SeaLife Reefmaster DC200 Digital Camera


Submitted by: Steve Holtzman (sh@actglobal.net) on 4/20/2003

Product/Manufacturer/Service: SeaLife Reefmaster DC200 Digital Camera
Rating: Excellent
Review:

I purchased this camera (www.sealife-cameras.com) because of it's low price and being rated waterproof to 200 feet. The camera is a very basic digital camera and does not have all of the whistles and bells of other cameras. There are only two buttons that are available while in the waterproof housing. They are the on/off button and the shutter. I found that while balancing on a wave and trying to take a picture, simplicity is what I needed and this camera does it well.

If you want a camera to be used both on the water and off, this camera may be too basic for both uses. But if you already have a decent camera for land use, this camera is ideal for use on the water.

The camera is a 1.3 megapixel camera which means that it will take good 4"x6" snapshots and decent 5"x7". I would not blow the pictures up any more than that as you will start to see some pixelation. The camera does not have an optical zoom and the digital zoom (which I don't use) is only able to be used when the camera is not in it's waterproof housing.

I used it for the first time on the water today, see them below. I did learn that I need to pay more attention to wiping water drops off of the lens. I thought I had them all off, but I had left one smudge which does show up in some of the pictures.

Overall, for an easy to use waterproof camera, I would rate it 9 out of 10. Everything the manufacturer claims about it was correct.

For those who want to spend a little bit less, the same camera is also available in a housing that is rated for 100 feet. The only other differences are that the 200 foot model also comes with 4 NiMH recharbable batteries, a battery charger, and an AC adaptor that the less expensive model does not include. The cameras themselves though are identical.

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