When you go snorkeling in your favorite places like snorkeling in Caribbean or snorkeling in Bemuda, you would definitely want to keep your best memories and proudly boast before your friends with something tangible in your hands. Pictures or videos taken by you underwater – what can be better to support your tales that someone will doubt later. Or after many years – you will tell your children and grandchildren about your great feats in oceans and seas. You would better have a proof of your adventures as an experienced diver or a snorkeling enthusiast.
There are variety of cameras out there meant for both amateurs and professionals, with a whole range of options and characteristics that will make you bewildered if you are not well versed with terminology and do not know exactly what you need and what to expect from this or that option.
The first choice that many beginners is considering is a disposable snorkeling camera that has two main advantages in front of its competition. First, this disposable camera is very compact. Then, it is very cheap. For about nine or ten bucks you could get a decent snorkeling camera at the local grocery store located at the sea.
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The bad news is the quality that you get with these. For example, one of the camera in use had an ISO 800 film that resulted in very grainy images with fuzzy areas near their edges. The sharpness was limited to the center of the image, and rendition of colors was also quite poor.
You could take about thirty images with this ten-buck camera, and another ten bucks went to an image processing lab. So you get about thirty pictures at 70 cents each. Well, if you plan for a sole day of snorkeling in a vacation, and your adventure will last for only an hour or two, the disposable camera may be an option for you. But if you value the beauty of the underwater world and are fond of quality photography, you should opt for much more expensive options.
The other end of this game is a professional camera with a special waterproof housing. A camera like Canon 5D Mark II is what I recommend for any type of work, on land or underwater. A camera body with a decent lens will cost you no less than 3,5-4 thousand, and a housing can take 1 thousand bucks more out of your pocket. But then you will have professional quality images or videos that you can proudly share and even sell.
snorkelingcamera2 As a compromise we will have a deeper look at the budget options that are available on the market, like a Liquid Image Explorer Series 5.0MP Underwater Digital Camera Mask, and a GSI Super Quality Secure Underwater Swimming Goggles with Built-in Digital 2.0 MP Camera.

Do not forget to take your favorite diving gear (and a dive knife) as you may encounter dangers underwater.