#1 Julieanne van Zyl

If anyone reading this has used this camera underwater, what do you think of the "Shark Mode"?

3:40 am - Sunday, October 9, 2005

#2 Chris Carella

I've had this camera in the ocean 6 times and it has locked up every time, every attempt to power it down to re boot it fails.
You must surface and remove the battery to clear it.
Also the lag time is horrible and the shark mode only works if you know the range of the object before hand (try it on a turtle swimming at you)
Picture quality is poor-fair. I have other cameras I use underwater so I have others to compaire to.

It is easy to handle and sturdy.
Still I would not recomend it

5:30 pm - Sunday, November 27, 2005

#3 Chris Brady

When I received my DC500 (stpidly purchased online) I was amazed at the clutter of bits and pieces in the box. I think that this camera is so small that it will be impossible to repair. I find the external buttons clunky on the housing. But the buttons on the actual camera fiddly and far too small for my male fingers. The shutter delay is appalingly slow. I thought my Fuji Finepix S5000 was slow (and have deleted many spoilt images due to the subject moving just when I'd pressed the button - but the DC500 is the slowest ever - it takes a full second to decide to capture an image. How on earth can it be used in a marine environment where EVERYTHING is moving. On land (sans housing) I found the picture quality far inferior to the Finepix - being blurred and 'grainy.' So much so that any print greater than the standard 4 x 5 will be useless. Also I am MOST upset that I have to use the camera itself to charge any spare batteries. Why can't they make a dedicated charging unit? How on earth Time Mag. voted it as the 'best invention for 2005' beats me.

6:58 pm - Friday, January 20, 2006

#4 Chris Brady

Further issues with the DC500. Searched the UK Digital Photography mags. for 'Sealife' - but nothing, zero, zilch, sfa. Plenty about Fuji, Pentax, Nikon, etc., etc., but nout about Sealife cameras. Also searched UK Dive Mags - but nout there either. Then I discovered in tiny print on the camera casing the dreaded 'Made in China.' Hardly a world class product commensurate with those well established German or Japanese firms then. Wonder what the Chinese sweat shop workers get paid for manufacturing something sold at £300+. The quality is so high even the sticky label on the front of the camera is stuck on crooked. Goodness knows what the quality of the lense(s) and innards are like. Then there is the issue of the underwater housing. TWO MAIN DESIGN FAULTS. 1/ The fastening clasp is proud of the case (next to a whole bunch of buttons)which would make it VERY easy to inadvertantly open the housing underwater. One such accident and £300+ camera becomes a write off to say nothing of £50+ worth of chip and irreplaceable images. 2/ The operating spring-loaded buttons themselves are loose and wobble meaning that their rods pass through the casing but do not appear to be adequately sealed. At present I would not even want to immerse the camera in one foot of water in the bath, let along 200 feet in the ocean. I've yet to immerse the housing with blue tissue paper inside to measure its waterproofing (a tip from a dive mag.). I'll report back when I tested it further. Generally it appears that the internal DC500 camera is just a bog standard point and shoot box - which even the Digital Camera Press (in the UK) can't be bothered to review.

2:21 pm - Sunday, January 22, 2006

#5 Chris Brady

Joe Iocona the export manager of Sealife has just emailed folk with the following page rather hidden on their site of issues with the DC500:

http://www.sealife-cameras.com/download/dc500/DC500_Troubleshooting_Feb06.pdf

He also added:

Although in theory it's possible to use the DC500 with the macro lens, in practice it isn't. Without the macro lens you can get into 2" with the camera anyway. You can't zoom though the lenses so you can't get any closer without the additional macro lens. However, the depth of field is so small on the macro lens with the Dc500 attached, that unless you were (and I quote) "a professional diver" you wouldn't be able to
stay still long enough for the picture to work, because the field of focus is so narrow.

Also see Firmware info at:

http://www.sealife-cameras.com/service/firmware.html

CJB.

6:52 pm - Thursday, February 9, 2006

#6 Chris Brady

* In the bright Caribbean sunlight (Barbados) the digital display was completely washed out underwater - I had to aim and shoot randomly in the hope of getting a few good pictures - especially this was worst when snorkelling with the camera underwater

* Landside the camera also suffered from 'wash-out' of the digital display in bright sunlight.

* The camera comes with a slot for an external viewfinder - but one appear to be available

* The camera locked up on me and I had to remove the battery to reset it - luckily above ground. The settings were all default except for: SCN was set to Macro, with the Shark mode on (to pre-focus the lens), and then the self-timer set to 3 seconds. I was doing this to try and capture a static golden orb spider and web close up; and the 3 second self-timer allowed me to concentrate on holding the camera steady. But when the camera had counted down to 0 it locked solid.

* It appears that anything within 12 inches is badly focused/blurred - so much for macro. The golden orb spider was a useless blur

* The camera didn't leak moisture but the silica gel 'muncher' turned pink after the very first outing (snorkelling) - a warning sign that some dampness had percolated into the casing

* The shutter delay - even in Shark mode (preset focus) - was still long enough for fish to dart out of range and for the picture captured to bear nothing like that aimed for. In particular a shot was taken of me by my instructor on my first training dive. He pressed the take button whilst I was breathing in - slowly as I was trained to do. But the shutter delay was so long between him pressing the 'take' button and the DC500 actually capturing the image that my face then became completely obscured by outblowing bubbles. Incidently I was using an ultra fast Lexmar SD 512M chip purchased in Dixons Duty Free on my way out.

* Each button in the outer casing has a 'o' ring, as does the waterproof case itself. After using the camera in a fine (coral/shell) sandy environment with an amount of surge stirring things up I found it impossible to remove and washout every single grain of sand afterwards. It would take only one grain in the wrong place on an 'o' ring to write the camera off. In particular it was impossible to completely wash out the button housings.

* Comparing landside pictures taken with the DC500 (at 3M) and my Fuji Finepix S500 (at 1M) - the former lacked the detail and 'quality' of colours. The Fuiji showed consistent shading of delicate pastel colours (roof of a church). The DC500 showed a much harsher coloring.

* The zoom function (non digital range) on the DC500 - like the macro range - could not focus on objects such as nesting birds in trees (at Graham Hall Bird Sanctuary, Barbados). The Fuji had no problem with zooming and focusing, even the digital zoom range of the Fuji surpassed the non-digital zoom range of the DC500.

* Now that I am home and have uploaded the images from the DC500 and Fuji S500 - the former's images are very dark presumably because the capture software compensated for the bright ambient light. However the Fuji's images are perfectly balanced and will not need enhancing. All of the DC500's images will need enhancing (brightness and contrast).

7:20 pm - Wednesday, March 22, 2006

#7 Mike Hopkins

This was enough to stop my interest, as a nubie, in the SeaLife DC500. Thanks for the real use comments. I'm still looking at a housed A540 Canon (with underwater setting?), Ikelite for my G6 or Sea and Sea. Thanks again

12:47 am - Sunday, May 7, 2006

#8 Marco Lombini

Finalmente dopo mesi e vari solleciti sono rientrato in possesso della
macchina fotografica subacquea Sealife DC500 mandata in assisteza Europa perchè presentava gravi problemi di funzionamento in
immersione: l'obiettivo si appannava completamente dopo pochi minuti, alcuni
tasti della custodia non tornavano completamente, la macchina in fase di
memorizzazione immagine spesso si impiantava rendendola inutilizzabile per
tutta l'immersione, aprendo la scatola con stupore noto che non c'è stata
nessuna sostituzione, forse neppure toccata.. si tratta ancora della mia
macchina fotografica e della mia custodia! sono ancora in attesa didelucidazione in merito da parte del fornitore!!!!
Comincio ad essere molto preoccupato perche' se non
funziona ancora, oltre al danno di non avere le foto, dovrò spendere soldi
per la spedizione, aspettare ancora mesi perché mi venga restituita
esattamente come prima

12:45 pm - Tuesday, November 28, 2006

#9 Thomas Phillips

I have to wonder if these are competitor comments. I've owned the DC-500 for a year now. I've taken roughly
2600 pictures. I've gotten as many as
149 pictures on one battery. My camera
has only locked up twice.I suggest that a person,"gasp", could buy an extra battery. The camera is easy to
use and takes great pictures for the casual user. Set the sleep mode for longer battery life. The housing is really durable. I've been diving for 37
years and I would buy another one tommorrow if I lost this one. I own a lot of cameras but I'm not affiliated
with any camera company. I hope this helps.

7:46 pm - Tuesday, May 27, 2008