain's recommendation for the Sanyo Xacti VPC-E2. That's the one I bought recently, and I'm enjoying it. The reason I chose that one is because it can record at 60 fps, which means I can replay in slow motion with decent image quality. (Although I only recently figured out how to actually do that. The videos I have posted here were only 30 fps.) It's getting a little tough to find, because I think they're phasing it out in favor of newer versions. Mine was refurbished, bought from Amazon, and I have had no problems with it.

The reason I chose that one is because it can record at 60 fps, which means I can replay in slow motion with decent image quality. I can't wait until I am fast enough that normal doesn't look like slow motion.